My coaching journey from Zero to Linux Hero

I was given the opportunity to write up an article about the benefits of coaching by my Linux coach, David Both. I never expected that I would be where I am today in my Linux journey especially because I never expected to be training in a tech-based field. 

My first coaching experience

I started off lost and unsure of what to do with my life after resigning from my previous job after a workplace injury. I made a big move from South Carolina to North Carolina for a new start and for the first time ever I felt that I could do anything with my future. I took time to go through a program called Step Up Durham and a tech-based schooling program called Digital Bridge at the advisement of my spouse (who is also my biggest supporter along with my Linux coach Mr. David and my Digital Bridge coach Demetrius Greer, who was the one who assigned me to Mr. David as his student). After some aptitude testing and some meetings with Mr. Greer, I was on my way to learning Linux and Salesforce.

In the beginning I had no idea what I was getting into when I signed up for Linux. I asked my friends what they knew about it and I heard everything from "It's very user friendly" to "It's very simple to learn and install." Little did I know that my friends had barely scratched the surface of what Linux operating systems are truly capable of, and all of this became evident after meeting David Both as my coach.

Mr. David and I met at a local Dunkin Donuts after exchanging a few emails and texts, and from our brief interaction in that small donut shop I could tell he was brimming with knowledge. The way he presented information about his multitude of PCs and their components in an easy to understand manner while also asking me about my interest in technology in a manner that seemed as if he saw me, a tadpole in a Linux pond of seasoned frogs, as someone deserving to hold the same space as him. 

Coaching set me on my path

After Mr. David provided me with a book about the history of tech and their advancements and imparting a few words of wisdom, I was on my way to becoming an intermediate user of Linux operating systems.

I spent the next few months absorbing as much information as I could, when I could and where I could. As much as I knew (or at least thought I knew) about technology and how it works I was learning so much more about the history of computers and their components and creators of Unix and the perks of open source software and its versatility. 

The person I was when I opened the cover of that paperback book is not the same person I became after closing the back cover, and that is for the better. After all that reading my brain felt like an overflowing bucket, filled to the brim with knowledge about the world of technology, sloshing and splashing puddles filled with information about RAM and hyper threading. 

The next step of my journey took me to YouTube where I would learn to install Ubuntu. Before getting the PC I have now, I was practicing how to install Linux on an older HP laptop. There was something exhilarating about shopping for a Linux distribution and creating a bootable USB and the failures that came along with attempting to install Linux on my worn out laptop. One thing that they don't tell you about installing Linux on your machine, even after the first five times, is that the hardest part is customizing the look and feel. Setting up the partitions and allocating space is considerably easier than making the Linux distribution feel like yours and even seasoned users can attest to this.

The next leg of my journey was learning as many commands as possible and how they're used. I spent weeks poring over a two-hour video of commonly used Linux commands, their syntax and how they can be used as well as their versatility and how they can be paired with other commands in order to do truly astounding things. I kept my laptop with me at all times so that I could continue my learning. I spent time repeating the same commands over and over and practicing out of a practice guide Mr. David gave me about the basics of Bash, and as I progressed through reading the book, my hubris was challenged consistently. I felt that I had a decent grasp of Linux and how things worked but the true test came from consistently making errors and learning how I made the errors and why I made them.

Coaching helped me to learn

Mr. David, a seasoned user of Linux, helped me to understand where the problems were and how I may have managed to create them. I learned that making errors and wanting to find solutions to problems make for a good Linux user. 

Learning and growing from the errors I made, and with help from Mr. David, I was able to develop a miniature program that gave witty quips, the date and a random fortune similar to that of a fortune cookie. The feeling of accomplishment after applying what I had learned and molding a creation of my own and successfully getting it to work is a feeling like no other. 

I continued my studies and received a stack of tomes titled Using and Administering Linux from Mr. David. I am currently almost complete with the first volume. If I could sum up the experience of delving into this book it would be like what I assume the same feeling Neo felt in the movie The Matrix when Morpheus showed him how deep the rabbit hole goes. 

The information gained through watching YouTube and reading articles about the command line was vastly expanded upon. Partition struck fear in my heart as a beginner, and I saw it as an object that could do irreversible harm in the wrong hands. But now I understand the ins and outs and I feel comfortable handling them. 

I think the biggest contributor was how easy it was to consume the material and how casual of a tone it was in. It meets the reader where they are at as a beginner and guides them with simple terminology as well as examples and definitions for further explanation if necessary. There's also the subtle training to be more detail oriented and use your problem solving skills. 

The first installment of the series expects you to have an external drive to complete the experiments if you lack internal storage and it shows you how to set it up. In my case, I had adequate storage to complete the experiments and didn't need the external storage. Yet when I got to a few experiments where you have to list storage devices I was finding that all the results in the book showed sda1, sda2, sda3 and sda4 but my results only showed sda1, sda2, and sda3. What was I missing? Why were my results different? I had to take a step back and remember what sda signified and why I only had three, and what could cause there to be an sda4. My deduction was that because I didn't have an external drive like the book asked for, my results for this experiment and any future experiments involving partitions may not be one-to-one with the book and so I need to be smart about doing the experiments and  make sure that I'm able to complete the experiments as close to perfectly as I can. This flexing and training of my brain will push me and others like me to become a better sysadmin. 

Coaching gave me a boost

Because of coaching, I feel that I've come a long way in my journey to becoming a system admin. It hasn't always been "sunshine and rainbows," but learning never is. I am lucky enough to be coached by someone like Mr. David who feels that knowledge should be easily obtained and easy to consume and I wholeheartedly agree. I've attempted to get into programming and things of that nature years ago but it was very overwhelming.

Mr. David and I have discussed on multiple occasions how having a welcoming community and demeanor can keep new Linux users around for longer, especially with harder Linux distros where it takes a bit more know-how in order to use the distro effectively. As someone who started off scared of what I had gotten myself into I don't think I would have lasted as long as I have without a community, the support of loved ones, and my coach. I plan on continuing this journey from a tadpole to a seasoned frog and helping those like me on my journey from Zero to Linux Hero.