What got you started in technology?

[RoninGurl]

Hey ladies.

What was it that got you interested in computers and technology?

[slavik]

I am not a lady by any means but my Computer Graphics and Game Programming professor (same person) was going to become an artistic painter but took a computer graphics class back in the packman era when games started becoming pixel based instead of text graphics and that's how she got a master's in comp sci but has a bachelor (sp?) in an art related major. it's the story she tells to anyone who asks ...

[stemar]

Back in the '80s I worked for a large government department in New Zealand. They were moving from a centralised mainframe to a decentralised NCR Unix server environment. I was employed to assist with the technical support of Uniplex (kind of MS Office for Unix - before there was such a thing as MS Office). 20 years on I have worked on every incarnation of Windows (including OS/2 LAN Manager) and look back with fondness to the ease of use of Unix and a sense of regret that the world could have been different place.

[BinaryDigit]

I always found technology interesting. I remember being 18, about to go to college, and didn't know what to major in. I loved hooking up electronics, loved math, and science. When I was creating my classes, a couselor put me in Comp Sci 15 ( C++ programming). I failed the class, but ironically, was intrigued with programming and computer science. The next semester, I passed that class with an A. I majored in Comp Sci and graduated 5 years later (with almost giving up on it since I found it difficult)..but I'm glad I stuck with it, because now it's a little key to any path I want to take when it comes to my career. I only wish I had started earlier in high school by taking basic programming classes, so I would have had an easier time in college. I'm teaching myself new things all the time now though, so that's good :)

[RoninGurl]

Those are some interesting explanations so far. Unfortunately, I am too young to have used much of the technologies stemar spoke of in any professional capacity. I do, however, remember fiddling with that office thing when I was with my dad at work. Though I always was playing some game or bugging his secretary for candy. But hey, I was a little girl so you can't blame me for spinning in circles. :D :D :p :mrgreen:

I do not really want to go for a computer sciences degree like BinaryDigit has decided to do. For me they are really just a hobby I suppose. I know a lot of about Windows and can fix most anything on the Windows and Mac OS X side of the operating system market and I know a lot of the basic command for UNIX / Linux but I never really liked any of the window managers for Linux. They always lacked the refinement I found in Windows and Mac OS. And none of the Linux offshoots even came close to supporting wireless network well, much less natively. At least in my case. I realize there are those who have had it working for a few years now, but not me. Though that kept me interested in Linux for some weird reason. I always kept trying to get it working with each new release of a Linux distro.

What really got me interested in technology was just a general love for learning. The same drive that pushed me to learn a lot about automotive topics. I found a lot of fun games too but the primary drive was just a joy for learning and computers were definitely a way to learn, even before they started to say that it was getting to the point you needed to know how to use computers to be successful in almost any field of work these days. I’ve always been the girl in the background lurking at computer user groups and discussion forums (including a dozen or so Linux distributions that I’ve personally tried).

Sorry it wasn’t as fascinating as yours but really it’s just a joy for learning.

[Nightwind]

Hey ladies.

What was it that got you interested in computers and technology?
I hated the way that the techs spoke to me in such a condescending manner, like I was illiterate, and/or mentally challenged on my 1st call for tech support 10 yrs ago. Granted I was then, and am still a non techie I decided then that I would do what ever I had to to avoid that type of treatment. I have no degrees, no formal education in computer science or any of the related fields and know next to nothing. Some people even today still treat me as if I am stupid because I have a 50% hearing impairment (they think yelling is the answer) I just ignore them for the most part. I try to help those that need it and ignor the rest.

