Thanks for visiting "Experiences of a Linux / FOSS User".
I guess I'll start off by telling you about my background so here we go.
I started using Linux in 1995. At that time, I did not know anything about Linux other than it was "like" UNIX. I remember ordering the 4 disc set of "Official" Debian 1.3.1, "Official" Debian 1.3.2, RedHat 4.2 (Biltmore), and Slackware 3.4 from CheapBytes—I still have the discs to this day. I tried installing all three distros and settled on RedHat because I actually got it installed and running.
I knew quite a bit about DOS—not like there is a lot to know in the first place—and started to poke around Linux. I found some of the DOS commands worked in Linux but too few to be useful. I did some searching on the net and found a few more commands I could use then I stumbled across "The Linux Documentation Project".
After looking around on "The Linux Documentation Project" for a bit, I found "The Linux Users' Guide" and read it. From then on, "The Linux Users' Guide" and "The Linux Documentation Project" became indispensable.
I ran RedHat for about 5 years until I got fed up with its lack of a dependency system and moved to Mandrake, which only lasted for less than a year. I finally made a jump to Debian which lasted for a few years until I got tired of very outdated packages and Debian's stance that only "free" software would be included in the distro.
I then decided to go for broke and went to Linux From Scratch (LFS). I learned a lot more about gcc, libraries, etc. while using LFS but in 2003 I made the move to Gentoo Linux and have been using it ever since.
As far as work goes, I got my first job as an Associate Systems Administrator in 2000 for a company in the Kansas City area—hint, it is the one that everyone whispers at when talking on the phone to a radio station for fear of loosing their job—until getting laid off in 2002 due to downsizing. As an Associate Systems Administrator, I got to experience DG/UX, HPUX, AIX, Sun Solaris and Debian.
Due to the market being stagnate in 2002 onward, I was either unemployed or did various contract Desktop / Help Desk support jobs until I landed an UNIX Systems Administrator contract in 2006 at an advertising agency that became a full-time position in 2007.
At my current job, we are using RedHat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, CentOS, Sun Solaris, Windows and VMware on Linux to create and provide hosting for our clients' interactive marketing solutions.
