Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

POLL: Are you a secret nerd or an open nerd.

Which Are You?

  • Open Nerd

    Votes: 106 69.7%

  • Secret Nerd

    Votes: 46 30.3%
  • Total voters
    152
Secret. I am a stockbroker who played lacrosse through college. I get weird looks when I open my mouth about technology stuff. Why can't people like me be into stuff like that without looks like "are you kidding?".

Now people in my office always have me do stuff like change ringtones and set their watches for them. Pretty sad.

However I was a computer science major before switching to finance and accounting. So technically I was open, then turned secret.

Wow, I just opened up to a forum. :rolleyes:

Back to work.
 
Pretty open about it. I tried to deny my inner nerd for a while, but now I try to be proud of it. I have a good job now cos of it.

Be proud of what you are, treat yourself well, but don't think it makes you better than anyone else.

Can someone explain the difference between a nerd and a geek? They're pretty much the same to me. :confused:

miles01110 said:
I work at CERN, is it even possible to be a secret nerd there?
Click to expand...

wow, ultimate geek job :) unless you are the floor sweeper there .... (and I bet even the cleaners have PhDs ... )

I just realised that even knowing what CERN is is pretty far down the path of geekery ...

I suppose my friends with geek jobs include middle-ware programmer at IBM, back office analyst at (former)Lehman Brothers (their UK arm got sold to someone else), and a couple others.

I'm not so high-flying - my job is technical officer at a theatre company, but it's a nice mixture of nerdiness and glamour.
 
anjinhamarota said:
A geek (I think) is just into techy stuff; a nerd is more socially awkward.
Click to expand...

By that definition I was a total nerd in high school. The whole socially awkward, no friends of the opposite sex, managed to walk into doors despite being top of the school gradeswise shebang.

At uni I'm *gasp* cool, I scurry away from the geekier people on my course for fear I'll make a mistake, fit in too easily and all the 'normal' people will find out the awful awful truth ;) I jest, but it's kind of true. Total secret nerd.
 
I came out to a few people, you know, close friends, family. I've had a hard time telling my dad though. He still wants to give me advice on how to run windows xp (he doesn't really understand the difference between windows and any other os). They were all a bit surprised but have been supportive.

Thanks to facebook however, the secret is slowly leaking out and people are starting to hit on me to fix their wireless networks or remove viruses from their laptops. I even had an offer for an online group geek-out, but I don't feel I'm ready for that yet.
 
Ah, at times it pays off to not let people around you know you're a nerd.

But most of my friends know that I'm a nerd. It's just when some time comes where I would profit from not being a nerd, I'm not a nerd.

I am very athletic, and most people don't have trouble talking to me, so yeah. I guess I'm just pure awesomeness :p:p
 
themoonisdown09 said:
I am an open nerd only because everybody knows that I'm a computer programmer. If it wasn't for my job, I don't think that most people would know.
Click to expand...

Same here I am a programmer but most would say I'm athletic and into cars and other stuff like that. My girlfriend says she thought I was an athletic type until she learned I was a programmer and saw my house.
 
I think the term nerd implies intelligence right? So technically the word should be geek not nerd. That said, I'm an open geek and not a nerd since I am not smart enough.
 
Im a geek for the most part i think my tendancies are to electronics and anything medically related (also trying to learn how to program). But to people who just see me out and about they probably think im nothing but a frat boy haha they are so wrong.
 
I'm pretty secret. Most people just know me as the artistic type, since I'm always writing/drawing something in my journal in my free time. When they find out, they're pretty shocked. :p
 
RedTomato said:
Can someone explain the difference between a nerd and a geek? They're pretty much the same to me. :confused:
Click to expand...

Geeks are people who dress up as Spock and go to Star Trek conventions after role-playing all day in D&D, then go home and circle jerk to their favorite comic books in their parents' basement. Nerds are people who spend hours on the Internet correcting grammar, arguing over which programming language is more powerful and debating whether or not 0.999... = 1, in an attempt to make their epeen bigger. IMO anyway.
 
I openly admit it. Although i use to be a secret one. If someone said he uses computers to do this / that i would deny it. Now i just don't care.

If people come to my house i show them my setup and explain what i do so they have a better idea rather then picturing someone just sitting all day. I also admit that i use ssh and other remote tools alot
 
That-Is-Bull said:
Geeks are people who dress up as Spock and go to Star Trek conventions after role-playing all day in D&D, then go home and circle jerk to their favorite comic books in their parents' basement. Nerds are people who spend hours on the Internet correcting grammar, arguing over which programming language is more powerful and debating whether or not 0.999... = 1, in an attempt to make their epeen bigger. IMO anyway.
Click to expand...

So then I'm curious, what would you call someone who just has a pure passion for technology and programming? I always figured I was a geek, but I certainly don't dress up or even have been to a ST convention :p

For the record, its a crime to hide your inner geek/nerd. (Can you tell I'm open about it yet haha?)
 