[RoninGurl]

I hated the way that the techs spoke to me in such a condescending manner, like I was illiterate, and/or mentally challenged on my 1st call for tech support 10 yrs ago. Granted I was then, and am still a non techie I decided then that I would do what ever I had to to avoid that type of treatment. I have no degrees, no formal education in computer science or any of the related fields and know next to nothing. Some people even today still treat me as if I am stupid because I have a 50% hearing impairment (they think yelling is the answer) I just ignore them for the most part. I try to help those that need it and ignor the rest.
This reminds me of a very clever post on Slashdot (http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175536&cid=14593723) a few weeks ago. I particularly enjoyed it because I have experienced the exact same thing on many, many occasions. It’s very common to experience situations like that when you’re a woman interested in technology even when you are not working in an IT environment like the poster on Slashdot was. I get that everyday in the school computer lab when I ask a question about something when I’m playing with the command line in a class.

One classic example was when I would tell the man who works at the front desk of the computer lab (it’s always the same guy – it was his job to sit there and answer questions) that the printer is out of paper and that I’d like paper to refill the paper cassette in the HP LaserJet’s. The tech will immediately look down at my chest, look back up to me and ask if I am sure that the printer is out of paper and that I didn’t do something wrong.

Then one day I saw a guy walk up with the same problem, and the tech immediately gave him a package of 200 sheets of paper and let the guy walk off and put it into the paper feeder. I always had the guy figured for an *******. I’d seen him treat others with the same disrespect and elitism but I’ve never been one to jump to conclusions with no proof; so I never let myself think that it was entirely sexist in reasoning.

So, I told myself the next time the printer ran out of paper I was going to carry that 60 pound monster to the desk and slam it down in front of his face and say, it's out of paper and I'm sick of you treating me like I'm a moron. Look for yourself. Refill the paper. Carry it back to the desk yourself. And I asked another man there who was very polite and he gave me the room number for their office. The very next day the guy was inexplicably downsized. :KS

[Nightwind]

That was an interesting post on the Slashdot site although I could see it getting childishly out of control.I have experienced a lot of discrimination in my 48 yrs on this earth. When I drove a 18 wheeler (still do when time allows) for 26+ yrs and the last 10 playing in the IT field. Trucking I can say has been a predominantly male profession, and heaven forbid you should own the company, not due to anyones hard work but your own. The nice thing about IT is that I don't have to talk to anyone I don't want to and I don't. I'd say both fields have made great strides but there is always one bad apple to spoil it for the rest. :)

[Aithnea]

I'm still too young to really be working in the IT industry (I'm only 21) and in all honesty I don't know that much about what I'm doing. Most of what I know is either self taught or taught to me by my father, when I was still living at home, or my fiance.

I've always been interested in technology though and have been on the computer since I was 5.

[knalle]

wrong channel, sorry

[kadymae]

Heh.

I guess it could be that despite my liberal arts degree, both of my parents had science/technology degrees. Mom was an RN and Dad has his MS in Electrical Engineering.

Since 1983 (when I was 10) there has always been a computer in the house.

Then, my first semester in college I took a basic DOS class and got quite a bit out of it.

When I went away from home to university, I had to be my own technical support.

And I was so poor I had to be my own PC repair shop.

I've always liked the neat-o things I saw others doing with computers and, in an uneven patchwork fashion, I've made strides to educate myself. To the point that I'm my department's official "call this person before you call IT" person.

The other thing that got me somewhat more involved in technology is that I'm one of the "Founding Tarts" of Sequential Tart (http://www.sequentialtart.com) which got started when a bunch of pissed of women Comics and Popculture fans decided to write their own 'zine because we couldn't find one that wasn't completely by guys for guys. We had a comp-sci major and 2 network admins, and they've always been willing to answer my questions. Because of ST, I've learned HTML, CSS, how to ssh, how to work with a CMS and what it is, and I want to start learning Java and PHP.

Hell, I also want to download mySQL and one of the graphical front ends for it so that I can start making a database for my art collection.

[lucia_engel]

I can't recall exactly why I started to be interested in computer though. It felt like such a long time ago that my family got our own computer back in 98. Before that, my interaction with computer was playing "Oregon Trail" in elementary school :). Then all of a sudden I started to take keyboarding and IT class in middle and high school and the material all seemed so natural to me. I started to constantly download game demos (to a 6GB drive no less :p) and got addicted to PC gaming.

