Am I a Hacker? (Reading01-lgrazios)

Personally I never really knew much about what a hacker is, my idea of a hacker was always what I saw on TV and I really never thought of it too much. Some time ago, this hacker TV representation was a dorky, socially awkward person, who loves computers and types really fast, but I feel like recently this representation has shifted and hackers are becoming “cooler”, in a certain way. This is an interesting thing to consider because just as computer science is becoming more popular hackers in a way are becoming more popular as well. Or maybe hackers seem cooler now because I am studying computer science, I don’t know. It might also be that since technology is becoming such a big part of our everyday life hackers are now more relevant, and that is why in almost every action movie, there is a hacker good guy or bad guy, some type of hacking goes on in almost all action movies now.

But I guess I didn’t actually answer the question, the straight up definition of hacker is someone who gains access to something they shouldn’t have access to, usually in the technology area.  No regarding the key characteristics of a hacker, according to “A Portrait of J. Random Hacker”, the hacker stereotype is very similar to the basic TV representation of a hacker, even though I am guessing that was the point of that article… Regardless of that I did identify to some attributes even though I am not a hacker and don’t really know anything about hacking. For example, the reading says,  “Almost all hackers have terribly bad handwriting, and often fall into the habit of block-printing everything like junior draftsmen”, and this is something I do all the time, I always thought it was something I copied from my dad but maybe it is because I am hacker or maybe he is a hacker too. I’m kidding, but I actually noticed I have the same personality type as most hackers, introvert, intuitive and thinker type, but I am not a hacker, what if this is a characteristic for computer science majors, or programmers and we are just clustering hackers with computer science majors all together? Or should become a hacker because I fit some of these characteristics? That can also come to mean that being a hacker is something you learn, and it is not something you just are. Every single hacker has the choice to learn hacking and actually do it, but do they choose to do it because of how they are or is it based on their environment and the opportunities they get growing up. It might also be as the reading “The conscience of a Hacker”, and how he “found a computer… It does what he wants it to do. If it makes a mistake, its because I screwed it up.  Not because it doesn’t like me … or feels threatened by me…” this might also be a reason why hackers become hackers. Since, hackers tend to be introverted and avoid confrontation, since they were like that they chose to be hackers or programmers because they interact with a computer, and that is it.

So, I really think that I am not a hacker, because I cant do what hacker usually can do but I might fit in with the hacker community if I ever decide to become a hacker.