How did you guys learn

[ToxicXGL]

I am really wondering how all you guys learned so much, did u guys become computer engineers was is computer science? I really wanna know because I love working with computers especially the hardware and I would love to know more so I can contribute more to this community. Share your stories of how you got to know so much about computers guys!

 

[linnemeyerhere]

ToxicXGL,
I can't speak for everyone, but I'm just a regular guy that jumped into the deep end of the build your own rig pool. I was lucky to have Googled and found this forum. I had already learned some information but the growth of W7 and computer knowledge went up exponentially once here. At first hanging in the background and reading then beginning to comment some to now dare I say too much. The thing is the more you read and hang around you can't help but learn and within the forum you have such amazing depth of knowledge and talents it just makes learning easy and more fun.

 

[Shadowjk]

I learned a lot from self experience with it beginning from fixing my machine when things went wrong. The quickest way would probably from taking a course however somethings are only learnt when it happens therefore some basic troubleshooting techniques are needed. First thing to do is to isolate as to what component or setting is causing the problem. To do this begin to look at a broad perspective:

Power - Is it plugged in? Is the fuse blown?
Cables - Have you tried another cable? Do you have the correct cable? (For example DVI-I does not work with DVI-D)
Connector - Are you able to try another port? Is a particular port disabled in the BIOS?
Settings - None of the above? Then this is where specialty troubleshoot and repair comes in to play. If all else fails then a reinstall may solve the problem however if it affects more than one machine or is a hardware problem then it will not.

If I was to suggest anything then look into troubleshooting techniques as well as begin to consider what sort of area you wish to help in since no one person knows it all For example, I prefer to handle networking issues however there are people here who are exceptional with security and malware remove to debugging bluescreens which I don't have a clue on.

Lastly, this is no disrespect to you or any other person but one must understand that they do not know it all before they can learn or accept constructive criticism.

Josh

 

[OvenMaster]

In 1982, I started by taking computer programming classes at university (WATFIV/Fortran IV on punchcards, anyone?), bought a TI 99/4A and started writing programs. I graduated to a C64 system that I got complete for free(!). My first Windows PC was a used 133MHz DEC Venturis workstation system with Win95 - wow - for $300 in 2001... and it immediately cried out for expansion and upgrades (CD burner, a second hard drive, more RAM...). The public library and reading every PC magazine I could get my hands on helped, as well as being raised to fix things myself whenever possible. Did I make mistakes along the way? Did I ever.

 

[Anak]

My situation was pretty much like the previous members only I was a late bloomer and started in 1993 with a Brother 80 word processor (I can't believe they're still selling on Ebay). The wife needed something better than a manual/electric typewriter for school, and I started using it for work. Then we graduated up to a AT&T 486DX2/66 computer in '97' and the rest is history.

The thing to remember is, it takes time. I believe we can all say that the knowledge gained just didn't happen overnight, some of it was schooling, some personal experience, and some handed down from teachers and people we knew that were gracious enough to part with the knowledge they knew.

If I may borrow some wise words:

The thing is the more you read and hang around you can't help but learn and within the forum you have such amazing depth of knowledge and talents it just makes learning easy and more fun.

Lastly, this is no disrespect to you or any other person but one must understand that they do not know it all before they can learn or accept constructive criticism.

Josh

The public library and reading every PC magazine I could get my hands on helped, as well as being raised to fix things myself whenever possible. Did I make mistakes along the way? Did I ever.

I can vouch for OvenMaster, Boy, did I ever! :shock: Are we ready for the "smoke test?"

 

[Britton30]

For me it was a lot of reading online and magazines.I've been with a PC only since about 1999, which was a used Win 95 rig with a "big" 490MB drive and 8MB of RAM, yeah MBs. I found an article in a magazine that went into detail on building a PC so I tried it and it worked. I've fried or burnt out a few things so that helps with learning.

