Linux for everyone else: the 20 commands that pay rent
The terminal is not a personality test. It is just a place where small commands combine well. You do not need to know everything; you need a dependable map.
Find your place
Start with pwd, ls, and cd. These commands answer the first question: where am I, and what is here? Add ls -la when hidden files matter.
Read before editing
Use cat, less, head, and tail to inspect files. Use tail -f for logs. A surprising amount of debugging is just learning to look before changing anything.
Search with intent
grep and find are classic, but modern teams often use rg because it is fast and friendly. Search filenames first, then contents.
Move carefully
cp, mv, mkdir, and rm are simple until they are not. Practice on harmless files, quote paths with spaces, and pause before recursive deletes.
Understand processes
ps, top, kill, and df help answer what is running and what resources are left. They are the basics of keeping a development machine from becoming haunted.
The goal
The command line becomes less scary when every command answers a question. Where am I? What changed? What is running? What failed? Learn those questions and the commands start to stick.