1st Post

I'm Nick. Full time US Army soldier and part-time-nerd. By this I mean that in my spare time I work with computers, not just because I have an abiding interest in technology, but also because my long-term goal is to leave the military at the end of my contract (still two and a half years away) and become a program developer / Linux network administrator. Before I joined the military I was an English major with three years under my belt. When I get out of the military I'm going to be switching gears completely and getting a Computer Science degree using my GI Bill money. In the meantime, I want to learn as much as a I can about computer systems in an effort to become Linux and Oracle certified so that when I go back to school I can work part-time in the industry and thus have a stronger resume going into the job market. I have a long way to go and I'm WAY behind the curve. I'm 26 years old and have only an enthusiasts grasp of computer basics. This blog is going to be an ongoing public record of my struggle to learn the in's and out's of Linux (specifically openSUSE as it's my chosen distribution), networking, and software development. I hope that through documenting this process I can be informative to others and also gather feedback and advice from enthusiasts and those in the industry. My current job in the military is as a Combat Camerman, which means taking photos and video for the military (the photo above is me in my photo studio). I'm stationed in Vicenza, Italy.