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
Edited by Mr Darn, 10 July 2009 - 08:07 AM.