The Linux Foundation regularly awards scholarships as part of its Linux Training Scholarship Program. In the five years that the Linux Foundation has hosted this program, it has awarded a total of 34 scholarships totaling more than $100,000 in free training to students and professionals who may not otherwise have access to these opportunities. In this continuing series, we share the stories of recent scholarship recipients with the hope of inspiring others.
Whiz Kid scholarship recipient Anthony Hooper (age 23, from Jamaica) has been interested in technology since junior high. He says learning more about Linux is important to his future so he will be able to do what he deems is meaningful work. What Anthony loves most about Linux is the “sheer magnitude of collaborative work poured into the kernel over the years by individuals all over the world and companies who are even rivals themselves.” He says that being able to learn about the system and make a contribution to it, even a small one, would be nothing short of amazing.
How did you become interested in Linux and open source?
My interest in Linux goes back years ago when I stumbled upon the name while surfing the web. Curious, I installed Ubuntu in a virtual environment and played around, but back then it never really captured my interest because of the steep learning curve, especially when using command line.
About a year ago, my interest was rekindled when I read a few articles on the GNU website about the hidden dangers of proprietary software. That further lead me to explore Linux again as an alternative to the traditional Windows and Mac. At the time, I was just finishing up my tenure at university so I had a lot of time on my hands to really delve into Linux and the command line and found that I really enjoyed learning about it.
What Linux Foundation course do you plan to take with your scholarship?
I plan to take the LFS201 course (Essentials of System Administration).
How do you expect to use the knowledge you gain from the course?
For personal use and professional development. This course will be a stepping stone for me to further increase my knowledge and skills of Linux systems.
What are your career goals? How do you see a Linux Foundation course helping you achieve those goals?
I first plan to kickstart my career with a junior admin job. A Linux Foundation course is the best way to start my career. The course is very detailed and encourages personal research of concepts to help me gain a deeper understanding.
What other hobbies or projects are you involved in? Do you participate in any open source projects at this time?
A personal hobby of mine is studying Mandarin Chinese. I’m not involved in any open source projects.
