Shawn Powers

Shawn Powers (born July 19, 1975) is a journalist, open-source advocate, cartoonist, and an online personality. He is currently a co-host at FLOSS Weekly on the TWiT.tv network, a frequent guest host on the Reality 2.0 podcast, and an active blogger since 2006. Specializing in Linux, he is best known for his time as Associate Editor and columnist for Linux Journal from 2007 until its buyout in 2019. His first article, Build Your Own Arcade Game Player and Relive the '80s! was featured on the 2007 cover of Linux Journal. Powers became an editor of the magazine shortly thereafter, writing the monthly Current_Issue.tar.gz and UpFront columns and answering letters to the editor. He was also the main personality on the Linux Journal YouTube channel, and still creates content on his own channel.

Career
Powers' professional career has focused on education. From 2000 to 2012, he was the Technology Director at Inland Lakes Schools in Indian River, Michigan. Then, from 2012 to 2013, he was Assistant Director of Database Services at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition, he has been a Linux and open-source trainer for CBT Nuggets from 2009 until the present day.

He has spoken at multiple conferences, including Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE), Penguicon, Michigan Association for Educational Data Systems (MAEDS), and was keynote speaker at Ohio Linuxfest 2009.

His online comic MyBigRoundWorld has been active since 2021.

Life
Powers spent his early years living in Detroit, MI. His family moved to northern Michigan in the late 80s, and he graduated from Cheboygan High School in 1993. He received several scholarships to attend Michigan Technological University, and worked toward an Electrical Engineering degree until he dropped out in 1995 to pursue computer networking. That year, he married Donna Powers (née Croft). They have 3 adult children and currently live in Petoskey, MI.

Due to injuries sustained from a March 1999 car accident, Powers was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia. He has gone on to speak publicly about the condition, giving interviews on the topic and raising awareness for closed head injuries.

In January 2010, Powers' home was destroyed by a fire. While the building's occupants escaped without injury, the family lost their pets to the incident.