When I work on my computer, I tend to switch between two personalities. The first is that of the Computer Operator—someone who stays within the confines of the software installed on their machine.

This Computer Operator uses Microsoft Excel to tally event attendance by manually scrolling through long lists of names. He endures repetitive tasks involving countless mouse clicks, endless screen switching, and occasional awkward keyboard shortcuts. He is patient and content to operate strictly within the boundaries defined by the software, allowing it to dictate what’s possible.

Then there’s the other personality—the one who believes computers should handle the boring tasks. He knows that all it takes to make this happen is to speak the computer's language.

Why am I talking about computers and menial work?

A funny thing just happened, and I felt compelled to write about it before procrastination robbed me of the opportunity. Perhaps this story might resonate with other Computer Operators looking for a gentle nudge into programming.

I had just downloaded a tar file on my Mac. Like most people, my instinct was to double-click it to unzip or decompress it. When that didn’t work, I tried again—maybe a triple-click for good measure—but still, nothing happened.

Instead of opening, I was greeted with a terse message from macOS: There is no application set to open the document. Strange, I thought.

For context, I’ve never installed a dedicated application for unzipping files. I knew about the usual suspects—WinRAR, WinZip, and the like—but I never bothered.

My Computer Operator instincts kicked in. Determined to solve the problem, I followed macOS’s prompt, which presented me with three options:

• Choose application [to open the file]
• Cancel duh!
• Search App Store. Are you really serious? 😡

Canceling was out of the question. That left me with two options.

Clicking Choose application brought up a list of "Recommended Applications," none of which seemed remotely capable of unzipping a file. I expected to see at least the default Mac app used for handling .zip files—but nothing.

Frustration began to set in. Unzipping the file wasn’t even my main goal, and now I was being derailed by it. Reading tutorials or searching the App Store felt like overkill.

I’d hit my limit. Like the proverbial prodigal son, I remembered: I was a programmer—or at least someone who knew their way around the command line.

As a programmer, the command prompt is my natural environment. Whether it’s navigating folders, copying files, installing software, or renaming things—I do it all from the terminal, using direct commands.

On Unix-based systems like macOS and Ubuntu, programs are often packaged in compressed formats. Installing them usually starts with extracting those files manually. I had always done this programmatically—by running commands.

So I turned to the terminal and typed a command I knew by heart:

  $ tar -xvf stubborn_file.rar

And just like that, the file was uncompressed.

I won’t bore you with the technical breakdown of the command. What matters is that I use this same command to decompress virtually any file, regardless of its extension.

I couldn’t help but wonder: Why was the GUI unable to do something so basic? How much power is locked away behind friendly buttons and icons? Are those expensive "premium" decompression apps really offering anything beyond what a simple terminal command provides?

There I was, facing a problem as a Computer Operator and solving it as a programmer. What changed? Just one thing: realizing that the most direct way to operate a computer is to issue direct instructions. The command prompt strips away all the abstractions designed to "help" and brings you closer to the raw power of the machine.

Yes, staring at a black screen filled with white text can seem intimidating at first. But once you master the basics, you’ll realize how empowering it is. The power you unlock makes the learning curve more than worth it.

If I haven’t yet convinced you to add command-line skills to your Computer Operator toolkit, consider this: learning the terminal upgrades you to Computer Operator Pro Max. You gain insight into how things work behind the scenes and free yourself from the limitations of most UI-based tools.

And more than that—you’re already knocking on the door of becoming a programmer. Because at its core, programming is about communicating with computers in their own language. The terminal is your first dialect.

So today, initiate, I hope you begin your exploration of the command line. Welcome to the other side.