My Story - How I Became A "professional Unboxer"

[Whiskers]

Still waiting on one of these from Slick, Dezel (Diesel?) and B-roll! :P

[CoolBeans]

It sounds like he is about to cry or is really bored

[sabot]

I love the eyes, lookin errywhere.

[BgG286]

The rest of LTT should make one of these, I think the forum would like to know what got THEM where they are now too.

[exFA]

Sigh... you totally left out the part where somebody **COUGH** made you pluck the monobrow...  B)

[Overl0rd]

How do you think IP gaming will affect the way you will be doing your job in the future? With less consumer-end hardware being sold I guess you'll be forced switch to things like peripherals more and more.

[LinusTech]

Sigh... you totally left out the part where somebody **COUGH** made you pluck the monobrow...  B)

 

Heh... Thanks for joining the forum. Lunch today was fun. (This is my old boss)

[target39]

Sigh... you totally left out the part where somebody **COUGH** made you pluck the monobrow...  B)

 

 

Heh... Thanks for joining the forum. Lunch today was fun. (This is my old boss)

 

 

Well, this has piqued my interest. What's the story here? Can you please tell us more?  :D

[exFA]

Well, this has piqued my interest. What's the story here? Can you please tell us more?  :D

 

Not much to tell.

 

I walked up to Linus after watching his first video: "the video sucked, make it better!" and so he did  :lol: then I said something like: "and you're on camera now. Lose the monobrow!"

 

So a couple of days later his lovely girlfriend plucked it for him, and the rest is history. 

 

We don't see each other that often these days. Always good to hang with Linus. Plus he let's me steal his fries.  :ph34r:

[LinusTech]

I think there was also a suggestion that if I had breasts and a blonde wig that might improve the content...

 

Maybe we'll do a kickstarter for me to get some implants to boost ratings.

[exFA]

I think there was also a suggestion that if I had breasts and a blonde wig that might improve the content...

 

Maybe we'll do a kickstarter for me to get some implants to boost ratings.

 

 

Oh yeah - I do recall something like that did come out of my mouth. I was serious you know... 

[target39]

I think there was also a suggestion that if I had breasts and a blonde wig that might improve the content...

 

Maybe we'll do a kickstarter for me to get some implants to boost ratings.

Make sure you demonstrate for us in the video that our money is being put to good use. :D  Because not even Slick is going to fund it if it's only a CAD drawing...

 

Oh yeah - I do recall something like that did come out of my mouth. I was serious you know... 

So, you'll fund it?

[Butterfish]

It's amazing to watch your first video, and see how "insecure" and nervous you are, compared to today. Really inspiring story Linus, keep up the good work of bringing all the tech to us fans! 

[rashdanml]

Its a piece of paper to hang on your wall.  You don't need it and if you really did just want it for novelty you can always get it later.  Could always do an online course, not necessarily worth it though.

It only has no use if you don't make use of it, and it entirely depends on the career path. Some careers simply don't benefit from a degree, or place more importance on a college diploma than a degree.

 

That said, the only degree that is universally useful is a Business degree, but almost always combined with a specific area of interest to turn into a business. You also don't NEED it for a self-start Business too, so -shrug-

[exFA]

It only has no use if you don't make use of it, and it entirely depends on the career path. Some careers simply don't benefit from a degree, or place more importance on a college diploma than a degree.

 

That said, the only degree that is universally useful is a Business degree, but almost always combined with a specific area of interest to turn into a business. You also don't NEED it for a self-start Business too, so -shrug-

 

 

I remember having that discussion with Linus many years ago in my office. Of course it was my nefarious agenda to keep Linus chained to a desk and keep him producing something  :ph34r: Rashdanmi is sort of right. There are many career paths that do absolutely require that piece of paper. Rocket scientists, brain surgeons, accountants, lawyers, technicians of some sort, etc. 

 

Most people I've met or hired though (and that's a fair number -- as Linus can tell you, I'm old) that aren't in those very specific vertical careers usually have diplomas or degrees that have little to do with what they end up doing, not surprisingly. 

 

Most successful business people I've met DON'T have business degrees as far as I can tell, but their underlings often do. I myself stay far away from MBAs when I'm at functions and events, since I'm always trying to recruit, but that's just me.  ;) Actually, come to think of it, I know practically no "business people" with business degrees, or they just won't admit. :D

 

The reality is, entrepreneurs gotta entrepreneur (as a verb). Linus for example was always full of piss and vinegar, always proposing something, pushing a new idea, or angle, and I was sometimes usually the bastard that said "NO". That being said, he often chose to do the right thing and as you guys see in his first video with the stuff he does now, keeps learning, refining and iterating. He was always busy, always pushed himself (and me) and always EXECUTED the best he could.

