Welcome to part 2 of my Becoming a Geek series. If you haven’t already read part 1, I suggest you read it first. Before you can be a web geek, you’ll need to be a General Geek. If you’re already on the way to becoming a General Geek, here are a stack of hints to help you become a Web Geek.

For the record, I consider a “Web Geek” to be a geek with a heavy focus on all things Web/Internet. They have a strong understanding of most (if not all) areas of web and web use, good knowledge of Internet software applications and their functions, and have experience with things such as web servers, different operating systems, and web programming languages. You should be able to diagnose, debug and fix issues with internet connections, and be able to configure a router/modem. You should also have an idea of the different types of Internet connections that you can get at home. Coverage of web languages, and other technologies that support them is also key.

So to become the beast that is the Web Geek, all you need to do is…

1. Know the real answer to the question “How do I get on the Internet?”. Lots of Internet newcomers lack understanding of the Internet, and they ask questions such as this. As a Web Geek, you should know the proper answer. Most people would think the answer is “Open a web browser”. Until then you’re not “on” the Internet. This is totally wrong. Any computer that has a network connection which is in some way connected to the Internet physically. The Internet is more than just the Web! As you’re about to find out :). So the real answer is: Sign up with an ISP, and get your computer physically connected. If you’re computer has a network connection to the Internet, you’re “on” the Internet. What you do from here is up to you, and browsing the web is but one of the options.
2. Set up a router and modem. Get familiar with what a router is, and what a modem is, and understand what’s different and why they’re important. Fiddle around with them and see how they work. Set them up to work with your network and Internet connection. Learn about the protocols that lie underneath (PPP, PPPoA, PPPoE, etc) which allow your Internet connection to work.
3. Protocols, protocols, protocols! You don’t have to know them all, and you don’t have to be able to regurgitate their specifications off the top of your head, but knowing what they are and what they’re used for is important. Some examples are:
   • UDP, TCP, TELNET, SSH, TFTP, FTP, SFTP, SSL, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, TLS, ICMP, SNMP, NTP, NNTP, SIP, ECHO, DNS, DHCP, RIP … plus many more!
4. Know your applications. So you need to read email? Browse the web? Copy some files? Download some stuff? Find a game server? You should be familiar with at least one of each type of application that can perform each of these tasks. Get familiar with the options, some are operating system specific, others aren’t. This is a massive area to cover, and the only thing that will help here is to play. A lot.
5. Get on IM. Being on and understanding the various Internet Messaging applications/protocols is very key (AIM, Jabber (EMPP), MSN, etc), particularly if you plan on being in touch with many other Web Geeks. There are lots of clients that will connect to the various networks, so have a play with a few and pick the one that matches your needs the most.
6. Learn your web languages. Before you jump the gun, I’m not talking about Leetspeak or the apparent “LOL” phenomenon (lolcats, lolcode, lolgeeks, lolpresident, etc - note that I refuse to link to them). I’m talking about web programming and markup languages. Get to know them, they are you friend:
   • CSS, HTML, XML, XHTML, PHP, Ruby, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, Perl … and lots, lots more.
7. Know that browsers aren’t the same. All of the major browsers Firefox, IE, Safari, etc) behave differently. When you make websites, or browse websites, you’ll get to know how different they actually are. So, if the site you’re reading looks funny, give another browser a spin. If you’re writing your own site, make sure you test your site in as many browsers as possible.
8. Play with the servers. It’d be a good idea to get familiar with the well-known (Apache, IIS, etc) and the not-so-well-known (Litespeed, LightTPD, etc) web servers. Learn about their pros and cons. Get familiar with their characteristics - particularly those that focus on extensibility, security, speed, resource usage and portability.
9. Learn what a webserver machine really is. A webserver isn’t a machine that just dishes out web content. It has a stack of software installed on it including (but not limited to) web content servers, database servers, mail servers, DNS servers, spam filters, caching mechanisms, load balancers, etc. Get intimate with the meaning of each of these applications, make sure you know why they exist, what they’re for, and which ones you should be using!
10. Use the command line. If you’re doing any administration of a web server then you’re probably going to have to get used to dealing with the command line (especially if the system is remote). Get familiar with your web server operating system, and learn about how to manipulate your applications. It’s a long, hard road but well worth the effort.
11. Put special time aside to get familiar with web security. Read some interesting stories on cyber crime, learn how the pros managed to pull off the jobs they did, find out what the flaws of the systems were, learn why systems are vulnerable. The idea is to get familiar with the massively broad range of methods that attackers can use to break into or bring down your computer. The best way to make your system secure is to understand how the “bad” guys work While you’re there, read up on how the good guys have faught back! Get yourself some knowledge that crosses the history of information security. You might think it’s not important, but it is!
12. Read a lot of web stuff. You should be an avid subscriber to RSS feeds. Focus on web design, web standards, web development, accessibility, web technologies, languages, and security.
13. Know how to search properly. Searching is more than just pumping a few words into a search engine. Get to know a few different engines, and find the ones that are specific to the kind of content that you’re interested in. Practice with different search terms. For a hint, check out my earlier post on searching.

Again, this is only covering the basics of what it would take to become (what I consider) a Web Geek. The big-wigs in the web world know all this and more, so if this is what you’re aiming for, best get going, there’s a lot to do

Next up, I’ll be covering the Game Geek!