Why did you get into computer?

[AussieGuy92]

hi people i thought it might be interesting to start a thread on why you got into computers?

my reason: my dad likes computers so it gave us a common ground to agree on and base to start a friendship.

so whats your reason?

 

[YakSipper]

As a very young child, I was exceptionally gifted with learning, where the public school I went to wanted to me to skip grades completely. My parents hadn't agreed since they wanted me with children of my own age. Nevertheless, because of my so-called "gift", I became sort of a loner although still somewhat friendly with my peers.

So, I got into Commodore 64s and learning how to program them.

 

[whs]

I had just finished university and there was an ad in the newpaper looking for programmers. Since I had done some programming at the university, I applied and got the job - that was in 1961. I stayed with the company until retirement. Never had any problems - only challenges.

 

[starwolf1336]

it was one of the few things i was good at that none of my friends could do. And it just kinda stuck with me. I find it exciting

 

[CommonTater]

I started out as a hobbiest , got into high end audio (studios, theatres, etc.), needed a job and took one fixing office equipment. Moved from there to computers for better pay in 79 and never looked back...

 

[pparks1]

My dad had computers around the house when I was a kid. Mostly commodore Vic-20's and Commodore 64's. Got used to working on them and learning my way around. Eventually moved to an 80-86 and MS-DOS on that. Had some experience working with 386 and 486's in high school with a science teacher who was very much into using computers and technology in the classroom. Been playing with them ever since.

 

[Dzomlija]

I never was a physical person, and when my high school opened a computer lab for student, I used it as an excuse to get out of PT (Gym Class). I discovererd then an aptitude for computers, and my parents bought my first computer (ZX Spectrum 128K +3), which was follwed later by a 386SX.

I've been using computers ever since, and have never looked back.

 

[severedsolo]

do you know... i honestly can't remember a time when i haven't been into computers, even when i first started school, using Acorn's and those ones with the wierd blue screens (cant for the life of me remember what they were called) i have always been into them

 

[Valor D]

Re:

My family saw an ad in the paper for a free Apple //c computer for anyone who placed $10,000.00 into a bank account, and left it there for 10 years. That was in 1986 (and yes, I remember playing on the Commodore 64 at a friend's house, as well. Now I'm showing my age. ha) I took a computer class shortly after in grade school, where we learned BASIC aka DOS 3.3. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[loaba]

Built my first PC in 96, think it was a Tyan Mobo and an AMD K62 processor. Can't remember how much RAM or what size HDD I had. I do recall that I was crazy for Turtle Beach sound cards and Diamond video cards (8mb perhaps?) Also, the USB was a bit buggy, but Win 98 came out and all was well from there on in. I've been building my own ever since.

I'm certainly not one of the old grognards, I never punched in cards and didn't do any soldering and coding. I did mess around with dip switches, so that should count for something.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I was visiting one of my mom's friend, which had a shiny white iBook and the old saucer Airport. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and then I began to wonder what other possibilities were there.

 

[WindowsStar]

My family saw an ad in the paper for a free Apple //c computer for anyone who placed $10,000.00 into a bank account, and left it there for 10 years.

Intrigued and confused, so how does it work? You leave a 10,000 in an account and 10 years later after they verify the money is there you get a 10 year old computer? Do they lock the money into some account that you cannot access it for 10 years, so you can have the computer right away? Did you get the computer? That seems like a lot of money to come up with, why not just buy a computer wouldn’t have been much cheaper?

 

[loaba]

I was given to understand that the computer was an incentive to deposit the 10k and leave it there. I'm sure there must have been a heavy penalty for early withdrawal.

PS - how much was the retail on that particular Mac in 1986?

 

[WindowsStar]

According to Wiki: The original retail price of the computer was US$1298

Apple II series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...0&mb=2&usg=AFQjCNGEcTGMwIC7cdFxGCdFT4jozrUiTw

 

[loaba]

So the deal was that you had to lock in 10k for 10 years, but you got a $1298.00 computer for your trouble and some interest in the end? I'm not the quickest of cats, at the best of times, but it sounds like a good thing to me.

 

[jcgriff2]

I didn't get into computers, computers go to me first - only since late 2007, when I saw my very first BSOD, took the system in for repair, go it back and it BSOD'd itself to death more frequently than before. I dove into Vista head first and solved the BSOD. Started posting in Jan 2008... the rest is history.

jcgriff2

.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Wow, John. I never would have guessed.

I started out a few years ago, writing programs for my TI-84 calculator (see this site), and gradually got bored with it and moved on to computers instead.

My first computer was one I built last year, when Vista was out and Windows 7 in beta.

When I installed the RC, I joined SF, and that's where I have learned just about everything I know.

 

[G4b1t]

My first contact with a personal computer was in trash in 1998.
I didn't even know that a home computer free for personal use ever existed. I always saw that great technology used by computers was always used for science and stuff. Until one day right in front of my house in my own pavement i saw a big box with some weird plastic looking green boards on top of it. Looks like somebody was in no use of it anymore and just trash it away. It was my 1st PC @ 226Mhz ( 400 in turbo mode i thin) with a 20G Kaliviar hdd.
Books and lots of bugging to teachers made my way to follow Computer Science.
Be ware it's a virus spreading by air. or maybe sight xD

 

[derekimo]

About two years ago when my brother gave me his old windows 98 emachines computer, that got me started with some basics then I got a HP with 2000 on it from a friend who couldn't remember the password so I played with that for a few months, and then I bought a emachines with vista home basic and started adding ram, video card and upgrading to home premium.
Then I got this computer almost a year ago, a couple months later I found out I could download and try windows 7, then I found this great forum where I have learned so much and continue to learn.

 

[Thorsen]

I started with computers when my parents got a Commodor 64 in the late 80's. I was about 7 or 8 when I found a program in a computer magazine and wrote in the instructions to get it to run on the machine it was about 5 pages long. It amazed me that you could write code to tell a computer what to do and have been fascinated since.

In middle school I was told that I couldn't take a computer course and Band at the same time, so I made my choice and took the computer class. It was mainly navigation and word processing on a Mac. In high school I took every class I could for computers and was designing images in PS in the 10th grade. And writing programs in Visual Basic in the 12th grade. Then college was all Computer Science. I learned over 10 programming languages and many system designs.

All through this time, I fixed computers for friends and relatives, replaced hardware and cleaned computers free of their infections.

My career now is deeply set in computers going from Admin to XML