Starting your tech career: Three reasons you need to learn Linux

Anchoring your career on fundamental skills and knowledge is very key in the professional space. Similarly, when it comes to careers in ICT, it is very essential to be fundamentally knowledgeable or grounded in some key ICT concepts. Some of the key concepts include Operating Systems, computer networks, computer hardware, programming just to highlight a few. In this article, we will discuss Operating Systems mainly focusing on Linux.

Practically, the physical container of the computer is the hardware, the Operating System is similarly a virtual or an intangible container where all the computing happens. In the course of your ICT career, you will come across three most popular flavours of Operating Systems. These include Microsoft Windows, Linux and MacOS. As I earlier hinted, in this article we will discuss Linux, one exciting multifunctional giant OS in the ICT industry worldwide.

In our discussion, we will briefly highlight three points that I presumably have noted in my career on why you or your next of kin should learn and have fundamental knowledge of Linux. Hence, this article is targeting those desiring to begin their careers in ICT or arguably considering learning Linux.

A giant in the industry.

One primary reason why you should learn Linux is that it is one of the giants in ICT with respect to software. From powering mobile devices on Android OS to anchoring computer networks across the Internet as servers, Linux is undoubtedly one of the giants if not the giant in the ICT industry. One plain fact is that Linux anchors the Internet. As of 2017, reports indicate that Linux runs 90% of the Internet workload. Hence in one way or the other as an ICT practitioner you will interface and use Linux.

If you have used a website or read this article, chances are that this article is hosted on a web server that is running one of the many Linux based distributions running Nginx or Apache program/service as a web server. Additionally, when you access a website like msukwa.com on your browser, on the Internet there is a technology called Domain Name System (DNS) which translates the name msukwa.com into a machine recognised number called an IP address. In this case, chances are high that the DNS server is running on one of the Linux distributions. For instance, during my college placement I was lucky to be attached to Malawi SDNP, the current registry for the .mw Country Top Level Domain for Malawi. By then the DNS servers hosting the .mw domain names were running on Linux. This was my first ever interaction with Linux on an enterprise infrastructure.

If you are using an Android mobile phone that's a Linux based technology. One day you may end up contributing towards the development of Android OS which is maintained by Google and your knowledge of Linux will be very key. Similarly you might end up developing an Android mobile application, while not necessary, your knowledge of Linux might be needed in this front. On a side note, you can check out my article on mobile application development and also check out my android mobile application on play store in case you choose this route. I can go on to list the many key services on the Internet that are anchored by Linux. But as a beginner it is better you do the research for the remaining part.

Multi-functional software.

For the various Linux distributions out there, you will use Linux as a server or a desktop OS. The Linux distributions offer various functions depending on what services or functions you want to use. For instance, one good Linux distribution is Ubuntu. If you are a creative person, Ubuntu Studio OS will provide you with a plethora of programs that will enable you to work with audio, photography, video and graphics design.

Likewise, for services or programs in computer networking like web hosting, DNS, DHCP and others you can opt to use Ubuntu Server. On the other hand other distributions of Linux also exist that can be used for cybersecurity, data science and programming. Distributions like Kali Linux, parrot, Centos, fedora and others will offer you great tools for use. Hence having fundamental skills or knowledge of Linux will enable you to be grounded in these tech skills.

Linux is exciting.

Have you ever watched a movie where a guy sits in front of a computer, punching his keyboard and there is a series of text in yellow, green, red running on the monitor. If you ever wondered or got excited with such an experience, Linux will presumably give you such a feeling.

Practically, Linux offers you exciting tools to use. One of the most exciting tools is the Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI provides you with an interface that allows you to interact with the various computer programs/services using commands. i.e. commands for creating, deleting files or folders and commands that will allow you to fully utilize Linux for various functions including networking, cybersecurity just to highlight a few.

Thus, anchoring your career on tools that are exciting to learn and use will arguably motivate you to stay consistent in the course of your tech career.