I know a guy. He is a dang good Linux admin. Before I could just point Grok at a box and ask it what was wrong, I would ping him, give him a login, and let him poke around. He has a talent for it. He is better at Linux than I have ever been.
But it is not his passion.
He does not go home at night and tinker because he read about some new technique and has to try it. He has a passion. It is just not this. So he invests enough to keep abreast, and then he goes and does the thing he actually loves. Back when I was a community manager we called these folks 9 to 5 developers. Clock in, clock out, go live your life.
I am fine with this.
Something about it bothers me though. My friend learns when a problem forces him to. Something breaks that he has never seen, he digs in, he comes out the other side knowing more. That is real learning and it works. I learn things nobody asked me to learn. Most of it goes nowhere. Every so often one of them turns into a skill I could not have known I was going to need.
On a stable industry those two look identical. His way is arguably the more efficient one. And again, he is better at Linux than I am.
But the ground is moving. We can all feel the rumbles.
So what happens to a great Linux admin if Linux is not the substrate anymore? I am not predicting that. I am asking what he does if it comes. He is not equipped for a tectonic shift, and the muscle for adapting is not something you can start building the week you need it. You build it in the years when you did not need it at all.
Eric Hoffer wrote this in 1967, long before any of us were worried about AI:
"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."
He was not writing about software. He may as well have been.
This is why it is no surprise to me that my friend does not like AI. AI is a real threat if learning is a thing that happens to you when a problem shows up. It is not much of a threat at all if adapting is just what you do. Same industry. Same tools. Completely different exposure. Talent is not what is being graded here.
I am not asking you to love this the way I love it. You do not have to be me. You do not owe your evenings to a terminal.
But you do need the habit. That part is not optional, and it is a much smaller ask than passion.
Now go learn something you will never need.
Originally posted on LinkedIn: "Learning for Nothing"