Geeks

I am a computer geek. I have been in IT for over 15 years. I have worked on everything from a 286 back in the mid 90's to the present where my laptop is a P4 with a Gig of RAM. I have seen the evolution of the PC, the Client Server side, software, Microsoft. I have even bet my career on Microsoft by becoming a certified Engineer and Trainer. I have kept up with the technology, or at least my little corner of it, via geek mags, websites, daily emails, whatever it takes to retain the edge. Currently my niche resides in the Disaster Recovery, Business Continuance arena. But that is not the point, just random background noise.

My point is this...you can be a computer geek and still have some semblance of a social life. I have worked with, for, and over a lot of geeks. In my humble opinion anyone who chooses computers for a career, or lifestyle because let's face it, if you are going to work with or on them for 8-10 hours a day then you are going to be learning about them 12-20 hours a day. Anyone who chooses to work with computers is a geek. And this does not include those who work in Excel on a spreadsheet at thier desk. I am talking engineering or programming.

That being said, there a differing levels of geekdom. There is the initial level. Those who work with computers daily but still carry on more than active social lives and skills. These are usually the fringe of IT. The sales side, the executives and the like. The ones who have a need to keep up on the technology but not in depth enough to sacrifice social skills. These are usually the people who everyone knows works on computers but is not quite knowledgeable enough to have everyone ask them about thier "computer problems".

The next level is a bit more complicated but it also holds the majority of the IT world. This is the level of geekdom that most people relate to. This person has the need and want to read all of the latest news websites, gets all of the pertinent publications, and still finds time for a family or friends that do not include an XBox party until 4am on a Tuesday night.

Now we start to sink into the next level. Very close to becoming nerds. The next group of people WILL sacrifice social skills for the gain of knowledge. But these are also the people that know, eventually, they will have to make that decision about family or friends or career. These people are or were gamers. The ones who had that ISP in thier basement in the 90's when IT was booming. The ones who can take thier area of expertise and put it up against anyone. The ones who understand packets, protocols, and project management.

The last and deepest darkest of these levels of geekdom is the nerd. The person who thinks getting to work at 10 is early because they were up until 4 rebuilding thier FTP and Web server to host 14 of thier friend's websites. This is the group that can tear apart a router and program a flash webpage in the same night. Thier expertise is only limited by the hours in the day and the more knowledge the better. No social skills to speak of but they don't care either. They want technology, the more the better. The last "party" they attended was a Halo 2 party where to get in you had to bring an XBox. These people don't get asked "computer problem" questions because normal people fear them.