Posting here and seeing what works was a great way for me to learn w7 as well, no better, than I knew XP. I had 7 for about 2 weeks or so when I found Seven Forums through Google as well.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My first exposure to PCs were work computers (and we had limited use with those). I didn't get my first PC until late 2001 (I did have a Commodore Plus4 and C64C prior to that). After seven years of just using that first computer, it was rather long in the tooth and I didn't want to buy a Vista machine (the OS du Jour at the time) because I would have had to replace my printer and scanner, but XP machines weren't being sold anymore so I paid a builder to build me an XP machine. It was a POS from the word go and never did really meet my needs so, when the end of XP started to loom and I had replaced the printer and scanner, I decided I needed to learn how to build my own machine. I had already been lurking on these forums as well as a couple of others, picking up bits and pieces on how to use computers and properly maintain them but started paying more attention to how they worked and how to build one. I also read every computer magazine I could lay my fat little hands on. I finally took the plunge late last year and started prepping a case, making most of my own PSU cables among other things, and, in March, I built the darned thing, again with a lot of help from here and other forums and managed to get it working. I still need to add some cards to it but I'm still in learning mode (and saving the shekels needed).

 

[ToxicXGL]

Idk on the magazines now a day its all digital and they require subscriptions and its a big mess I'll drop by my local library and see if they have any. Been reading some tutorials on the forums lots on info I'm absorbing. Does anyone know if taking a computer science course will perhaps allow me to get into a profession that deals with computer hardware?

 

[DocBrown]

Get your hands on some old desktops. Take 'em apart, put 'em back together. Science experiments. In my 30 years with computers, it is all Trial and Error. Yes, read the tutorials & posts here. Remember todays knowledge & technology can be outdated tomorrow. So just keep learning

 

[Anak]

Idk on the magazines now a day its all digital and they require subscriptions and its a big mess I'll drop by my local library and see if they have any. Been reading some tutorials on the forums lots on info I'm absorbing. Does anyone know if taking a computer science course will perhaps allow me to get into a profession that deals with computer hardware?

Computer science covers the whole spectrum of computers and computing from knowing you have a problem, then programming a solution for it, and, if the problem is that exotic designing a machine to run your program to solve your problem, but it would be a start.

There are openings in your area at: Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta Their Summer Camp: Summer Camps | Launch CS
Check into it, If you don't make the effort you will never know and wonder the rest of your life "if I only", at the very least you can say you tried.


Oh, by the way you should learn not to use text talk like Idk and be more formal in your conversations, I know it means "I don't know", but higher education requires it.
As time passes and you become familiar with your surroundings you can relax your communication with your peers to the accepted norms.

To earn respect it is always best to start out strong, and then relax, if you start out weak no one will listen.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Idk on the magazines now a day its all digital and they require subscriptions and its a big mess I'll drop by my local library and see if they have any. Been reading some tutorials on the forums lots on info I'm absorbing. Does anyone know if taking a computer science course will perhaps allow me to get into a profession that deals with computer hardware?

Computer Science is mainly programming, and you will have to get into University to study that.

CompTIA A+ will teach the fundamentals of hardware and other concepts such as networking etc. It's not a expensive course.

Personally, I've self taught myself almost everything I know, from reading blogs, learning from others on different forums including this one, and purchasing and reading books. I have a pile of notes about hardware and some networking, and about four computer books. The rest is from reading and learning from experience.

Like before, you won't be able to become an expert in every area related to computers, you will be able to develop a deep knowledge in around two if they're related, for example I mostly read about programming and debugging since the two are related to each other.

In other areas, I might have some basic knowledge or none at all, so if I don't understand something, then I quickly search it up online or ask someone.

Always remember, learning takes time, and you'll always learn something new everyday. I'm constantly learning new things all the time.

Just to add, my first computer I ever used was Windows 98, and my first games console was a Dreamcast.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Another benefit from hanging here is what you thought you knew so much about there's always people that know so much more. At the rate of progress and change it's almost impossible to keep up but with such broad and diverse talent here if you can ask a good question likely you'll get lots of good answers !

I can recall with my first system a 286 rig back in the early 80's I was so lost it was all I could do but turn on and type and print. I much preferred a word processing typewriter and it would save my work and seemed more friendly. Back then I used a software package called Ventura an it was so confusing to me I felt as if the whole world of computing had already passed me by. At some point I just knew that if I didn't force myself to jump in and stay with it then I'd really be screwed and tattooed as they say. I still use today my second printer bought in the mid eighties a HP4 and as I remember it cost me $1,300.00 with a extra memory card. lol

 

[Shadowjk]

CompTIA A+ will teach the fundamentals of hardware and other concepts such as networking etc. It's not a expensive course.

Like before, you won't be able to become an expert in every area related to computers, you will be able to develop a deep knowledge in around two if they're related, for example I mostly read about programming and debugging since the two are related to each other.

