Wizard
Noun · Hacker Culture · Origin: 1970
Definitions
A person who is an acknowledged expert in a particular domain — someone whose deep knowledge appears almost magical to others. In hacker culture, this is one of the highest compliments.
In plain English: Someone so skilled at a technical area that their abilities seem like magic to everyone else.
Etymology
- 1970s
- MIT and Stanford hackers use 'wizard' as the highest honorific — someone who understands a system so deeply it seems like magic
- 1981
- The original Dungeons & Dragons-influenced hacker culture makes 'wizard' a common title in MUDs and Unix systems (see: /etc/wizards)
- 1990s
- Software co-opts the term for step-by-step UI dialogs ('Setup Wizard'), diluting the original reverence