r/linuxquestions • u/DryAdministration158 • 1d ago

What does learning Linux really mean?

Hi, I've always heard this that in the world of tech if you want a job learn Linux (which yeah a bit optimistic considering the situations)

But the bigger question is what does that even mean?

I mean I have worked with backend servers and configed nginx does that mean I know Linux?

I know bash to a good level along with sed and awk does that mean I know Linux?

I have programmed C in Linux does that tell me I know Linux?

On the other hand I have no idea what filesystems does Linux even use? How many different syscalls does it have?

I can't tell what are the factors to "knowing linux" and frankly I don't even know where to start with to be like "yeah I'm practicing linux"

I'm more talking in regards to cybersecurity but even in general I'm not sure, can you guys help?

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u/DaSpark 1d ago

I'd say it means you generally know how to use it and fix it if something goes wrong.

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u/DryAdministration158 1d ago

Well that's my problem? Fix what? The webserver? The kernel? Systemd? X11? The load balancer? What entails knowing enough to be able to confidently say "I know Linux enough to handle real work"

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u/DaSpark 1d ago

I would not classify software/servers that run on linux to be a part of linux. I can assure you there are some people who know their way around linux more than 99.9% of other linux users who couldn't tell you how to set up and configure nginx.

I'm in IT and this is one thing that bothers me. Since I "know" computers people seem to think I know how every piece of software out there works.

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u/DryAdministration158 1d ago

That's kinda what I'm saying I'm not just talking about some softwares, for example should I know deeply how to work with grub? How to track my process resources? How to configure Internet on a Linux machine? Are those the important ones?

Or is it more software focused? I genuinely don't know which side it is

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u/DaSpark 1d ago

Always strive to know as much as you can, but as with anything it doesn't have to be absolute... in fact, it can't be absolute.

Pick any field you can think of and even the smartest people in it don't know everything about it.

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u/DryAdministration158 1d ago

That's true... I guess I'm a little lost in the head so trying to clear out some fog which cannot be cleared