Where did you acquire your technical savy?

[DarrylLicke]

*If this is the wrong place for this post I apologize*

Trial and error? A book? A mentor? On the job? Hobby?

Just curious.

 

[IgoByte]

Trial and error and books. Hoping to learn a little more in school.

 

[SaturnX]

Mostly trial and error, along with few books, but otherwise it's just one of my hobbies, though I plan on learning more in school.

--Mark

 

[Athlon4all]

Mostly trial and error, but my hardware half came from these forums and Anandtech.

 

[nagger]

A little bit of every thing

Mentor: My father (works with computers since 1971) and gave all of us (me and my family) an IBM PC in 1983
Book: Books, lots of them, reading now the Flash 5 Bible
On the Job: I've been working since 1999 (Y2K bug anyone?) and almost everyday I learn something new
Trial an Error: yep (lots of them...)
Hobby: I consider my self as a computer hobbyist since the age of 9...

 

[flexy]

nowadays people get their knowledge on the internet - not in books

Ok...i might have read some books like 15 years ago..but i think books only made a very small percentage of my 'knowledge'.

It's mainly trial and error (especially if you're a programmer), looking at 'how others did it'..and experimentation

As for being up-to-date with hardware: I think the best place for that actually is websites like this and especially this forum which keeps you up-to-date with current technologies..what pc parts to buy...how to do it..etc etc.....i'd consider related websites my number one source

greets

 

[Sunner]

Trial and error to start with, then I got a job as a service tech, quite a bit of fun, and I learned alot.
Then I got another job, which Im still at, learned loads here, Solaris, Firewall stuff, beckup stuff, and loads others.

Trial&error works, but there's no faster way to learn stuff than to work with it for real IMO.

 

[owensdj]

I used most of those. I worked with computers on my own from the time I was about 12(in 1982) for about 6 years doing things like writing simple programs in BASIC and installing operating systems and applications. I studied for 4 years then to receive a Computer Science degree. After getting my degree, I've worked with computers professionally for over 8 years now writing database applications and doing Novell and Windows NT 4/2000 networking. During that time I also used some good books to help me learn new things.

I think this is the best way to learn: start with a formal education(ie Computer Science degree) and then add hands-on experience and continuing self-education.

 

[MrHelpful]

Anandtech.

 

[clockhar]

<< Trial and error and books. Hoping to learn a little more in school. >>



school? Please, all school does is tell you (if your lucky) the details of how current, generic technology works. You'll learn the specifics after school (either through 'net, books or on the job experience). School is 'behind' in technolgy. They teach you stuff that happened yesterday, so you'll probably already heard of it before. It's still pretty interesting and cool. I mean the best thing you can take away from it is learning how to figure out/learn about new technologies and how to troubleshoot.

 

[Mavrick007]

Heh Hackers in my house on campus taught me my computer ABC's years ago.
From there I taught myself and have learned alot in school(CS) and on the job.
School teaches you the basics in programming and hardware, it's not meant to keep you up with the latest cpu or vid card. You get what you need to get a job cause my gaming experience sure hasn't helped me pass a test or get a job(I wish).

 

[Gosharkss]

I did it the old fashioned way that seems to work for most successful people. I went to collage which helped me learn the basics but most importantly helped me get a good job in the industry, where my mentor taught me the finer points. Then approximately 20 years of on the job experience. Never trust everything you read on the Internet unless you know the source is reliable.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

I rebuilt my first IBM AT when I was 14, and a 386 when I was 16. From there books and the internet led me to become the bane of all that is electronic, and the, "can you help me fix my computer, John..." guy.

 

[MrTux]

Well, I had always liked computers since I was very little...when my dad got an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286. After that, we got a 486 with Windows 3.11 and then a PII 333. I spent a lot of time on both of those machines, and especially got to know how to do troubleshooting in Windows. I also read a lot of stuff on the web, at Sharky Extreme mainly. Then I started doing upgrades on my own, and not too long after that built my first PC. I have done 3 all together now, and have learned a lot from doing each one. I am only a sophomore in HS, so I have a long way to go in learning things. I hope to take it to a formal level, taking computer science in college and getting a job in the industry.

