We’re probably pretty similar. I haven’t been a Linux user as long as I’ve been an adult (close), but if you include BSDs, then I have, since I dabbled w/ FreeBSD as a kid.

I’m a SW engineer and I like compiled languages, so linking in C libraries comes w/ the territory. If it wasn’t for that, I would probably just call them DLLs (dynamic-link library, FWIW), since they do the same thing at the end of the day.