How did you become proficient at computers?

[timetrapped]

My hackintosh was build by a friend, but I maintain it. I know enough about computers to be dangerous (self-taught), but I still get overwhelmed by all the acronyms, BIOS stuff, and the nitty gritty of hardware. I really want to learn more and be proficient at understanding, troubleshooting, and upgrading my computer. The guides on this site are very useful, but usually when I run into a problem, I’m several days down a Google rabbit-hole of articles and forum posts before I find a solution. It’s part of the territory I’m sure, but I’d like to make it more painless.

How did you become proficient at computers? Self-taught or on-the-job training? Books? Mentors? Do you have a computer science or sysadmin degree? What are your recommended resources?

 

[Westsurf]

Threw myself in the deep end regularly, endless reading and tinkering.

Learnt that back up, back up, back up is the most important first rule.

 

[TheBearAk]

I think it is important to know how the chips work and why certain things give you certain results.

I have a degree in Electronic technology that I got back in the early 80's when Tube TVs were the thing and VCRs were brand new (and cost $1000's). When I got my degree, I thought I would be working on TVs and stereos, but then I got an Apple ][. Learned to program in machine language, pascal, fortran and of course, Applesoft basic. Pascal back then was a pain because it took 3 floppy disc to run and get to the point where you can write and compile programs. While the end product was better, I just didn't like the start up process. So I ended up doing most of my programming in basic and used programs like Beagle Compiler to make it run faster.

But my real fun happened when I worked with the hardware. I think I was one of the first people in this town to have a hard drive connected to an Apple ][. While it was fast, my partitions had to be very small. 280k if I recall. I was using the same controller as the Disk II. This was just before they started selling the Apple Profiler hard drive (5 MB).

Another thing I built was a print spooler. Back on the Apple ][, when you printed, the computer was basically dedicated to dumping out that print job and you had to wait for it to complete to do anything else on the computer. I used a commodore VIC and modified it to accept the serial input and dump out via either serial port or parallel port to the printer. With 32k of memory, it could hold about 30 pages of text, freeing up my Apple ][ for more important stuff. hehe.

Anyway, you're getting the idea, it just takes time and passion to do things. Come up with an end goal and start working for it.

 

[Boead]

1990 - bought an AST 486/66 with 4MB of RAM and a 240 MB Hard drive, 512KB of video ram! Then I overclocked to 80MHz! Hundreds of builds afterwards...

 

[nobodynose]

For me, it was pretty much by tinkering and learning on my own. My degree is in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech; I chose that major primarily because I wanted a PC (which I had been unable to afford up until that point) and the College of Engineering instituted a computer requirement (one of the first in the nation) for all entering freshmen that year (1984). I ended up getting (don't laugh) an IBM PC Jr.!

From then on I was hooked. I was always tinkering with PC hardware after that. It took me a couple of extra years to graduate, and by that point I knew I didn't want to work in Industrial Engineering. I got a job as systems/network administrator for a small, but growing software company in 1992. All my network admin training was on the job, but at least I knew what I was doing to build, upgrade, and repair PCs. I had already started tinkering with Linux by then. The company I worked for ran a combination of Windows, Macs, and one of the first PC-based UNIX variants called Interactive UNIX/386 (which belonged to Eastman Kodak, then was sold to Sun Microsystems before they eventually killed it off).

Along the way, I became very interested in NeXT (and for a time owned a NeXTstation - I have fond memories of that!). Then they stopped making hardware, briefly offered NeXTstep 486 for PCs, then was purchased by Apple, who turned it into OS X. I owned a couple of MacBooks and iMacs along the way, but grew fed up with the cost/value ratio of Apple hardware (and the fact that they don't make upgradeable, custom-configurable hardware), and discovered the Hackintosh realm.

 

[Mo Facta]

1986. My dad was an accountant (RIP) and bought an IBM Compatible when I was 6 for his work. Intel 8088 4.7Mhz, 640KB RAM, 20MB HDD, orange monochrome CGA display, etc. He let me play on it when he was around but I wasn't allowed to touch it otherwise.

He died two years later from a brain tumor. My mom then let me tinker with it because she was clueless with PCs and I showed a keen interest. I loved it and crashed it many times. Before I knew it at the age of 9 I was reading DOS manuals and writing my own batch files to run programs on startup, etc. I took Pascal programming classes in high school but didn't get into coding much. It bored me back then.

But I have been passionate about PC tech ever since and now my job is maintaining high end shared storage, networks, software and editing systems in the broadcast media industry. All my experience up until now has prepared me for it. I'm not qualified in IT in any way besides being certified on the products we sell and support (Avid) but after years of working in a high pressure environment like broadcasting where zero downtime is paramount and high throughput, redundant, reliable shared storage is the life blood of the business (we're talking like 120 clients editing uncompressed full HD video at 100 MB/s each, simultaneously), I feel I've got a good grasp on it if only due to the pressure. It's the deep end for sure.

In my spare time I love PC hardware more than anything. Nothing is quite like a well oiled, optimised and powerful machine that I built. It's a great feeling.

That's why I like hacks. It's a challenge and allows me to delve into the deeper aspects of computing. Plus there's the rebellious aspect. Down with the system! Don't tell me what OS I can't run on my PC! haha

Anyway, that's the abridged version and I'm sticking to it.

Cheers