Executed is an important word. I think I said something like this to Linus at some point "I have at least a few good ideas every morning while taking my crap morning constitution. Just getting ONE of them done this week or month is hard. Ideas are pretty useless unless you can deliver."

[rashdanml]

-snip-

My Econ prof once told me: "It's easy to train Engineers to be Business people than Business people to be Engineers". So yeah, it's true. You don't need a Business degree to start a successful business; it can still help though, giving you more/smarter ways to make money. My dad is an Engineer and all he's really doing is running a business around it. He doesn't do much in terms of innovation, but it's working for him because it's a demanding market (housing industry in Vancouver is constantly on the rise). 

 

A business mindset is more important than the degree. The concepts behind it are simple to grasp, and any economics course (micro, macro, engineering focused) should be enough to gain enough knowledge to start a business. That's mostly why people take a minor in commerce alongside Engineering or any other degree; the extra knowledge helps even if it's not necessary. 

 

That all goes out the window if you hit the right formula for a niche market though. Or come up with a business model that's effectively self-sustaining with reasonable effort. 

 

Personally, I'm not a business person. I've done a degree in Mechanical engineering, working on a Master's in Aerospace engineering. Career-wise, I'm on my way to work in the industry (it's an exciting one at that), although I'd prefer academics as a full-time career if I could. Still took Econ courses in my undergrad, so the option to start a business in the Aerospace industry is still an option if I'm so inclined. 

[ejm_110]

Will Linus go back to NCIX in the future?

[Kuzma]

Truly inspirational story ^_^

[LinusTech]

I remember having that discussion with Linus many years ago in my office. Of course it was my nefarious agenda to keep Linus chained to a desk and keep him producing something  :ph34r: Rashdanmi is sort of right. There are many career paths that do absolutely require that piece of paper. Rocket scientists, brain surgeons, accountants, lawyers, technicians of some sort, etc. 

 

Most people I've met or hired though (and that's a fair number -- as Linus can tell you, I'm old) that aren't in those very specific vertical careers usually have diplomas or degrees that have little to do with what they end up doing, not surprisingly. 

 

Most successful business people I've met DON'T have business degrees as far as I can tell, but their underlings often do. I myself stay far away from MBAs when I'm at functions and events, since I'm always trying to recruit, but that's just me.  ;) Actually, come to think of it, I know practically no "business people" with business degrees, or they just won't admit. :D

 

The reality is, entrepreneurs gotta entrepreneur (as a verb). Linus for example was always full of piss and vinegar, always proposing something, pushing a new idea, or angle, and I was sometimes usually the bastard that said "NO". That being said, he often chose to do the right thing and as you guys see in his first video with the stuff he does now, keeps learning, refining and iterating. He was always busy, always pushed himself (and me) and always EXECUTED the best he could.

Executed is an important word. I think I said something like this to Linus at some point "I have at least a few good ideas every morning while taking my crap morning constitution. Just getting ONE of them done this week or month is hard. Ideas are pretty useless unless you can deliver."

 

I think it depends on the career target, and the individual as well. What worked for me wouldn't work for everyone.

 

Part of the reason I flunked out of university is that I don't have the attention span to carefully take something apart and put it back together (or worse yet listen to someone else explain how to do it). I just want to play with it and learn by trial and error. In my line of work it's often my greatest strength and also often my greatest weakness. It allows me to innovate in a field that is incredibly crowded, but also holds me back from doing things that I should OBVIOUSLY be doing because I don't like doing what someone else did first.

 

The "throw things at the wall and see what sticks" method was fine and good because I had the benefit of time (young), money (full time job that paid my bills aside from making videos), and someone to hold my hand (or yell at me) when something went wrong. Where I see the value of school (I didn't get very deep, but at least in high school I covered a broad range of topics by opting to take as many academic courses as I could instead of wasting time on electives) is that it is capable of laying a groundwork of general knowledge that helps you throw the right things at the wall and helps you not seem like a tool to others (learning to write somewhere other than the Internet is key to not appearing to be a tool to others).

 

I think when it comes to business (or other education paths that don't end with a piece of paper that is required by every employer ever like Pharmacists), arguments could be made one way or the other for "school", but with that said, you'd be CRAZY to suggest that no education is necessary to succeed in business. School works for some people, self-education works for those amazing people who can do that, but what worked for me was excellent mentors (fortunately you weren't the only one who worked there).

