So you’ve made up your mind. You are going to flee that confounded cube, cluttered with pictures and toys that desperately tried to make it seem cheery, and get out on your own to do what you love most — Linux. You dream of meetings with Fortune 500 executives, where you’ll stand at a podium delivering the sermon of your life. Casting Windows in the role of the evil giant Goliath and Linux as David, you scream for the deliverance of Corporate America from monopolistic proprietary vendors.
So you’ve made up your mind. You are going to flee that confounded cube, cluttered with pictures and toys that desperately tried to make it seem cheery, and get out on your own to do what you love most — Linux. You dream of meetings with Fortune 500 executives, where you’ll stand at a podium delivering the sermon of your life. Casting Windows in the role of the evil giant Goliath and Linux as David, you scream for the deliverance of Corporate America from monopolistic proprietary vendors.
The nice thing is that this comes naturally to you. You debate the virtues of Linux vs. Windows all the time — and often you win! Unfortunately, reality will show you that the interests of a hacker/geek and those of a Fortune 500 IT exec are worlds apart. As a result, if you plan on pitching Linux as a moral imperative, or from some other evangelistic place, you will almost certainly do yourself and the community a grave disservice.
The “Fortune 500 IT manager mentality” is scary and very real. While technical expertise is very important, just as important is getting to understand who your prospective client is, what they do, who they answer to, and where their real pain resides. You must be prepared to pitch Linux on his terms and talk intelligently about Open Source in the context of their existing environment. As much fun…
Please log in to view this content.
Not Yet a Member?
Register with LinuxMagazine.com and get free access to the entire archive, including:
