Confessions of a Former Hacker

Made you blink, didn’t I?

Yes, it’s true. I have been trained
as a professional (although now “former”) hacker.  I used to spend my
days with huge computer systems, using ninja-like tools to solve the
most complex of problems.

So what is a hacker, really?  Well,
the truth is the true definition of a hacker is one who takes delight
in solving problems and overcoming limits.

Huh?

If you thought hackers were the bad
guys, think again.  Hackers actually have a code a set of rules they
live by to do their work.  It’s the “crackers” (like safe-cracker) that
you have to watch out for.
If you are a creative, smart and big picture thinker, you’re probably a
hacker too. Welcome to the club – I’d like to share the Hacker code
with you. It’s simple, and it only has 5 rules:

Hackers solve problems and build
things, and they believe in freedom and voluntary mutual help. (Sound
familiar?) To be accepted as a hacker, you have to behave as though you
have this kind of attitude yourself. And to behave as though you have
the attitude, you have to really believe the attitude.

Still want to join the club?  Okay, here are the rules:
1. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved.

Being a hacker is lots of fun, but
it’s a kind of fun that takes lots of effort. The effort takes
motivation. Successful athletes get their motivation from a kind of
physical delight in making their bodies perform, in pushing themselves
past their own physical limits. Similarly, to be a hacker you have to
get a basic thrill from solving problems, sharpening your skills, and
exercising your intelligence.

(You also have to develop a kind of
faith in your own learning capacity — a belief that even though you may
not know all of what you need to solve a problem, if you tackle just a
piece of it and learn from that, you’ll learn enough to solve the next
piece — and so on, until you’re done.)

2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice.

Creative brains are a valuable,
limited resource. They shouldn’t be wasted on re-inventing the wheel
when there are so many fascinating new problems waiting out there.

To behave like a hacker, you have to
believe that the thinking time of other hackers is precious — so much
so that it’s almost a moral duty for you to share information, solve
problems and then give the solutions away just so other hackers can
solve new problems instead of having to perpetually re-address old ones.

(You don’t have to believe that
you’re obligated to give all your creative product away, though the
hackers that do are the ones that get most respect from other hackers.
It’s consistent with hacker values to sell enough of it to keep you in
food and rent and computers. It’s fine to use your hacking skills to
support a family or even get rich, as long as you don’t forget your
loyalty to your art and your fellow hackers while doing it.)

3. Boredom and drudgery are evil.

Hackers (and creative people in
general) should never be bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive
work, because when this happens it means they aren’t doing what only
they can do — solve new problems. This wastefulness hurts everybody.
Therefore boredom and drudgery are not just unpleasant but actually
evil.

To behave like a hacker, you have to
believe this enough to want to automate away the boring bits as much as
possible, not just for yourself but for everybody else (especially
other hackers).

(There is one apparent exception to
this. Hackers will sometimes do things that may seem repetitive or
boring to an observer as a mind-clearing exercise, or in order to
acquire a skill or have some particular kind of experience you can’t
have otherwise. But this is by choice — nobody who can think should
ever be forced into a situation that bores them.)

4. Freedom is good.

Hackers are naturally
anti-authoritarian. Anyone who can give you orders can stop you from
solving whatever problem you’re being fascinated by — and, given the
way authoritarian minds work, will generally find some appallingly
stupid reason to do so. So the authoritarian attitude has to be fought
wherever you find it, lest it smother you and other hackers.

5. Attitude is no substitute for competence.

To be a hacker, you have to develop
some of these attitudes. But copping an attitude alone won’t make you a
hacker, any more than it will make you a champion athlete or a rock
star. Becoming a hacker will take intelligence, practice, dedication,
and hard work.

Therefore, you have to learn to
distrust attitude and respect competence of every kind. Hackers won’t
let posers waste their time, but they worship competence — especially
competence at hacking, but competence at anything is good. Competence
at demanding skills that few can master is especially good, and
competence at demanding skills that involve mental acuteness, craft,
and concentration is best.

If you revere competence, you’ll
enjoy developing it in yourself — the hard work and dedication will
become a kind of intense play rather than drudgery. That attitude is
vital to becoming a hacker.

If this makes sense to you, you just might be a hacker too!  Live it, love it and let it grow.

Welcome to the club – it’s great in here, isn’t it?

Stephanie Frank
Founder and President of SuccessIQ University
Best Selling Author, The Accidental Millionaire

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