In regards to your diverse history. You're not the only one: I dare say my background is more diverse not only vertically within in a technical speciality but also horizontally across many industries. I'm also diverse across types of work and I've had difficulties finding work due to this. I'm not a polymath by any means but I don't fit squarely in a box nor have a conventionall career path.
I too wish I could've done Physics experiments for a living when I was in college. Rereading your question. It seems to me you've already answered the WHAT question of providing USEFUL_FEEDBACK. There comes a point when asking for advice/guidance from others that we just have to start carving our own path. I've been struggling with this for years now myself. Have you been to a Hackathon before? That also might be a good place to start. I just read an article about Hactoberfest and a large portion of the attendees where new users & devs. Best of luck to you! On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 5:59 AM Richard Owlett <rowl...@cloud85.net> wrote: > On 03/28/2020 08:46 AM, Ben Koenig wrote: > >[snip] > > > >> If I were trying to do what you are I'd start with getting clearer about > >> what I'm really interested in and what I have to bring to the table > > Basically I agree. That is is why I wrote in my initial post: > > I do not have the technical skills to contribute viable code. > > I've been a computer *USER* since early 60's. > > Is there a forum whose goal is guiding consumers to provide _USEFUL_ > feedback? > > I already have a good idea of where to: > 1. find current topics of interest to differing audiences. > 2. contribute any useful results. > Mailing lists which qualify include debian-user, debian-blends, and > debian-boot. > > The desired forum may not be explicitly software focused, let alone be > for a specific Linux distro. Based on my experience of taking multiple > Freshman writing courses over three decades, many contributors might be > writing instructors. What I wish to do is read the archives of such a > forum to better organize my efforts. > > >> From my experience, that's harder to do. It's easier to ask others what > >> they need. Figuring it out for oneself is a slower process of > refinement. > >> > >> > > +1 Start by telling us more about your personal interests. Hobbies? > > Careers? [snip] > > Don't know how productive that will be <chuckle> > I was in 9th grade when Sputnik was launched. I was very good in math > and science. My farther was an electrical engineer. Thus it was > foreordained that I was destined to pursue a BSEE. Hindsight suggests > that pursuing a Physics program would have been more successful. I spent > a decade as an electronics tech in a university research environment. > Then two decades in private sector doing engineering and customer > support (emphasis on QA/QC). > > Once when job hunting thru a temp-to-permanent agency, I got one > interview because the company owner wished to meet someone who would not > only claim, but document, such a strangely diverse history ;} > > > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
