Geek – Moi?

Is «Geek» a term you can claim with pride for yourself or does it have to be given to you by the schoolyard bully as a Mark of Cain? Most people would probably say the latter, but in my own memories going back to school, I knew that I was geeky. It was my identity and I was willing to fight for it.

In my teens and early twenties, the Geek in me was very noticeable. But in recent years, it has become less obvious. I still role play but not as often as I used to. It simply couldn’t compete with other more normal pastimes such as playing computer games (which in the days of play stations and x-box is considered «normal»). The Danish Star Trek fan club has been around for a decade. I haven’t watched Star Trek in over a year, but back then, I was one of the three founders. The only thing geeky that I never did was wear a pocket protector. Well, that and I never actually learned how to programme in visual basic, C++ or anything like that.

I am married, go to work, and pay my mortgage and all those other things that indicate that I can function in the so-called real world. Admittedly, my hat might lead you to question my normality, but that is your right. For me, it is simply a minor quirk.

All this normality was brought back into question a few weeks ago, when I sat down in front of SAS for the first time in over six months. A sentence or two ago, I proclaimed that I never learned to programme in C++. That is true. But I found my personal geek alternative. At university, I learned how to write SAS code, interpret output and rejoice in the glory of statistics. But in institutions of higher learning, we can claim that it has relevance. Hence, geekdom is easier to conceal. The give-away was that my personal quality of life was improved because I got to write snippets of code, heavily laced with semicolons and always ending with one word: «Run».

Normal people would take the hint and run – far, far away. But real geeks (with a fondness for SAS) know that running SAS can be done from the comfort of an office chair. If you are nodding in agreement, you might be like me (perish the thought): a geek disguised as a normal human being. And only the occasional smile when faced with a statistical table, a strange hat or perhaps a fondness for books by Terry Pratchett would give it away. The wonderful thing is that «normal» people usually don’t notice these small signs as they hurry along in their «normal» lives.