Need a Linux admin? Ask a hair stylist to introduce you to a worried mother

Lad who 'stays in his bedroom on his computer' emerged ready to deliver brilliant tech support

On Call It may be a holiday Friday in much of the Reg-reading world but that won't stop us from delivering another installment of On Call, our weekly reader-contributed column that tells your tech support tales.

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Finn" who once worked for a very large hosting and domain registry outfit and found himself managing a young man with no experience or obviously relevant skills.

The youngster was hired after his mother visited her hairdresser and worried out loud that her son would never get a job "because he spends all day in his bedroom on his computer."

It turned out the hairdresser knew someone who knew someone who ran the company where Finn worked and relayed his mother's hope that the young man could be given a job doing … well, anything that would get him out of the house and into the real world.

The young man was hired on minimum wage and ended up on Finn's team.

"Nobody knew why he had been hired. Was it to make tea? We thought he was a clear charity case," Finn told On Call.

Finn asked the young man if he knew anything about hosting or domain registration.

The new hire was, as expected, ignorant of the latter topic.

But he knew a surprising amount about hosting. In fact, he knew as much as anyone on Finn's team.

"He had used the time in his bedroom to become a Linux guru," Finn told On Call.

And as luck would have it, Finn needed that exact skill set, ASAP.

"We had two guys who hosted with us booked in for a three-hour session on how to streamline their setup and we had promised to answer their questions about Linux."

Grandmothers, too!

On Call also heard from a chap we'll call "Tom" who told us that a few weeks into his first job in tech he fell ill.

"It was nothing bad, just low fever and fatigue, but it lasted for a couple of weeks," he told On Call.

"I'd mentioned it to my family, but before I got a diagnosis from my doctor, I got a call from my grandmother, who was sure my job had given me 'that computer virus I heard about on the news.'"

Tom explained that people can't get that sort of virus. "I don't think I convinced her."

Finn was so impressed by the young man he brought him to the meeting and watched as he delivered professional and expert Linux support.

"The customer went away happy and impressed," Finn told On Call.

The young man had mixed feelings because by then he had learned of the considerable sum charged for his services and compared that to his tiny wage.

"It's unfair," the young man tearfully complained to Finn.

"Life is unfair," Finn replied. "Welcome to the real world."

But the professional world worked out OK for the young man, who Finn told us eventually became "a very senior IT administrator."

And presumably his mother was very proud.

Have you found a talented techie through unconventional means? If so, click here to send us an email so we can share your story. ®