

Ask HN: Why Hackers? - kmuzykov

Hi All,<p>I think I've missed something. 
When did software developers, project managers or any IT related persons have become Hackers?<p>I've googled it and found no information on how it come this way.<p>I've never been a Hacker in it's old meaning. Wanted to be in my 11-15th, but everything ended without any serious hacks or anything like that.
But in those days, to become a Hacker you had to reach some level, you had to get approval of community. Someone never could call himself a Hacker by himself.<p>Nowadays it looks like anyone can call himself a hacker after a "Hello world!" app.<p>So the question is why do you call yourself a Hacker?
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mindcrime
I've always thought of being a Hacker as more of a mindset than a badge of
accomplishment. There are famous or great Hackers, like Linus or Stallman or
whoever, but I've always thought of anybody who codes and has a passion for
exploring new things, learning, pushing the boundaries, optimization, novel
techniques, etc. as a Hacker.

And of course that's only within the context of writing software. The "hacker
mentality" is really independent of coding. As far as I'm concerned, you can
"hack" any sort of system, so there's no reason there couldn't be "hacker
lawyers,"hacker librarians," "hacker doctors," etc.

~~~
kmuzykov
I totally agree. But why use word "Hacker"? Let's make up a new word for such
state of mind. When I've first read Hacker's manifesto
([http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3&mode=...](http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3&mode=txt))
I wanted to become a Hacker, but never did, although everything written there
is very close for me. But I've never called myself a Hacker.

~~~
mindcrime
Well, you could try. But you'd be fighting a lot of history and inertia. The
"Hacker Subculture" has been around for quite a while and that usage of the
word is pretty commonplace.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture%29)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution)

~~~
kmuzykov
Thanks for the links, I've somehow missed new description of a Hacker - "A
person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching
their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the
minimum necessary."

Looks like now you can learn Ctrl+S (which is above the minimum necessary,
File -> Save) and call yourself a Hacker.

~~~
mindcrime
Yeah, but that's not exactly "stretching it's capabilities."

Ultimately labels are just conveniences. Anybody can call themselves a Hacker
if they want to, even if they don't even know Ctrl+S. But the rest of the
world is free to acknowledge or ignore their self-label. Personally I'm quite
happy with that state of affairs. The last thing I'd want is a Bureau of
Hackers that you have to fill out 3 forms, in triplicate and pay a "filing
fee" to every year, in order to be called a Hacker. :-)

