A stranger once asked me, “Are you a hacker?”, when he saw me coding on my Linux-running laptop. I didn’t know how to answer him, but after seeing only one guy in the OSBridge Hacker Lounge last night at 21:30 hours when I was finally going home I realized that, no, I’m not a hacker. Being in your teens and actually coding all night are requirements for being a “hacker” proper. The rest of us are just professionals who hack it until 22:00 hours at best then go home for a full nights sleep. “Hacker” whatever at conferences amuse me because let’s face it: being young, owlish, and poor of diet and sleep may have gotten us to this point in our lives, but it does not and will not take us further.

Tags: conferences, hackers, OSBridge, owlish, teenagers