TED talk: "I am not a visionary, I’m an engineer"

I am not a visionary, I’m an engineer, I’m perfectly happy with all the people who are walking around and just staring at the clouds … but I’m looking at the ground, and I want to fix the pothole that’s right in front of me before I fall in.

–  Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds transformed technology twice — first with Linux, which helps power the Internet, and again with Git, the source code management system used by coders worldwide. In a rare interview with TED’s curator, Chris Anderson, Torvalds discusses with remarkable openness the personality traits that prompted his unique philosophy of work, engineering and life. “I am not a visionary, I’m an engineer,” Torvalds says. “I’m perfectly happy with all the people who are walking around and just staring at the clouds … but I’m looking at the ground, and I want to fix the pothole that’s right in front of me before I fall in.”