What's the reason you got into computers?

[Kaido]

I was in middle school. My dad's work gave him an engineering workstation (Windows NT with Xeons, VERY expensive at the time) for home use. I was playing on it one day and decided I'd make it go faster by deleting some files. I really got into it...deleting all kinds of system graphics and icons I didn't think were needed, and other useless files - I was like MAN I'm good at this! I rebooted to see how fast it would boot...yeah, it didn't. The repair cost $700 :Q

That may not seem like much to you, but as a kid it was horrifying. I didn't have a job at at the time, but I was pretty much grounded from the computer forever. I vowed to learn computers like the guys who got paid $700 for a stupid fix so that I would never make that mistake again. Of course, I made several other expensive mistakes in the years after that (had to take two other computers to the shop in high school, $300 of repair each) but I finally got the hang of it in college when I got serious about them.

I think another large motivator was video games. I wanted to play Half-Life but had no idea what a video card even was, so around '98 was when I started doing computer upgrades. I built my first computer the year I graduated high school. I was actually into art at the time, and somehow got sucked into computer graphics, which required a more powerful computer than I had then. So I went from being an artist to...being a lump who nefs on AT all day. Wait a minute...

Now I'm finishing my CS degree and do IT contracting for several companies What's your story?

 

[child of wonder]

First got interested in it as a 11-12 year old because my friend and I thought it would be easy to make a TMNT video game on our own.

When I was 14 I read almost the entire DOS 5.0 book cover to cover and learned how to make our 386DX system with 4MB of RAM perform better.

Up until I was 24 I was just a noob with a little knowledge. When my wife became pregnant we needed a better source of income, so I went to school and studied Networking and Server administration.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
First got interested in it as a 11-12 year old because my friend and I thought it would be easy to make a TMNT video game on our own.

When I was 14 I read almost the entire DOS 5.0 book cover to cover and learned how to make our 386DX system with 4MB of RAM perform better.

Up until I was 24 I was just a noob with a little knowledge. When my wife became pregnant we needed a better source of income, so I went to school and studied Networking and Server administration.

Haha, I was learning OpenGL one winter and went out to my extended family's for Christmas a couple years ago. My 14-year-old know-it-all nephew was all like, in a snotty kiddie tone, "so when are you releasing a video game? I'm gonna do a video game. It's so easy. I've been learning DirectX and OpenGL. Blah blah blah". Totally trying to put me down in front of the family...he had no idea it requires more effort than making a movie...sound effects, soundtracks, artwork, complex levels, compatibility, so many different parts. He was absolutely confident that he know everything there was to know, and that it was so easy, and why wasn't I doing it as easily as he was Nerd brats, oye!

Ah, DOS. You know, I never really understood computers until they slapped on a GUI. I had a geek buddy as a kid and he would just whiz through DOS like nobody's business and constantly get frustrated with me for not understanding his "simple" explanations. Then I played with Windows 95 and I was like oh, I get it now

I originally got into computers in college as a job, but now it's like being a car mechanic...kids are getting paid near-minimum wage to work at Geek Squad...everybody and their dog knows computers now. Harder to get a general job monkeying around with computers. I really wanted to be a hardware nut (networks, computer building/upgrading/repairing) but that's getting harder and harder

 

[her209]

Wanted to be a video game programmer. Hated programming in college. Al Gore invented the Internet. Found networking.

 

[IronWing]

I was in HS and a couple other kids were programming cool graphics on the Apple II so I sat down and learned to program very basic BASIC, enough to make cool graphics. Later, my dad bought a Kaypro II so I learned to use and program that.

 

[dbk]

pornography

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ironwing
I was in HS and a couple other kids were programming cool graphics on the Apple II so I sat down and learned to program very basic BASIC, enough to make cool graphics. Later, my dad bought a Kaypro II so I learned to use and program that.

Hah, I remember Oregan Trailer on the old school Macs. Those were the days...

 

[xeno2060]

DOOM!!

 

[Darthvoy]

my sister won a computer from her school. I was in middle school and she got a old mac. The kind that could only display black and green and had those gigantic floppy disk. That's pretty much how I started.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ironwing
I was in HS and a couple other kids were programming cool graphics on the Apple II so I sat down and learned to program very basic BASIC, enough to make cool graphics. Later, my dad bought a Kaypro II so I learned to use and program that.

Hah, I remember Oregan Trailer on the old school Macs. Those were the days...

There were no Macs and Lisa was still a year away (not that anyone could afford a Lisa anyway).

 

[schneiderguy]

I was jealous of all my friends playing counter-strike. I bought it and realized it didn't run very well on my 300mhz pentium2 with integrated graphics :Q

 

[Yukmouth]

My mom broke up with this geek ex boyfriend of hers. He left a bunch of parts at her house and when he came to get them they were " gone ", thanks to me.