To sum it up, I obtained most of my knowledge from the web (especially forums) and from personal experience.

EDIT- Can't believe I forgot to mention TechTV (formerly ZDTV). I watched them religiously for a long time, and learned a great deal from them, especially on Call for Help and The Screen Savers.

 

[apoppin]

What technical savy? :Q

My friends and neighbors have come to depend on me for their hardware and software problems. I read everything related I have time for and study AT religiously. Plus, I am willing to patiently work through tough problems.

 

[Workin']

<< nowadays people get their knowledge on the internet - not in books >>

I find it easier to read a book while sitting in the, uhhh, "library". Hard to get web access in there, if you know what I mean

 

[mboy]

Before this past summer, I had never really opened a computer before, altho have always used/enjoyed them since my 1st Appple II+. Took an A+ cert class (still have yet to take a test) and learned the basics. Built my first comp in Aug. (5 computers ago A friend hooked me up with his old job before he left and today I am a network admin for a small manufacturing firm. About 50 workstations, 6 servers (2 unix). I owe most of my knowledge to the fine folks at Anandtech and A LOT of trial and error. On the job figuring out/learning for myself has helped tremendously. Internet has helped a lot, provided you know the source is legit. Wish I knew more (still learning every minute) but this place has been great to me, what a world of knowledge you can get by hangin' around the forums here.

 

[murphy55d]

Same for me...a lot of trial and error, a lot of reading the forums here. I have been a lurker for a LONG time (been a member since Dec 2000 but not a lot of posts), I just picked it up as I went along.

 

[YaKuZa]

Hobby/Trial & Error

 

[veryape]

I learned by building my first computer. Not only had I never owned a computer but nor had I ever built one, and it was a great feeling when I got it booted up after I worked some slight bugs, or should I say mistakes out.

The internet also offered me a wealth of knowlege that I most likely could not have learned nearly as fast as I did without it. This forum in particular has been great for information. I would suggest this and a few other computer forums that I dare not mention here...cough..sharky...cough..hardocp...cough....arstechnica...cough...hypothermia...cough..cough.

 

[fendel]

Interesting question.

Trial and error, plus the 'net, plus--very early on--some coaching from my dad. He bought us one of the first IBM PCs... if I recall correctly, it was an 8088 that ran at a blazing 3 mhz, had a monochrome text-only display, two (two!) 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard drive, dot-matrix printer...

During my teenage years in the 80s I wrote weird little music programs in BASIC and uploaded them to local BBSs over our 300bps Hayes Smartmodem. (I wonder if those programs ever got out of Poughkeepsie.)

A few years back I built myself a PC. Just did it again recently. I'm tickled at how much that tends to impress people at work. I'm a tech writer, former English major, and female. Whenever I start a new contract it seems the people around me aren't really expecting me to be a geek, and so they're surprised. On the tech writer listserv I subscribe to, I sometimes see posts from a few people who don't have much tech savvy, and what they do have, they got from training. I think they're at a huge disadvantage. If you can't continually teach yourself stuff--and have the curiosity to do so--it's hard to keep up.

 

[BreakApart]

Reading-->trying-->breaking-->Reading-->fixing-->Reading-->adjusting-->breaking-->Reading-->fixing

Rinse and repeat


Currently on the Reading before the adjusting.

 

[Huz]

All of the above. In addition to working in the industry, I gain a lot of knowledge online through different forums like this one.

Also, a good catch all resource for anything at all is the former Dejanews, now property of Google @ Google Usenet Search

Huz

 

[DoOLiE11]

year and year of money and time spent on classes

YEAH RIGHT...

trial and error and the net or course

and how can we forget anandtech?

 

[imgod2u]

Some books, a lot on the internet (you don't even need a book to learn java, just java.sun.com), some classes, IRC, and a vast array of troubleshooting skills and patience thanks to windows.