About two years ago, I started using Linux. Back then, I didn’t know much — I just used Linux because it felt cool. Typing commands like htop or btop made me feel like a hacker.

At the time, I had a laptop with a Ryzen 3 processor and 8GB of RAM. Eventually, I switched back to Windows because I faced some limitations with Linux — or at least, that’s what I thought.

But then... disaster.

After using Linux, going back to Windows felt like a huge downgrade. Performance on my laptop became terrible. Visual Studio Code lagged. IntelliJ IDEA for Java lagged. I couldn’t even run a Next.js or Node.js server properly. If I ran Docker alongside a Node server, my laptop practically froze. It felt like I was trying to do modern development on a 10-year-old machine.

Then a friend pointed out something important:

"It’s not your laptop that’s the problem — it’s Windows."

And they were right. On Windows, there are a lot of background processes eating up RAM and CPU. That overhead makes low- to mid-end laptops crawl.

So I decided to switch back to Linux — and everything changed again.

On Linux, my system ran like butter. I could easily spin up servers, run Docker containers, code in VSCode, and everything felt smooth. No lags, no frustration.

One of my favorite things about Linux is the terminal. You can control your entire system just by typing commands. Once you get used to it, you’re at least 2x faster than a regular GUI user.

Need to check your internet? Just:

ping [google.com](<http://google.com/>)
Boom — problem solved.

Need to install any software? just:
sudo apt install <package name>
Boom - package installed

need to install debian package? Just:
sudo dpkg -i </path/to/package-name>
package installed

Right now, I’m using Kali Linux. Why Kali?

Because it comes with a ton of built-in hacking and penetration testing tools. Whenever I’m bored, I explore things like MITM (Man-in-the-Middle) attacks or network penetration concepts. It’s fun, and it keeps me learning — something Windows doesn’t offer out of the box.

Of course, I know that Kali isn’t the most secure or stable distro for everyday use — a lot of people in the Linux community say the same. But I’m not a professional developer yet — I’m still learning. I don’t have any sensitive data to protect — most of what I work on is code, and that’s already up on GitHub anyway.

So for me, Kali is perfect right now: it’s powerful, educational, and gives me access to tools I’m curious about.

Windows, on the other hand, has become boring. It feels heavy, restricted, and bloated. Linux, to me, is light, powerful, and exciting. It makes me feel in control of my system — not the other way around.

I’ve learned so much just by using Linux — not from courses, but from facing real-world challenges, fixing things, and exploring tools I never knew existed. It’s made me a better developer and a more curious learner.

And honestly?