NOTE: I believe so strongly that “embedded” Busybox Unix/Linux is so important a platform to master, that I made my own derivative distribution of Linux to help you learn Linux.
Unix AND Linux are rapidly becoming—or by some measures, already are—the generic plumbing of the information technology world, and the lingua franca of knowledge workers. That all sounds pretty highfalutin, but actually Windows is just about the last remaining massively deployed unusual proprietary system—while Macs and almost every electronic gadget has made the switch. Over the years, proprietary systems will get weeded out, replaced by systems that have “standard plumbing” underpinning them.
Why? Because in order to do anything interesting, you have to be able to take all the stuff you’re building on top of for granted. That means it should be generic, interchangeable, multi-source-able, and unencumbered by proprietary licenses… in other words, plumbing. The future of Unix is fading invisibly into the background so that you can focus on the things that are built on top of it and important to you. Oh, and it’s awful good to know Unix/Linux in that future… uh make that, “current” world!
There's not much in this for me besides recognition.