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Comment by osteele | Hacker News Reader

"Within a month of his arrival, Randy solved some trivial computer problems for one of the other grad students. A week later, the chairman of the astronomy department called him over and said, “So, you’re the UNIX guru.”

"At the time, Randy was still stupid enough to be flattered by this attention, when he should have recognized them as bone-chilling words. Three years later, he left the Astronomy Department without a degree, and with nothing to show for his labors except six hundred dollars in his bank account and a staggeringly comprehensive knowledge of UNIX."

– Neal Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_ (p. 78). HarperCollins.

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Don't forget his girlfriend.

To paraphrase: "Usually a comprehensive knowledge of UNIX and a girlfriend are mutually exclusive."

I am unfamiliar with the passage.

But it describes two options:

1. "A staggeringly comprehensive knowledge of UNIX", three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge

2. A piece of paper just like everyone else in the department.

And while the former might be more difficult to make use of, I think it could be much more valuable in the long run.

No, he left without a degree.

A good point, but the text suggests there are ways to get this knowledge.

  >> except six hundred dollars in his bank account

  >> are ways to get this knowledge.

Edit: are ways 'better' to get this knowledge.

More like two options:

2. A piece of paper just like everyone else in the department, three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge (and probably a girlfriend)

In context, he was underpaid tech support who was taken advantage of and got no grad school education while he paid for grad school. A bunch of scientists who know you as "that guy who fixes my email and doesn't publish or know anything" is not a great network.

> three years of domain-specific education, and a network of people who trust you to--no, who depend on you to be able to get things done with that knowledge

This might be the case, but he's now like the janitor who unplugs the toilet. His work may be appreciated, and it might be necessary, but it's not respected or well remunerated. I guess he gets a little bit of respect for unplugging more theoretical pipes, but a little respect isn't a PhD.

Not useful if he wanted to be an astronomer, but a much more marketable set of skills if his goal was to find a job in industry. Probably also made a more positive (albeit uncredited/unrewarded) contribution to astronomy than most of the grad students.

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