Comment by spfzero

There are some activities that should be "intimidating to newbies" though, shouldn't there? I can think of a lot of specific examples, but in general, anything where significant preparation is helpful in avoiding expensive (or dangerous) accidents. Or where lack of preparation (or intentional "mistakes" like in this case) would shift the burden of work unfairly onto someone else. Also, a "newbie" in the context of Linux system programming would still imply reasonable experience and skill in writing code, and in checking and testing your work.