What's the scale? I'm proposing:

1 - able to turn on the device (not necessarily turn it off)
9 - can train and run own LLM (from scratch, not from an existing model)
10 - knows how to reliably set up a printer

9.9/10

If I'm not interested then you can get 5/10 advice for free just to be polite.

Skill is not knowledge, it's the ability and hardheadedness to acquire knowledge kicking and screaming to make the world bend to your will so that the printer will actually print.

There is not one single technology to be good or bad at. You can be an Android development ace, a Windows gamer and a Linux user all at the same time, and naturally you will struggle if you switch to Windows dev and Linux gamer.

Being tech savy really just means that you know and recognize tons of patterns that pop up everywhere (e.g. drag-n-drop, config files in certain places with overrides in other places etc.)

Are we rating ourselves against the general population? I'm an easy 9 if not 10/10.

Against people working in IT, or skilled enthusiasts? I've really slipped, maybe a 4 or 5 at best.

Please give references for the scale

Also Richard Stallman -- the man who wrote the original Emacs and GCC -- has never installed a GNU+Linux distro, and he has no idea/interest in it.

8/10 maybe more, maybe less. Software developer, don't really have issues with tech, but put me in front of a quantum computer and I sure as shit would be lost, but fine with consumer products.

Whatever score you give to youself, will be a demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Hmm... Well... Let's see about all the things I can do:

• I can pirate on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh. I don't consider it difficult.
• I can install an operating on various mediums, and used to carry a Linux OS (forgot which distro) on a thumb drive with all my stuff on it to use on library computers (used to be poor and homeless. This is how I practiced Blender3D).
• I have built my own PC, and built PCs for a lot of my friends and family.
• I know how to bypass admin security on Windows XP.
• I have and still do mod games, even ones without easy modding support. I do this on Linux.
• I troubleshoot and fix my own problems, should I run into any. This included opening up hardware.
• I'm currently in the process of learning coding for the creation of games in Godot.

All of this and I feel like I've only scratched the surface of technology. So in consideration of the skill that exists with tech, the the 10-scale being used, I'd say my skill in tech is:

2 out of 10.

A solid 4, I think. Sure, I can build a PC and install an OS but both of those have been pretty much plug and play for decades at this point.

Don't ask me about your smartphone, your smart home devices or your Windows 10/11 problems, I don't have a clue about any of that. If you visited my home you'd be forgiven for thinking it was abandoned 20 years ago.

I can usually figure out basic tech I've never used before, but I'd prefer to have the manual, help or hindrance though that may be.

Depends on if I care of not.

Phone: 3/10. I don't really care other than googling "how to turn off annoying feature".

Writing Software: 7/10. It's not beautiful, but it does one thing reasonably well and I finished it in an afternoon. Just don't ask me to write a GUI.

Writing Software for industrial machinery: I've done it for a living for more than a decade. Still rather skip the GUI part.

Decimal or binary? I'd say a two.

If you blindly run commands without thinking, you're gonna have a bad time in Linux.

SteamOS is also not hard to use, especially if you use it as intended, but if you start going outside the box on things, you can definitely break stuff. Nintendo switch would have the same problems if they let you touch the knobs that valve does with SteamOS

8/10.

Software engineer. Respected across a small public tech company. Most folks who do 30 seconds of GitHub snooping are impressed. There's a decent chance you've used code I wrote. Hopefully it keeps working.

No idea how to use Windows. Or mac. Lots of missing network and security stuff. Struggle every time I have to do python package management. Terrified of C++.

1 out of 10

Retired I.T.

Told my family that if they ask me to help with an I.T. related issue, I'll bring my hammer.

Fuck printers.

I think it is hard to give an objective rating on this since even extremely skilled individuals (probably half of Lemmy by societal standards) tend to skew their ratings toward the middle. Basically what Dunning-Krueger actually found from their research

That said... I'd rate myself as a 6/10. Maybe I actually know more than that

I used to be really good. In the last 15 years or so the industry has insisted on making the interface would be worse and worse. NowI’m damn near helpless. I google more stuff than you can imagine. It’s fucking stupid. I don’t even enjoy most technology anymore.

Probably around 4-6. I know the basics and can do a few other things after using resources from Google/YouTube, but there's times where I stare at a problem and feel like I became my parents who can't figure out how to make a window take up the whole screen.

11 - I avoid it as much as I can ;)

More seriously, I will often be the one people around ask for help but it doesn't change that I also learned to absolutely distrust tech.

