I lost interest in the article itself, but I'm currently down a rabbit hole of one of its links [1]. It's the webpage of some random (random to me that is) person, but it has quite a bit of content (and links to other content). I consider this find a win!

[1] http://www.catb.org/~esr/

When I was 12 I followed ESR’s guide on “how to become a hacker”. I wanted to learn hacking but didn’t know where to start or have anyone to ask. Started with html then c++ and using linux. For me, it’s probably one of the most important things I read, because it ultimately altered the trajectory of my whole life.

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

Similar story for me, was encouraged on IRC by ESR (was randomly inquiring about a GPS software project that he turned out to be supporting - go figure).

His advice was that given ten years almost anybody can become a professional software developer.

Like the OP, I owe much in my life trajectory to esr's How to Become a Hacker.

He's one of the people I've never met/barely interacted with who are dear to me.

He must be over 70 now, and it's been a few years he's neglected his- in past times- lively blog.

He used to be in financial straits, tried to launch a cultural initiative to draw support for Load Bearing Internet People like himself:

http://www.catb.org/esr/loadsharers/

He's still got a subscriberstar if you're looking to lighten your pocket.

ESR is random to you? Oh youngling, much to learn you have.

Eric S. Raymond is a fairly prolific open source contributor, but he's probably most famous as an author and essayist, specifically of _The Cathedral and the Bazaar_, which arguably did more to popularize the notion of open source than Stallman ever did for free software [0].

I particularly like his series of posts about his modern rewrite of Crowther and Woods' Adventure, starting here: http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7536

[0] It helps that ESR's arguments where largely practical in nature rather than ideological. In particular, he coined the aphorism, "with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow".

Just finished "The Cathedral and the Bazaar". Good read. Having read "the innovators by walter isaacson", it's interesting to note how similar the two takes on the history are. It's almost like they're the truth! Glad you posted your comment here. It pushed me to actually dive in a read this essay.

Edit: O boy, I accidentally read "a brief history of hackerdom". Now to dive into what I actually meant to read