Then I got my own laptop with WinXP :D Before switching to Ubuntu, I always spend time tweaking and deleting useless system files (which broke my Office03 heh) and using FOSS. I'm not an expert at all but my friends always ask me for computer help. What they don't know is of course how much googling helps ;)

I'm currently in 1st yr Science at UBC but recently I've noticed how uninterested (a euphemism for lazy) I am in most of the courses so I'm thinking about switching to Computer Science next year. Before I applied to college I always thought computer would just be a hobby for me because I know there are alot of experts out there with more experience than I do so I won't be able to compete. So I took Science because it was so damn easy in high school (how I regret it now). Now I figured, what the heck, I'm not going to spend the rest of my college years doing something I don't like.

And here I am (procastinating and not studying for my math midterm tomorrow). I think tinkering with Linux now would help me with CS later on. It doesn't help when Ubuntu is so much fun to play with :)

[BryannMelvin]

In Technology: Wanting to fly.
In computer technology: I was tasked with finding where to apply the Technology at Squadron/Wing Level (USAF 1982) with the Introduction of the first PCs.

The additional duty snowballed as PC technology rapidly advanced.

Bryann

[Danni]

Humm...
Between the ages of 2 and 10, I never had my head out of a book. I read everything I could get my hands on, and my favourite subject in school was maths. We had BBC Acorns then, though I was the first pupil allowed to use the new Pentium computer- with a CD-Rom drive!

At home, I got a 286 about the same time at the school got the Pentium computer, and discovered I was actually good at something. We quickly upgraded to a Pentium, then I went online and learnt everything I could about computers. I was always the pupil the others came to at school, and was doing year 11 work (15-16 years) in year 7 and 8 (11-13).

Since then, I've done a GCSE in ICT (got a B because I argued the difference between hackers and crackers on the exam paper. My tip- don't!). Now I'm in college studying for an OCR Certificate for IT Practicioners (ICT Systems Support) and hope to get a job as an IT technician in the next few years :)

[starchildmom]

My grandma bought me a Colecovision Adam in junior high. It had two tape drives, no hard drive, hooked up to a television. I learned BASIC on that machine and traded programs on it over BBS. Then in high school my boyfriend (now husband) had an IBM 5150 beast. I learned DOS on that machine. After that we had "newer" windows 3.1 and up machines. Between college, starting a family, and my art I did not have much time to do anything but use windows. I started getting interested in the free software movement a few years ago. I have installed a few linux distros over the years, but never stuck with any or learned much beyond what I needed to know to install. Part of the problem then was having to share a computer with my husband who had no interest in learning to use linux. Now we all have our own computers (spouse and each kid...no sharing here :) ), so I am delving deeper into linux. My 9yo son is also showing an interest so we are learning together. My husband is starting to come around too.

[Liz]

I was working for a company that used a very old IMB mainframe. Our pcs then were all dummy machines for more or less data entry. The production managers used windows 3.11 and i was fascinated with that. My ex talked me into buying a computer, something i didnt want to do, but he wanted one and his credit wasnt enough to purchase a pc, so i got it. A co worker talked me into getting the internet, and would advise me on what programs to use (netscape instead of IE), what sites to look at etc.

I was hooked. From then on i started playing around with different programs to see what they did. Learning html in notepad and copying and pasting code to see what it did. A friend i met on a program called ichat told me about linux and how id love it and do really well with it. I was curious and tried it. I didnt know what i was doing, but each time i would install it, and get better and better at each install. "I also liked the fact that it wouldnt crash on me when im surfing the internet." Ive been "playing" with linux and technology and programs since then. Even if half the time i dont know what im doing, i learn as we go along. and ask when i need to.

[Gracye]

I started when I was 12. My sister and I used our inheritance from my Great Grandmother to buy a computer and I started Web Design almost straight away. From there I've increased my knowledge as much as I could eventualy going to college and earning my Web Design Diploma.

I'd love to learn programming though. I have learned basic PHP but I want to learn more advanced stuff so I can write my own scripts.