All tech, be it corporate-owned as well as free/Libre... I'm using Linux and have no issue (I like it) but I'm also terrified by the many 'social code of conducts' that have been popping out in many communities. Not necessarily because I disagree with their core values, that would not even matter much, but because it's stating a precedent to allow a group to remove any user they don't like/disagree with the right to use a tech... and that power will be used even when not 'the good guys' will be in charge.

Hence me slowly falling back to analog as much as possible...

Edit: typos, clarifications

Scale is always a problem with questions like this. If these are percentiles of the general population, then I'm easily 10 and even trying to dig deep enough into Linux to break a Steam Deck puts you near the upper end of the scale.

If on the other hand, 0 is an otherwise intelligent adult who refuses to have anything to do with anything having a screen and 10 is Lovelace, Turing, von Neumann, etc... then I might be a 7 or 8.

I mean im in IT and it really depends. Everythings a learning curve so things you have figured out usually goes well but since every tech has pretty much unlimited use cases you still can hit roadblocks. For things you have never done it takes time to learn how to do the common uses and then you can expand out to things that require more finesse (ideally, if the boss wants Z you make it do Z even if you never got it to do X)

It all depends on the day lol.

Somewhere between 7 and 8, if 8 is knowing how to program in programming languages. I don't, but I can script pretty well and I am very techy.

Operating stuff with GUI? Maybe 5/10, just ok.

Operating stuff using command? 0/10 i suck.

I am an IT technician, I would say that I am about a 7.

Most of my job deals with psychology.

Learning drive 5. Using once learned 8

I "hacked" my wii to get free games one time does that count? other than that I can operate most devices but I have no idea how to code and don't have time to learn. I'd put myself at a 6/10.

My thing is C++ and Z80/45GS02 assembly, and I love a good terminal, so wherever that puts me I guess

I’ve studied a bit of solid state physics and I’ve worked in different tech industries for a while. Dabbled with a bunch of stuff professionally: optics, microcontrollers, motors, fluidics, web, LLMs.

So.. 5/10?

Maybe 7.75? I've soldered internals, setup computer networks, built computers, do websites/graphics/videos/3D modeling/music. A little of everything.

My technology skill makes me satisfied that your scale starts at zero, but annoyed it didn't end with nine.

What's a 10?

I've been working with computers and building them my whole life. I am pretty good with windows. I regularly tell potential employers in interviews that I rate my skills with windows computers at about a 6/10. I can probably fix anything you broke, but I am terrified of editing hex code and other things that the IT wizards do with ease.

I can take apart most electronics and put them back together without breaking them which is not a skill that most people possess apparently. Back when I worked at geeksquad I became known as the "laptop keyboard repair guy" in the area. Other stores would literally send people to see me because apparently nobody else can take apart an hp laptop and remember where all of the 47 screws went or do it without ripping a ribbon cable. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Depends on how you are using your scale.

1. One way is to quantify how much knowledge do you have right now. This might be average or low or whatever. This doesnt matter at all.

2. The better way is to think about your willingness to learn and try with confidence. This is what you should actually put on a scale.

My existing knowledge is better than average. I've spent the last 2 years learning to put together some hardware (NAS/server, custom keyboard from scratch, hitbox videogame controller) and using more software (Linux basics, Docker and server basics, emulators, etc). I'm still probably way behind the tech professionals who are on Lemmy, but I would say my willingness to learn and try is very very high and that's more than enough for an enthusiast and hobbyist.

Also worth considering benchmarking against the general population rather than Lemmy's tech community. The general public mostly hasn't even heard of the Steam Deck or Linux, and certainly can't manage anything beyond pressing the install button in an app store. Compared the the general public, my wife thinks I'm a literal wizard for having an email address with my own domain and being able to access a remote desktop.

7/10

5?

I’ve installed custom ROMs on Android when I used Android. I have a hacked 3DS, PSP, Vita. I have a PiHole, and a little Pi server. I use windows for my games, I’ve built maybe seven machines for myself, my partner, and friends. I know very little Linux, but a little. I use an iPhone now, for as long as I can remember, because I don’t wanna have to fuck around with my phone, but I don’t touch Google anymore. I’m heavy into private trackers, but those seems so easy now. I think a solid five is where I’m at.

I am good at technology even when I don't do anything.

There's a client who says that if I just join a call and do nothing but say hello, things that weren't working just suddenly start working for no apparent reason.

Compared to people who work on cryptography and AI magic? Like 2/10. Compared to Boomers? 9/10.

About a 7.

