Nerd, Geek or Both?

Nerd, Geek or Both?

What is the modern day definition of a nerd and a geek? Why did being a geek or nerd become a bad thing to be?

Are nerds and geeks two classes of future bosses or just levels to becoming an engineer. Do you need a bit of both to become a great engineer? Let me explain?

Wikihow on nerds and geek

What is a nerd?

A nerd is someone who decides to concentrate on non-social studies. Nerds are your boss of tomorrow. Nerds love to use unfamiliar references. A nerd loves a life of solitude.

Nerds enjoy programming, chess, and other strategy games. Nerds are introverted. They work for NASA, software developers or an engineer.

A nerd does not have to be scrawny, pimple faced, or introverted. We come in all shapes and sizes. Most don’t go to the gym unless I am mentoring them. I suggest to all nerds that physical and mental stamina are important for long hours of study and research.

What is a geek?

A geek is someone who excels in a subject and it is a major focus in their lives. More than a casual hobby. A geek will use obscure references all the time. You would have expert knowledge. I would be considered a computer geek. Someone who really know sports would be a sports geek. A person who really knows about cars and components in a car would be an auto geek.

Geeks play board games, gadgets, hacking, and follow movie directors and composers.

Geeks might have artistic jobs like games, graphic, or web designers.

What am I?

I study things based on the questions I come up with. I read an article. Have a question. I need to find the answer. I learned at work that most people I have to communicate with about their data centers have a novice education on the subject. Second rule of engineering is you must be able to communicate your ideas so everyone can understand. A nerd does not have this skill of interaction. So a nerd is starts at level 1. An engineer is level 3. To be an engineer, you must learn how to explain ideas in simple terms. I see this as a nerd growing to a new level. I love playing chess. I am not introverted at all. I was when I was a child and teen. You can’t be a great engineer, if you are introverted.

My accomplishments as a nerd / engineer are listed in my 30+ years in data centers section. I have solved many problems for m vendors. My experiise with their hardware and software allows me to solve their problems. I come up with unique solutions to problems I face in the data center.

My expert knowledge and beta testing skills allow me to offer enhancements to their products. Write up proposals to improve on what they designed.

 

Do most engineers start out as a nerd. Study hard. Learn everything and anything. Start out introverted and a book worm. As you mature, you start applying what you learn by playing with gadgets and building things. You start talking to other geeks and learn your communication skills. You learn to interact with civilians, non-nerd-geeks. Once you hit college, you start training to be an engineer.

SciFI, Design and Coding

I love my Sci-Fi. I have been watching Dr. Who and many other Sci-Fi shows all my life. I buy the original Dr. Who videos from Amazon. I have a huge collection of movies from the 50s to 80s in the genre. I have been doing CAD, graphics and design work for 20+ years. I designed and implemented the upgrade of our basement. I designed everything on Turbo CAD in 3D. I used my knowledge to do the wiring. You can look at other sections of my web site to find my CSS coding pages. Building this web site has brought out the geek in me. I researched the best practices in designing a web site. Studied the different layouts from fixed, fluid, and elastic. I was able to get the site to work on my smart phone including all the Jalbum stuff. Is being a geek the second step in being an engineer?

Gaming

Look at the amazing world of gaming. Second Life and Skyrim are complete virtual worlds to explore. I am at level 142 in Skyrim. I have explored and discovered 95% of the map. I am trying to complete all the quests a few hours a week.

I love to write code or program. Programming is an art. Code write tight and elegant is amazing to see. A computer can do what your imagintion wants it to do. I have been having fun learning C# and CSS. Follow my C# and CSS pages to see what I am learning and the examples of the code. I have been writing old school algorithms and learning how C# does it now.

Beta Testing

The geek in me loves beta testing computer hardware. I have worked with many of my vendors in testing hardware, firmware, and software over 30+ years. You can find this on other pages on this web site. Amanda and I went shopping and I found a store that played and sold games like D&D, Catan, and other games. I have been looking for Stratego and Emergency for years. That store had them.