 

And that's part of why I created this thread in the first place. My point was "This was a 1/1000000 shot and in the same circumstances someone might not have had this result, and in different circumstances I might not have had this result."

[Flyguygamer]

Ahh I remember this video

 

Also that other video of you trying to fix the broken pin on the CPU was hilarious

Can you provide a link to the video of him trying to fix the broken pin on the cpu?

[exFA]

I think it depends on the career target, and the individual as well. What worked for me wouldn't work for everyone.

 

Part of the reason I flunked out of university is that I don't have the attention span to carefully take something apart and put it back together (or worse yet listen to someone else explain how to do it). I just want to play with it and learn by trial and error. In my line of work it's often my greatest strength and also often my greatest weakness. It allows me to innovate in a field that is incredibly crowded, but also holds me back from doing things that I should OBVIOUSLY be doing because I don't like doing what someone else did first.

 

The "throw things at the wall and see what sticks" method was fine and good because I had the benefit of time (young), money (full time job that paid my bills aside from making videos), and someone to hold my hand (or yell at me) when something went wrong. Where I see the value of school (I didn't get very deep, but at least in high school I covered a broad range of topics by opting to take as many academic courses as I could instead of wasting time on electives) is that it is capable of laying a groundwork of general knowledge that helps you throw the right things at the wall and helps you not seem like a tool to others (learning to write somewhere other than the Internet is key to not appearing to be a tool to others).

 

I think when it comes to business (or other education paths that don't end with a piece of paper that is required by every employer ever like Pharmacists), arguments could be made one way or the other for "school", but with that said, you'd be CRAZY to suggest that no education is necessary to succeed in business. School works for some people, self-education works for those amazing people who can do that, but what worked for me was excellent mentors (fortunately you weren't the only one who worked there).

 

And that's part of why I created this thread in the first place. My point was "This was a 1/1000000 shot and in the same circumstances someone might not have had this result, and in different circumstances I might not have had this result."

 

 

 

True enough, but given the type of school I went to (art school) where they basically gave us some space, a jerry can of gas, and some matches, that's exactly what I'd advocate. Then again, my world view is that creativity and innovation (with a dose of common sense) is the end goal, and everything else is secondary. That being said, real innovation is rare, and there's a genius in borrowing or being inspired, as someone like Jobs would bluntly put it. 

 

Your circumstance wasn't that unique from my perspective as I've run into dozens of kids guys like you -- young, lots of options, a good enough job, etc. But many times you see that squandered on video games, drugs and surfing for free pr0n. You had drive and passion long before I ever met you, and though it didn't seem like it in the early days, I really respected that. The general knowledge you speak of doesn't necessarily come with education, but from curiosity more than anything. Millions of kids go through the school system, and most I've met are pretty average or below that (which is sad), but I've also hung around with / met people that have had zero opportunity and zero options, and turned their lives or projects into something absolutely amazing.

 

I'm not against school at all. I think it's a system that sort of works and as you point out, provides a reasonable foundation, but it's treated as a ends to means, versus a means to an end, and frankly, it's not that big of an achievement in my mind. It's a system you attend, you work through or you game through, but not an education unto itself. Combine it with someone with intellectual curiosity and drive however, and now you might have a dangerous combination.

 

That 1/1000000 shot is true enough and the universe aligned for you. My point is (and why I even bothered to keep posting on this busy day, in the hopes this would be of value to someone) is you were always motivated, and frankly, most people with business degrees hang on that an awful lot (I'm generalizing of course, but it's fundamentally true in my experience -- maybe because it's all they have to hang on). As Woody Allen once said: "80% of success is showing up." -- call me jaded but most people don't bother showing up, and even when they do they don't bother doing anything great. 

 

So -- show up, and do something great?

[Flynn]

The best part is how he keeps looking off camera at his notes for what to talk about next LOL

[mozoa]

Can you provide a link to the video of him trying to fix the broken pin on the cpu?

[sabot]

I am really glad that you have become a pro unboxer!

[Whiskers]

He Linus,

 

I'm a new member but i have watched alot of your videos for a long time now.

I really liked this story, it shows that you must do this as a hobby and not for the money.

Make something you are proud of and enjoy doing.

Just like the job you are in or looking for.

That way it will stay fresh for a long time.

 

Welcome to the forums, RisingSquid! :D

 

And very well said.