Been using Linux for years, have a fairly wide variety of knowledge to pull from, but I'm still not that great or anything.

It definitely feels like progress slows as we get better.

I think I'm 6/10. I'd consider myself an advanced user. I'm capable enough to avoid casual problems, and instead create real serious problems.

I am skilled enough to understand that I don't know shit.

Linux piracy can honestly be a pain in the ass. I wouldn't beat yourself up too much over it if it wasn't working properly.

There's someone called "johncena" then some numbers who supposedly uploads some kind of Linux-ready release of games.

I'm a Linux pirate so I've been going through the trials and tribulations to get games to work. For the best results, I typical need to install the game in a Windows VM then copy it over to my main OS. It's a hassle and takes up a lot of storage in the process, but it's nice when it works.

It sucks when it doesn't work and can feel like a waste of time. That's something I've just gotten used to with computers.

So, not sure what details I may be missing, but my experience putting any non-steam game onto a steam deck is just transferring over the game folder and linking the executable in steam. No idea how one could mess up any other part of the system with that.

Hard to put this on an absolute scale with no frame of reference, but maybe like 7-8? I've got a CS degree and I run Linux at home. I know enough to know how much I don't know, but I know how to Google the things I don't know and figure it out. Which is the skill that really matters, right?

Like a 7 or 8 maybe?

8

5/10, i customize my linux desktop, i know how to setup a basic linux server, etc.

I'd say probably about a 7. I'm good enough with technology to have been using Linux for the past few years without any major issue that wasn't caused by the distro I was using. I still wouldn't say that I'm great with it though, because there are still several things I don't know how to do and there are probably also a bunch of things that would be useful for me to know but I just haven't found them yet or even know that I need them in the first place.

Entirely dependent on the field of technology. On average, like a 6 or 7? But i do regularly find myself to be a dumbass who doesn't know shit about fuck.

If my brain worked on command that'd probably bump me up to an 8 or 9 though.

3/10

I set up a jellyfin server but when I attempted a raw arch install I wanted to put a gun in my mouth.

I literally have a tech job and tell the people I don't like tech. It's a means to an end.

Can't even attempt terminal beyond downloads and updates. Tried a cli and quickly realized I need a gui. I am not a robot.

I'm a B.

I can pirate games, movies and books, can use SciHub to download articles behind paywalls, and have installed ReVanced on my phone. 🤷

i3. I know how to confidently issue commands to search and then confidently type it in my computer.

yup, the 'i' means imaginary.

3/10 too.

Linux IS hard to use, especially when you try to do something you never can on Windows.

I spent this morning trying to fix the WiFi driver on my laptop and ended up using USB-LAN adapter.

Also, I tried to run Ente Photos on Coolify on said laptop and I couldn't. Luckily there was a preset for immich so I used it instead.

Linux is hard. Computer is hard and it should be.

Depends on the tech:
I can do most things on Linux, both at home and at work. And the latter pays me handsomely for it.

I'm OK with windows. I was good decades ago, and the things I am still a Le to do rely on experience way back when.

I still don't know how to right click on a Mac.

In case you didn't figure it out (I don't have a Deck, but Linux Desktop), exit Big Picture mode, install Heroic Launcher, click "add new game", (optional: type in the name and set the image if you want), select that it's a Windows version, (optional: select a specific Proton version in the dropdown), select the executable you downloaded, and you're done.

If the download was an installer instead, do the same steps except before you select the executable click "run executable" or whatever it says first and run the imstaller, then select the executable that the installer creates (it'll be in the prefix for the game, which should open when you click "select executable.")

12/10. I’m good at the cyber.

1/10

Im not really one to think twice before doing something. My Homelab is literally „dont move, break things”, im lazy as fuck, I even left my TrueNAS mirrored pool as degraded for a week now because I can't bother to read the manpages for zfs and read why my newly bought drives are getting checksum errors, and I backup anyway to Hetzner and Synology anyway. I broke at least 3 opensuse PCs trying to update without checking my available space first, and didn't bother to switch to leap afterwards (since they can go with less updates, they're just Netflix and IPTV clients). My record is 4 times in a row. Luckily fedora Atomic removed my competence from the equation. And I won't even mention the many times I sloppily migrated my PCs from Ubuntu, Opensuse, to Nobara because I was anti Atomic distros, to arch, opensuse again, arch, artix, Gentoo, and now back to Bazzite.

But to be honest, that was when I was between 13-16, but now a month later I already feel the responsibility in me. (Except that Zfs thing, I got those drives for my birthday)