Lets see here my first computer was the Atari. First one I remember is the 286. I first started getting really into computers around the time sound started getting popular. Which is when I learned Qbasic.

I got my first interest in tech when I got a 2600. When it stopped working I pulled it apart to find out what went wrong...I think I was 5 when I got it, 7 or 8 when I pulled it apart.

Somewhere around my 8-10 Christmas I got a Color Computer 2, then a Color Computer 3. Still have them, too, with the 300 baud modem (no, I am not using them now)

Programming in BASIC for hours upon end...for some reason, I though it was fun.

when I was 8 years old . I was interested technology , but a little later to touch computer , it was 12 tears old !

I can't say for sure what age, but it had something to do with the sega (so yeah kind of young lol). But I started taking computer design in high school so that's about when I started getting serious i guess

Well i just read the article...I must say I don't know whether to be impressed...or DEpressed lol but that was still an interesting bit to read

I hated life growing up, because it seemed i was just ahead of the curve in it all.

At about 5yrs my brother got a commador 64. I picked up the instruction book and within minutes had 'chris' plastered all over the screen by programming the 'repeat' thing it described.

I knew then computers were for me, but my brother being 10 years older, banned me from it, and we couldnt afford another.

i got fleeting glances from then on, 3 yrs later, whilst my brother experienced alcohol, i stayed up late (till after 9pm!!) and played with his computer. I forget what it was then, but had a tape drive that screetched on like a 56k modem for 20 mins before stating:
SANTAX ERROR
READY...>|
meaning you had to start the game from scratch.

At school, computers were non existant.
When i started high school at around 12-13 we had a 'word processor' in the english department we could use on a timed basis you had to rent. I rarely got my name on the list.
By my last year in high school, the english department has 16 word processors, and since we were in our last year, we couldnt start the new IT class.
I had the chance to go to sixth form to study IT basics, but decided cash was a better plan and got a job instead. i hated school.

By 17, i met a lad who's dad was rich, and he had the latest desktop PC. His dad also built it, and we both took great interest.
By 18 i was helping him build the PC's in his study for sale, knew which bits went where, but not alot about compatibility. He basically gave me a pile of parts, let me put them together, and he put an OS onto them.

Then i got a job working away from home, for big bucks. One weekend a month i got to come home for 4 days, and basically lost touch with everyone.

Always out of the loop.

I've had fleeting moments where computers come into my life, and i seem to have a knack of picking things up, but its only really been the last 5 years or so that my interest is coming back.

I often wonder what i'd be today if that commador 64 was mine, and not my brothers, if IT was available to me as a lesson in high school,and if i'd taken that 6th form class.

Now, all my knowledge is gained from google and site's like this one. Since being bitten by malware, that in my new topic of study over at MRU, and fixing peoples PC problems has become a daily task for me, although completely voluntary.
I never charge, because i have no qualifications other than life experience, so thats my opening statement to any newcomer: "i dont charge, therefore if i mess up, i dont pay for it. your risk" to which people seem willing to take the chance!

I've looked into making a business out of fixing PC's but to be fair, i'm only XP literate, with a little experience (slowly growing) in vista, and now theres Windows7 coming along! The cost of getting and maintaining an actual qualification is too great and too tying to achieve, so i plod on in the forums.

Gawd, i pity anyone thats just read all that! i really need to get out more! lol

This post has been edited by Mr Darn: Jul 10 2009, 08:07 AM

Mr Darn

The roads we've traveled to this present point in our journey can be interesting, tedious, or a combination.
Glad you are here.

I also repair a small number of machines here locally.
I have a "No fix - No Fee" policy, but find that customers actually expect to pay and behave better after repair if they paid.
Just thoughts.

Yeah, i tend to find that too, but i was burned once when i replaced a failing harddrive.

It was an old PC, and i advised againced the replacment, in favour of a new machine, but they insisted, so i did it.

The worst thing happened, installing the new drive, and it wasnt recognised in BIOS.

I replaced the old drive, and it also was not recognised!

To cut a long story short, it was the connection to the motherboard that was faulty also, and me disturbing the IDE lead broke the donky's back so to speak.

Since the computer was useable before i arrived, and they had paid up-front, it cost me a new motherboard to put it right.(as well as a new IDE cable,because i thought it may be that at first)

I was too soft to say 'you have to pay', so now i always make sure they know up-front. I'm no expert, and they now know that before i start, so its their risk.

Of course, if i do a good job, and get the parts on the cheap (i always supply origional receipts, and let them keep the broken part), then i often get slipped "a little something for a drink"

wow i never thought of this question

anyways, i think the first interest in technology, was watching TV?
i think the first TV show i watch was Gundam W... (u can have a search "gundam" in google..)
then i started to touch windows 95 computer, i still remember the magnifying glass loads
then i guess after that, it's like a drug, and i think i touch computer almost everyday....

I've always been interested in technology but never thought about it as a career until High School. I'm currently studying it at university