My 30 under 30 over 30 years: Neel Patel

My career is well into its fourth, and possibly final, decade. It has spanned most of the United States and a few locations outside as well, a good 75 or so places in total. I often find myself reading about various professionals in the world of Linux, open source, and the Linux Professional Institute: engineers and implementers, people I know or know of, and sometimes people I was quite oblivious to.

But in the young world of technology, the most important reports I pay attention to are those not-so-uncommon “30 Under 30” lists, which highlight thirty professionals under the age of thirty. Coincidentally, I have been deploying Linux and open source solutions in companies since 1995, thirty years now. Correspondingly, if I had to make my own “30 under 30” list, over my 30 years of deploying Linux solutions at various installations, I would have to include a young man named Neel Patel.

Inspiring Peers

The time I’ve known Neel has been brief, exactly six months. He was one of those young people who reminded me that the best times are still ahead, as they lead.

While Linux (itself the creation of a young person), and even elder UNIX system administrators are often known for being ”always ready to help,” in an age of distractions and social media and the ever more worshiped “influencers” we can especially celebrate that one “standout” who is spending every moment helping others, leading by example—and not just at the keyboard but by being who he is.

That is Neel, someone who ”inspires” us all, my kind of “’influencer” and a growing Linux Professional.

Years before we met, as my colleagues attest in quotes I’ll include later in this article, he had become a brand new level 1 (L1) Linux system administrator. He acquired the LPI Linux Essentials certificate, among others, heading into a dozen total. Furthermore, he had started his master’s degree at the University of South Florida (USF). As with many working in Linux and open source, cybersecurity was his passion, especially in our shared goal of securing critical infrastructure and service for our employer.

He immediately grew into being not just an outstanding L1 practitioner but a true leader, helping others learn and transferring his knowledge. But it was him, as a person, “always ready to help,” from his family to every single one of his peers, that puts him in my ”30 under 30 over 30.” Sometimes, as much as we all stand on the shoulders of giants in the community of open source and of greater, human knowledge, you get to see those who will soon be the “new shoulders” as they unfold—in real time, you might say.

And as some past tense has already crept into this hastily written article, I will now be blunt: We lost Neel at the end of April. The timing was sudden, and particularly tragic because he would soon have received his master’s degree from USF. In addition, his promotion to Level 2 at our company was effective May 1. We all considered him a—if not THE—future leader coming out of our group.
I was just speaking to him the week before his passing about an LPI Level 1 (LPIC-1) certification, since he clearly functioned already as a Level 3 (LPIC-3) Security subject matter expert. I even, quite selfishly, took my chance to playfully jab him, since I am a graduate of the rival of his alma mater. I even mentioned how his second degree must be just as worthless as the first, since we needed only one degree at my alma mater. Like everything he did, he was an overachiever, especially as a human being.

In Their Words

I have limited myself to three of our shared peers here, who knew Neel longer and deeper than myself.

• James Hempe knew him best after three and a half (3.5) years.

“Neel was not only a great coworker but also a dear friend. I had the privilege of working every day with him over the past three and a half years. We spent many weekends sharing GIFs and memes within our group chat. Neel often spoke about the love he had for his family and cousins. He truly cherished those times, and it was clear how much they meant to him. He was incredibly knowledgeable, kind-hearted, and deeply respected by everyone he worked with. His presence brought light and laughter to our team, and he will be truly missed by all of us.”

• Jesse Tanner is our Linux operations lead. Neel considered Jesse to be his mentor over several years. Sometimes, it really is the student who quickly shows himself as the growing teacher, from head to heart.

“Thank you to the Patel family for raising such a wonderful person and sharing him with us. My heart breaks for you at this time. Neel cared about his family, and it showed. When discussing the changes to his upcoming schedule, the first thing he was concerned about was family time. He possessed an uncommon kindness and work ethic. I was truly excited to see how far he’d go in his career. I would tell him I was going to be asking him for a job someday. He quickly grew from a student into a leader who was successfully and patiently teaching others.”

“His pursuit of knowledge, specifically certifications, inspired me to do the same. I became more impressed because he was able to earn them while working on his degrees. You’d never know he was pushing himself that hard outside of work because he never let it show. He was telling me about a night where he stayed up until the early hours of the morning, and was still on point at work the next day. Anyone who had the privilege of working with him had nothing but positive things to say about him. Neel is and will continue to be missed.”

• Tassy Gallahar really highlights the type of inspiring person Neel was, leading by example and as a person.

“I will finish my Cybersecurity degree because of Neel and will push myself to get there. In our talks, that is what he wanted to do and eventually get to. I only knew him a short time but I miss him in a big brother way. He was mine in many ways and was always willing to help and show me things over and over if needed. I had a tech talk that was aimed mainly at the many people who want to get into the security field, and I spoke of Neel and shared with them his passion for it. We all need someone to be a motivating guide in our life and Neel will be that for mine and my career.”

Saying Hello

Maybe this article was some impromptu medicine for myself, and I took a full day to write it on and off between working. But I knew I had to write something, and I quickly realized that the timing mattered. As an aging, and quickly becoming a “Get off my lawn!” type of Gen-X American professional, I had to step back and realize who really “inspires” everyone around us. And that’s when I realized …

Neel ‘makes‘ my “30 under 30 over 30” list. So this isn’t so much as a Goodbye but more of a Hello.

Get to know your under-30 Linux professionals and, even more, the potential ones, who may range from those who don’t know how to use SSH yet to those already showing others how to address best practices. You may never know just which “shoulders” you might be discovering next. I will also guarantee you this much, as both a technologist and a human being: You will eventually discover someone who ”inspires” everyone they work with, like Neel did for us, within months for each of us, and over just a couple years.

And that’s definitely what the LPI has always been about, at least to me after 22 years of involvement. Neel is LPI.