Linux

TL;DR: Smart sibling ahead of the curve told me in 2011 that tech jobs will be the future and naturally I didn't listen, fast forward to 2016 and my contract job laid me off so I started learning Python (as advised by smart sibling)

I start making all sorts of stupid stuff mostly CLI programs, beginner alg problems. beginner alg console games and so on.

Suddenly I realize I probably know enough to make something real, start slowing learning new things and always think "hmm a real software dev probably does x" and then try x.

Went from CLI stuff to web APIs, then full stack websites, then platform specific gui programs, then learning C++.

And at some point it clicked that this stuff is a lot easier than I thought (I had literally no concept of what programming was before)

I apply for an associates in tech program, just before starting I decide to use Linux to get more familiar with dev technology.

I picked Arch Linux btw, had some issues btw, overcame issues btw and then I landed a job during school as a dev and I kept using Linux as dev.

So it was mostly about getting to understand dev landscape more

I use CachyOS on my desktop (I game), and Arch Linux on laptop (by far the best laptop user experience with tiling wm)

When I built my own PC a little over a year ago. I only knew about Linux in the first place because I was trying (unsuccessfully) to make a media server out of an old laptop (I eventually figured it out)

On and off over the last 15 years or so.

Only recently have I become much more comfortable & able to resolve things without resorting to search, stackoverflow etc.

The turnover point was the day I finally learned vi & cron so I could fiddle with an old Buffalo NAS, that was long out of support, riddled with security holes, and offered only very limited tooling.

Was a great learning experience, but it didn't pan out the way I wanted. So it runs Debian now, supports modern protocols, and continues to serve. Amazing what you can keep in service when you try.

Back when I was first in high school, I got into torrenting and gave myself pretty bad malware that just black-screened my laptop, and even though it had shipped with windows, the installer would not detect my ssd for whatever reason. Linux detected my hardware and I installed Ubuntu, then Mint, and I moved to Arch a few years ago after having learned the ropes. That's about when I fully spiralled into linux nerd.

when apple took all the USB ports out of their macbooks. i needed a new computer, one with a practical set of ports, and windows was never an option