I'm somewhat of a nerd, okay a big nerd... or geek according to the description above because I am not socially awkward just totally into technology in general. Well I'm new to macs so I am sort of like whoa where did that feature go and am still learning, but I am a HUGE hardware geek, not that I can afford it, but I am totally intense with hardware, and I'm really good with windows. I am pretty good with macs also, although there are some things I am still unfamiliar with. It annoys me to know that my past 3 computers have all had 1 GB of RAM and I am never allowed to upgrade it :( But it is awesome that my most recent it a mac, even though it won't let me use Final Cut Express, Aperture, Mozilla Firefox and MS Word or Pages perfectly at the same time. :p

The way I can tell: When I am talking to another friend about computer stuff in english and he tries to be all smart with me about stuff and I splurge a crapload of information at him until he gets confused :p (happened today). Oh, also when people in my class are talking about their computers and I know how to fix their problems, oh and when I found out I knew more than my tech teacher about computers. But since I am not like geeky dressing, I'm popular and stuff like that, and I play basketball when people hear me say something about some new processors or new programs I got or my dream rig they just give me one of those "wtf" looks and say that they never though I would be a such a computer nerd. lol
 
anjinhamarota said:
A geek (I think) is just into techy stuff; a nerd is more socially awkward.
Click to expand...

Well I wouldn't say I'm socially awkward at all! There is nobody at my school that I don't get on with. I enjoy spending time with all my friends but creating something really good in final cut express or after effects has just a little bit more satisfaction!

So I mixed the two and got my friends to join in the film making. I go to a boarding school in england so we have lots of time in the evening (especially since its light now) to make some films!
 
Blue Velvet said:
Nerdiness or geekiness is relative. To some of my friends and family, I'm a nerd. However, compared to most here, I'm a n00b... unless it comes to wrangling some bits and pieces in the Design and Graphics forum and maybe a couple of other things.

I also possess secretly nerdy tendencies about things I would never write about on MacRumors because there's always someone who knows better and can teach me a lot. Thank you to all the nerds who provide reading material for me. I bow before your open nerdiness. :)
Click to expand...
This pretty much sums me up too.

Within my circle, I'm an open tech geek and the one everyone calls for help, but I'm definitely an amateur compared to many MR members. :) I like it both ways.
 
That-Is-Bull said:
Geeks are people who dress up as Spock and go to Star Trek conventions after role-playing all day in D&D, then go home and circle jerk to their favorite comic books in their parents' basement. Nerds are people who spend hours on the Internet correcting grammar, arguing over which programming language is more powerful and debating whether or not 0.999... = 1, in an attempt to make their epeen bigger. IMO anyway.
Click to expand...
No those are trekkies. Geeks are more into technology. Nerds are more into sitting in a dark basement never touching a girl rather programing a computer.:p

Geek: An outwardly normal person who has taken the time to learn technical skills. Geeks have as normal a social life as anyone, and usually the only way to tell if someone is a geek is if they inform you of their skills.

Nerd: A socially awkward person who has learned technical skills due to the spare time they enjoy from being generally neglected. Their technical knowledge then leads normies to neglect them even further, leading to more development of their technical skills, more neglection, etc. This vicious cycle drives them even more into social oblivion.

Dork: A person who, although also socially awkward, doesn't have the intelligence to fill the void with technical pursuits, like a nerd, and is forced to do mindless activities. Almost always alone. Usually with an XBox. Like playing Halo. All day. Every day. Not even understanding how the Xbox is making the pretty pictures on the screen. Very sad.

via urban dictionary.
 
I think this post is funny cause it's true. I am a secret nerd and sometimes I have a hard time hearing people discuss things that are wrong and to avoid blowing my cover I simply nod my head and smile.

But I cannot and will not stay silent if someone says they have a Mac G6. I just cannot let that sort of thing go.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
I think this post is funny cause it's true. I am a secret nerd and sometimes I have a hard time hearing people discuss things that are wrong and to avoid blowing my cover I simply nod my head and smile.

But I cannot and will not stay silent if someone says they have a Mac G6. I just cannot let that sort of thing go.
Click to expand...

You're just jealous of this rare, prototype G6 that I just bought from some guy on Craigslist for $1000. It even has a "prototype" sticker on it! It works great with that G5 notebook I bought a while back.
 
steve2112 said:
You're just jealous of this rare, prototype G6 that I just bought from some guy on Craigslist for $1000. It even has a "prototype" sticker on it! It works great with that G5 notebook I bought a while back.
Click to expand...

My general response would a rhetorical question such as: "You know how I know you're dumb?" :)
 
steve2112 said:
You're just jealous of this rare, prototype G6 that I just bought from some guy on Craigslist for $1000. It even has a "prototype" sticker on it! It works great with that G5 notebook I bought a while back.
Click to expand...

Pics or it didn't happen. Include pictures of the label on the CPU with the heatsync removed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back