Geeks vs. Dweebs

[gbm85]

What separates a geek from a dweeb? Here are some of my ideas. Feel free to post your own!

Geek: Installs Debian and sets up a mail server within hours, issuing every command from memory
Dweeb: Finally manages to set up Exchange after days of reading the manual, Googling, and talking to Microsoft's tech support

Geek: Impresses you by coming over to your house and controlling their home computer with their cell phone
Dweeb: Tries to impress you by pairing their cell phone with a Bluetooth headset

Geek: Hops on your computer, fires up hdparm, tweaks some settings for a minute, and shows you benchmarks indicating that your uncached throughput has doubled
Dweeb: Comes out of your computer room and tells you that in a few hours, your drive will finish defragging and it will "feel faster"

Geek: Points at something on the screen, tells you that it's the password for your neighbor's wireless network, and that cracking it was easy and fast
Dweeb: Points at their BS degree, and tells you that this piece of paper is their single greatest accomplishment, it took four years of hard work, and they're still paying for it

[Seshat]

Geek knows that individual people have different areas of expertise, and respects that while they know thing X, they know nothing about thing Y and you do.
Dweeb tries to impress you with their knowledge about thing Y when they know nothing and you're the expert.

Geek will honestly tell you they don't know how to install a mail server, but "give me a few hours and 'net access and poke pizza at me with a stick around 9pm." When they finally come out, not only is the mail server installed, but whatever part of your system is the Geek's area of expertise has been tuned to near-perfection.
Dweeb will try to fake knowing how to install the mail server, and will screw up your system in the name of 'making it better'.

. . . yeah, I've got a theme going here.

[gunsage]

Geek thinks he knows the answer, or is pretty sure anyway, so he asks someone to verify it.
Dweeb interjects with other dweebs as the instructor and the geek stand back and watch the chaos. Various dweebs come up with several theories, all of them wrong. Meanwhile, once they walk away all confused, geek steps back up with instructor and figures it out immediately.

BTW, this was a story from the first week at Tech Skills. Yes, I was the geek. :p

[Der Cute]

Hey GBM!!!

I'm still paying for my AAS degree, I would read up first on how to install an Exchange server and YES I usually tell users to defrag.

Cutenoob

[Pedersen]

Hey, cutenoob: Don't worry. The dweeb can't become the geek. They have mental blocks that forever keep them at dweeb-dom. And I've spoken enough to know that you're closer to the geek than the dweeb :)

My contribution:
Geeks: Have at least two functioning computers at home, and enough spare parts that they could probably build a third if they cared to.
Dweebs: Have a single computer, and no spare parts.

Geeks: That third computer is always about to be built, just as soon as the other settings are finished being tweaked on the other computers.
Dweebs: Still working on getting the first computer to work. Sometimes, it does, despite their best efforts.

[Broomjockey]

I've got two computers, but no spare parts. One desktop and one lappy. Where's that put me?

[Pedersen]

Dunno, BroomJockey. I haven't found a good fit for me in this list, either. I install Debian, but don't remember all the steps for configuring a mail server on it (mainly because I can never quite remember how to do the external authentication).

I show off pairing a Bluetooth headset, answer tech questions in the stores, and help instructors out when weird issues come up in the class room. I've got a BS degree, but respect that other people are extreme specialists in areas other than computers.

I think I'm closer to geek than dweeb, but am not sure on this list. Even still, it's fun to ponder :)

[gbm85]

Cutenoob and Pedersen:

I didn't mean to imply that degrees are worthless, or that they are not a rightful source of pride. I simply meant that a dweeb is someone who really doesn't know too much about the subject, but they worked hard and earned the degree. A degree is supposed to say "I know my stuff, and this proves it." That's a geek. A dweeb says "I barely know my stuff. Good thing I have this."

Cutenoob:

Defragging is a regular part of computer maintenance (for Windows file systems at least), and a geek knows that it is part of keeping the computer running well. A dweeb thinks defragging is the be-all end-all of speed tweaking and swears that after doing it, their computer runs twice as fast.

Pedersen:

Pairing Bluetooth devices is something that is beyond the abilities of most people. It's something that you can take some pride in knowing, but you are separated from the dweeb because this is not your most impressive trick.

Broomjockey:

I've spent enough time talking to you to know that you are a geek, and most definitely not a dweeb.

[protege]

To add to what GBM is saying...just because someone has a degree, doesn't mean they know what they're doing ;) and no, I do not have a computer degree. I'm an accountant...yet I do tech support. Most of what I know, came from messing around with computers over the past 25 years or so...way back to TI 99-4/A and CP/M days :p I don't know everything, but like most geeks, I can look it up.

Dweebs, on the other hand, will attempt to bullshit their way through the unknowns.

[Seshat]

Dunno, BroomJockey. I haven't found a good fit for me in this list, either. I install Debian, but don't remember all the steps for configuring a mail server on it (mainly because I can never quite remember how to do the external authentication).

I presume, however, that you know how to find the answer. :)

I don't know how to install a mail server from memory: it's not my area of expertise. However, I have a whole stack of relevant books in the house and access to Safari and know how to access the relevant online documentation and how to read a HOWTO, a README or a Unix man page.

Even in my specific area of expertise, there are times when I need to grab a copy of the book I wrote (yes, the book I wrote - you'd think I'd know it all!) and verify that my memory of a particular syntax is correct, or do the whole 'um... it's one of the admin options, I think... oh yes, here it is' thing.

You don't have to know it, you just have to know how to find out, and understand the underlying principles well enough that the documentation isn't an incomprehensible mess to you.

. . . even if I personally am of the opinion that too much of the documentation IS an incomprehensible mess. But a geek is willing to struggle with bad documentation - and if the geek has time, to scribble down some clarifying notes and submit them as a docs patch.