Completely agree with the relation with subject areas. For example if you wish to do networking then look into Windows Server as well since these will go hand in hand.

CompTIA certifications are a great way of understanding the concepts at a beginner level however the configuration and troubleshooting aspects may not be as saturated in those curriculum.

For example if you wish to go for a networking certification then I would strongly advise looking at Cisco certifications (CCENT and CCNA Routing and Switching) as these ones teach you not only the concepts covered in the CompTIA Network+ but also the configuration and practical aspects which in turn help with troubleshooting

Learning for my CCNA has been one of the best experiences in my life and really opened my eyes in terms of how broad IT is as well as how complex the Internet is

A University (College Degree) is more expensive than certifications however they normally cover other relating subjects as well as give you the understanding of how IT impacts a business environment as well as the certain policies regarding to the impact on end users will restrict your ability in a production environment

Josh

 

[madcratebuilder]

In the early 70's I had some training on computer theory for air traffic control, never applied to the real world, basically for carrier progression. Jump forward to the early 90's and I bought a state of the art 386/16 with Win 3.0. I remember being so confused when all I saw was C:\:huh: Then I figured out I had to type "WIN" to get the GUI.

On line forums, pc mags and books well make it come together for you.

 

[Britton30]

Get your hands on some old desktops. Take 'em apart, put 'em back together. Science experiments. In my 30 years with computers, it is all Trial and Error. Yes, read the tutorials & posts here. Remember todays knowledge & technology can be outdated tomorrow. So just keep learning

Yes, many science experiemnts.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Get your hands on some old desktops. Take 'em apart, put 'em back together. Science experiments. In my 30 years with computers, it is all Trial and Error. Yes, read the tutorials & posts here. Remember todays knowledge & technology can be outdated tomorrow. So just keep learning

Yes, many science experiemnts.

Ah yes, science experiments. I pulled many a one out of my 'fridge back when I was still married with children.

 

[Joan Archer]

Well I'm still learning, but when the kids were starting to use computers at school we thought we ought to get one at home so they could practice, I'd never touched one. That was September 1998 so we bought a Windows 98 set up with printer which cost over a £1,000 and had a 2.1GB drive and 32 MB RAM, it was huge.

I started out by reading Newsgroups online and I bought the monthly magazine Windows 98, then started to register in a few Forums. With that first computer I just used to click on everything to see what it did then just gradually find out about how things worked and working out how to fix things when they went wrong, usually because I'd done something I shouldn't have done.

I suppose it just went on from there, as I said I'm still learning you never know everything about computers as they change so quickly and I'm now learning about Windows 8 on my laptop and Smartphone, waiting for the next stage and enjoying every minute of it.

 

[AddRAM]

Went to school for Computer Networking & Securities.

10 years in the Field.

Nothing beats experience.

 

[SIW2]

I just guess.

 

[strollin]

Back in 1984, I was a mfg manager at IBM. They plopped an IBM PC on my desk and told me to make use of it. I had a background as an electronics technician but had never used a PC. I started out by following the tutorial that came with DOS 2.1. Not long after that we got a brand new piece of software called Lotus 123. I learned about spreadsheets from using it and even started writing macros. After becoming fairly proficient with my work PC, I bought one for my own use ($2500 in 1984 with my employee discount). I soon outgrew that PC and wanted something more so I went to a computer show one Saturday and bought stuff like a case, power supply, motherboard, 8088 CPU, hard drive controller card & hard drive ($500 for a 20MB hard drive!), etc... and assembled my own. Over the years since I have always fixed and built my own computers (have never taken one in to be fixed) as well doing the same for friends & family. The internet didn't exist yet but I read books and magazines. I then spent $300 for a 1200 baud modem and discovered BBSes which were the precursor to the internet.

I enjoyed using computers so much that I applied for and was accepted into a Programmer training program at IBM where I was put thru a rigorous training program studying programming in IBM 370 (Mainframe) Assembler language 8hrs/day for 6 months. After I graduated, I switched from management to programming and have been in software development since 1986.

What it boils down to is that I've spent lots of time with computers since 1984. I know a lot but there's still plenty I don't know. I read forums like this one, not only to offer help to others, but also to increase my knowledge. Take your time, read as much as you can, do as much as you can to maintain & fix your computer, learn at your own pace and someday down the road you'll be one of the answer guys.