Geekdom - Geek Pride

They call us IT Geeks. We call ourselves Geeks. Well, it sort of fits. Webopedia even has a definition of Geek. "Short for computer geek, an individual with a passion for computers, to the exclusion of other normal human interests. Depending on the context, it can be used in either a derogatory or affectionate manner. Basically, geek and nerd are synonymous."Of course I take exception to that "nerd" being synonymous with geek sentence. In today's world who is not facinated and fixated by information technology to the extent that it makes up part of their human interests? Then again --- we in IT take this a bit further than your normal human. Take Hugh Nix for instance, one of our system admins at ACME. This guy has a better network and server setup at home than many third world countries. We used to joke that he had a computer set up so he could toss his legs over the side of the bed in the morning and jump right online. That was years ago we made that joke. Now he has a laptop and wireless so he can be online in bed even. He can securely view his webcam at home from work. He has multiple servers, a firewall, router, wireless access point, and more. I don't think he needs to run his heat in the dead of winter due to all the warmth put off by the equipment. I'd hate to see his electric bill.

Is Hugh odd? Not really, our network engineer Eugene Wright has a ton of equipment at home. I know for a fact that our telecom manager Sandra Hook would put a PBX in her townhouse if she had the time. Our database admin Tara Byte spends free time tinkering with Oracle at home.

What more could an IT director wish for? Our tech people at ACME not only work with technology they live with it. I support their quest for geekdom whenever I can. These folks have a blurred at-work, off-work mentality. I can recall my own time sunk into playing with components to build my own home computer and network having to convince my wife it was sort of a hobby but also work and would benefit us too. Heck, now that I think about it I have two router/switches, a hub, wireless, and more computers than people in my house.

Ask me who I am? Ich bin ein Geek!