Are you interested in technical stuff like Software development, Ethical hacking, Server-side computing, IoT based device monitoring, etc.? If yes, congratulations! You are at the right place. In today’s world, knowledge of Linux is considered the most in-demand technical skill in the IT industry. So let’s dive deeper into the world of Linux.
What is Linux?
Linux is an open-source, kernel-based operating system (OS) that runs on hardware computer systems and manages the other application programs like web browsers, word processors, etc. to be installed and run on the computer.
As mentioned above ‘Linux’ operating system is an open-source product what it means is we do not have to purchase a license to have it installed on our personal computers like ‘Windows’ and the most important aspect is a vast community of developers is continuously working on improving the features of Linux operating system.
Nowadays there are so many distributions also called “distros” of Linux are available for personal and commercial use. But the most popular ones among those are:
Why Linux?
In today’s world, the IT sector of every country is progressing very fast and in this scenario of development, there is no dearth of job opportunities for those people who are interested and capable of making a good start in this leading sector with their technical skills. A large number of people want to establish their career in the IT industry. For that purpose, everyone tries to learn and develop the essential technical skills that are required to survive in the IT industry. Learning ‘Linux’ is a great way to start your journey as a developer who is aspiring to get a job in the IT industry.
Now the point is why knowledge of ‘Linux’ operating systems is considered an important technical skill in today’s technology-driven world. The answer to this question is hidden in the use of Linux in a wide range of applications. Yes, this Linux is not only limited to Laptops or Desktops rather it is widely used in other electronic devices like tablets, mobile phones, etc. The answer to why learning Linux is important is that Linux is used everywhere almost in every technical domain like Web hosting (servers), Operating system for mobile phones (Android is a kernel-based OS), Cloud technologies (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, etc.), Networking, etc. It is a well-known fact for all of us that a very small number of user computers have Linux installed on them. But this can not undermine the fact that directly or indirectly we all are using Linux system services like Android phones, popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc. In fact, It has been estimated that half of the content on the web is generated by the servers running on Linux.
Who all can use Linux?
It is most commonly heard that Linux systems are used by developers i.e technologically advanced people who are continuously involved in programming/coding, software development, or testing, maybe for hacking. It is very much true but it doesn’t mean that common people can not learn Linux, it is difficult for them or it is of no use for them. In fact, learning Linux especially the **CLI (Command Line Interface) helps us to improve our understanding of how computers work actually.
The most common users of the Linux operating system includes the following groups of people.
- Developers & Programmers: These are the people who design and develop different computer applications to perform any complex task very easily. Linux is the system that allows the programmers to write code scripts i.e. the programmers can put together a group of commands and execute it to perform complex actions. The source code of the Linux operating system is freely available for the developers to experiment with it by doing different changes in its source code, so this becomes the another most important reason for the developers community to use Linux operating system.
- Network Engineers: These are the people who are responsible for managing the vast computer network that is used for transferring different types of data over the internet. The knowledge of Linux becomes necessary for Network Engineers because more than half of the worlds’ web servers are running on different distros of Linux operating system.
- Cybersecurity Personals: These are the people who are continuously involved in monitoring and investigating the different types of security threats to the systems or servers where the critical data or information is stored. These people use Linux systems to carry out penetration testing also called pen testing or to assess the vulnerability of the system.
- Data Analysts & Scientists: These are the people who analyze and sort the huge data sets to figure out some specific trends or behaviors or to make close predictions. These people use Linux systems because of the availability of a large number of tools and commands for data analysis like My SQL.
What should be a beginner’s approach to Linux?
As a beginner, one should start his/her journey of Linux with CLI. A beginner must learn how to use CLI on Linux systems for writing and executing different commands. Afterward one should practice the basic Linux commands related to file or directory creation and management, reading, writing, and editing the contents of any file through CLI by executing them on a Linux system.
A Command Line Interface (CLI) is a text-based interface provided in the Linux OS apart from the GUI (Graphical User Interface) which is used to write and execute commands. There is a specific command for each operation, we perform on our computer systems. It is favorable to use the GUI for our normal use as it becomes quite easier to work with the beautiful file and application icons like on a normal PC having ‘Windows’ operating system installed on it. But when it comes to things like troubleshooting and system administration then CLI is a “Hero!” because it provides the true and clear picture of what our system is doing at a given time.
Hope you all have understood why the knowledge of Linux is important for an individual. If yes, why don’t you go and install Linux on your system and start exploring its amazing features? Let’s jump into the world of Linux.