K6-2's/3's, mobos, ram, the works. I bought cases, hds and PSUs. Then I sold the systems to family and friends. That was when I was about 13.

Had an IT position for a while at a mortgage company when I was 18, but switched to sales & refinance for more income.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Got my first computer when I was barely able to reach the keyboard. It was an old Acorn with nothing but a BASIC command line, and the computer itself was a huge bulky keyboard that plugged into a TV screen. Begged my parents for years to buy a tape drive so I could save the programs I wrote, but they never did so I had to rewrite my games from scratch (mostly just copying from BASIC books in the library) whenever I wanted to play. When I was about 10 we finally got a decent box, a 486DXII 400MHz. It ran Duke Nukem 3D ok so I was pretty stoked. I can't pinpoint any time I got into computers, I've been around them since I can remember. I can pin point the moment I became completely addicted to PCs, and that was the day I got the internet when I was 11 years old. It was all downhill from there.

Edit - it was a long time ago but if memory serves me right this was my first computer.

 

[Chaotic42]

I don't remember. When I was four I asked for a Commodre 64 for Christmas and got it. I guess I was just always curious like most kids are. I spent my days outside playing and my nights inside messing with the computer.

I was interested in them up until a few years ago. I've been gradually losing interest in them and now I pretty much use my very expensive computer to check email, post on Anandtech, and tell my friends that I don't want to play any games that night.

 

[ahenkel]

Instead of learning to play sports from the old man, he taught me how to build a computer.

 

[TridenT]

Got a Compaq something when I was around 8 or 9. It was the family computer... My parents bought one because I really wanted a computer after using my cousins at her parents house... Made a little geocities website when I was there, lol... It had me interested automatically... Talking to all kinds of people, making websites, playing games... My other cousin had one and we played Diablo on it.. That shit scared me. The fucking butcher, OMG. I never really played the game much until I was about 12 or 13. Then I beat it because of duping. (Played online) So... Gaming was the reason I got into computers... Along with the internet, I suppose.

I have good and bad memories of computers... A lot of tears and hard work. I've learned many lessons though... You can learn life lessons with computers... Like, don't fix what's not broken.. Am I right? FFS. I should listen to that. >_< (I just had to format for the billionth time due to shitty ATI driver packages.. F U ATI)

 

[Rubycon]

Never been "into" a computer before. Well they do have big ones that I could "get into" but they probably would not appreciate that.

Cats can get into computers easily. :laugh:

 

[WildHorse]

``

 

[lxskllr]

I've always had an interest in computers, and what they could do. My first was an Atari 800 that I got in my early teens. I got out of computers for a little while, and then got a 486DX50 in my early 20s. I used that for a bit, and the office needed another computer, so I took it in there. I got out of computers again, and later got my daughter a Dell for xmas. It was a P4 2.4ghz machine, and I've been into them ever since. The web growing into what it is, is a large part of what kept my interest.

I'm sorry I didn't pursue IT when I was still in my teens. I should have gotten into programming as I quite enjoy it. I used to do a lot of advanced programming on my scientific calculator, and I found it very satisfying to start with nothing and end up with something useful in the end.

 

[eldorado99]

Back in 1994 my sister's elementary school teacher recommended very strongly to my parents that they buy a computer so that she (and me) could learn how to use them. My dad started researching them and purchased a 486 DX-II 66 and I haven't looked back since. Of course the first game I bought was Doom, that's probably what initially interested me.

 

[Wheezer]

when we dropped 2k on a 200mmx desktop, monitor keyboard and mouse loaded with Win 98 for the wife for school I decided right there....never again, I knew I could build one cheaper myself.

 

[masterxfob]

Originally posted by: dbk
pornography

the only 100% honest answer i've read in this thread :beer:

ohh, i did it for the games

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I was into games. Became friends with a cool Computer Consultant; friend of some friends. He invited me over his house for Monday Night Raw and that's when he introduced me to Unreal Tournament 99.

That was my introduction to computers. I think it was about 2001. I think my first system was a 423 socket P4 1.3Ghz I built myself. Never owned a pre-built system.

 

[Blayze]

Doom, Quake, etc... Basically to play games with my friends in high school.

 

[hans030390]

As a very small child, I always tinkered around with the computer. Then it came to a point where I wanted to play a game, but it wouldn't run. My dad explained our computer wasn't powerful enough. So, I figured out a bit more regarding hardware. We got a new computer that ran more games. After that, I really followed the growth of computers while continuing to tinker with ours. By the time we got our 3rd computer, I was smart enough to know what specific components did, started learning about software, tweaks, etc.

Then I came here, asking for input on a video card purchase. My knowledge grew exponentially afterwards, and Google became my new best friend for researching.

Also, me and my cousin were both into computers this whole time...we both grew off each other's knowledge.