Did anyone catch your interest to be a Geek, or was it natural?

Did anyone catch your interest to be a Geek, or was it natural? Or both?

When I was real young, a friend of my grandmas always sat me down on a *nix machine when I was over his house.

He used to be a simple game programmer just for fun, so I guess I was his giney pig? I eventually found myself wanting to play them!

He later built me a computer for myself, ever since then I haven't stopped.

What about yous? If not for computers, then what?

Tags: catch, comupters, game, geek, interest, linux, mac, natural, nix, programmer

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Permalink Reply by EEngineer on March 19, 2009 at 1:23pm: I started noticing it when I was young so I guess natural.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cookenstein on March 19, 2009 at 2:04pm: Oddly enough it was my Chef and Mentor, who forced it on me in the worst way possible, making me learn Lotus 123 v1.0 in DOS to do monthly inventory. Of course what I initially got out of it, was that Inventory and Extending costs went from a three day process to 1, by doing it on computer. That was the first bonus.. Everything else kinda slowly fell into place afterwards.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snick on March 19, 2009 at 7:13pm: Nice; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Deirdre on March 19, 2009 at 3:25pm: Natural.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Condawg on March 19, 2009 at 8:15pm: It was natural, but eventually was brought to a higher degree by others.

Technology has always piqued my interest, and that interest eventually lead to a website where I met a friend who, even though we barely talk, I will never forget.
I emailed him about how much I liked his website... He had great 3D modelling tutorials, some resources, nice forums, and everything was hand-coded. I explained how much the forums looked different from any community I'd been a part of.
He offered me a chunk of his hosting space for me to experiment. I then found a mentor who taught me PHP as far as I could learn, until I eventually lost interest, but only in PHP specifically... My interest in programming and technology was just beginning.

I've gone through several mentors who have taught me a lot about different programming languages. I'm now attempting to learn Cocoa (objective-c) on my own, with help from books and Google.

I got on my first computer at age 5.
I was downloading music at age 9.
I had my first full-fledged website at age 11.
I completely designed and hand-coded my own unique website by age 13 (with help from my PHP mentor, who integrated Javascript into some portions of the site, making it easier to use. He was just 14 at the time, and I've always known him strictly through the Internet.)
Now, at age 16, I haven't had a website since I was 14, but I've co-owned two websites since then. I haven't programmed in PHP in a few years, and I've lost all my CSS skills.

Believe me, it's not like riding a bike.

So, essentially, it was a natural path that was guided by a few very appreciated helping hands.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snick on March 19, 2009 at 11:40pm: Amazing :)

And yes, definitely not like riding a bike, lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scotty on March 19, 2009 at 8:51pm: I naturally learned after I got into xbox modding. After halo 3 and the xbox 360 I was like stuck.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snick on March 19, 2009 at 11:40pm: Halo is addictive :D; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snick on March 25, 2009 at 9:20pm: Messing with electricity? *shudders* - Cool stuff, I'm just iffy on it, lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Crandall on March 20, 2009 at 12:02am: Pretty Natural, I think. If any one influenced me as far as being a Geek w/ computers, it would have to be my mom. She used to work at Symantec before they tanked and then shot up again. I'd be on her computer whenever I could...I began tinkering with things, teaching myself how certain things work...over a decade later, here I am.

Woo!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SassySweetBren on March 20, 2009 at 12:12am: And there you have the story of many people David.

When I was younger, there were no personal computers that I knew anything about. Businesses had some but when I started to learn was just different programs in the work place. It was all about DOS as Renderedcook said. Dang but I knew some keyboard shortcuts back in those days....we had to.

Anyway, when I got my first one, I was still using DOS and when windows came out, I was as confused as a chicken on a rainy day. So, getting down to it, I learned it all the hard way. I just got into my machine and first learned how it worked. Then I learned the programs and what they would do.

It was not a natural thing and trust me, I had no mentor. So, I am in the middle I suppose.

Now, can I take time to hug my computer? Without it, I would not be in here now....love you guys. :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Snick on March 25, 2009 at 9:22pm: I look at computers as Bender from Futurama. It may be a machine but it's still human to me.; ▶ Reply to This