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!rant just a question. Sorry in advance for the long post.

I've been working in IT in Windows infrastructure and networking side of things for my entire career (5years) and recently was hired for a role working with AWS.

We use Macs and we use *nix distros for days. I've only ever dabbled for 'funsies' before with Linux because every previous job I held was a Windows house and f*** all else.

I'm just wondering if anyone here might have some insights as to a great way to learn the Linux environment and to learn it the right way. I'm not the best Windows admin ever and will never claim to be, but I have seen stuff that other people have done that makes me want to swing a brick at someone's head. And I feel that with all of the setup wizards and the "We'll just do it for you." approach that Windows has used since forever it allowed enough wiggle room for people that didn't know what they were doing to f*** sh*t up royally. I'm not familiar enough with Linux to know if this is also a common problem. I know that having literal full-access to every file in your OS can cause a n00b like myself to mess up royal, thus the question about learning Linux the right way.

I vaguely understand the organization of the folders and file structure within Linux, and I know some very basic commands.

sudo rm -rf /*
Just kidding

But All of my co-workers at my new job are like mighty oaks of knowledge while I'm a tiny sapling. And at times I've been intimidated by how little I know, but equally motivated to try and play catch-up.

In addition to all of this, I really want to start learning how to program. I've tried learning multiple times from places like codecademy.com, YouTube tutorials, and codeschool.com but I feel like I'm missing the lesson that explains why to use a certain operation instead of another. Example: if/else in lieu of a switch.

I'm also failing to get the concept of syntax in certain languages I've tried before. Java comes to mind real fast.

The first language I tried teaching myself was C++ from YouTube. I ended up having a fever dream that night about coding and woke up in a cold sweat. Literally, like brain overload or something. I was watching tutorials for like 9 hours straight.

Does anyone know of a training resource that will explain, in terms a 5 year old would understand, what the code is doing and why? I really want to learn but I'm starting to lose steam cause I'm just not getting it.

Thank you in advance for any tips guys and gals. I really appreciate it. Sorry for the ridiculously long questions.

Comments
  • 2
    There is a course on linux on edx by linux foundation. Why don't you try that?
  • 0
    Thank you for the advice everyone. I'll definitely take a look at everyone's suggestions.
    @valium123 edx from linux foundation
    @kryptxy python the hard way
    @Condor I've dabbled with Ubuntu a few times maybe I need to pull the trigger and just not revert to Windows as soon I want to play videogames again lol.
  • 1
    Well... I learned Linux while in University...
    Basically Vista times so you can understand why :)

    I did an Ubuntu install and just started setting everything up using only Google.
    Meanwhile I used nothing else.

    After 2 months I was pretty "at ease" with bash/Linux. At one point I deleted the boot partition 🙃🙃😎😎 that was fun.

    My point being just working with it even in a home environment will get you going and I'd (and did) go cold 🦃!

    As for coding for me it started as a hobby with web/front end then backend then mobile.

    My own PERSONAL opinion that I have no interest fighting over in replies (🤓) is that java is good for pretty much everything. You can do a killer backend (app engine runs Jetty by eclipse), you can also do a native java UI (though no one wants to and I don't blame em) and you can do Android with it.
    On top of that it has libraries and docs for everything (also check kotlin and Scala with it for functional programming)
  • 0
    Google/StackOverflow is your friend. When in doubt just ask them. I learned a lot of useful commands by just googling (like "how to batch rename files in linux"). It's also worth mentioning that I set up and maintain my own websites on Linux VPS's, you can learn a bunch of useful Linux commands in the process. Don't know how? Just Google!
  • 0
    TutorialLinux is my go to channel on YouTube right now! :) check Him out!
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