Breaking computers taught me to build them. What was your start in computing?

Summary

You know when you are on a hike, and there is a point where you are exactly midway through it? There is always a reflection moment in there, where some thinking happens. Sometimes you look back and realize: it’s been a long journey so far, hasn’t it? I recently turned 30, which, like all numbers that arbitrarily end with a zero, is a special time for reflection. For funsies and to reflect, I wrote what I’ve been up to the last 12 years and how I got to where I am. This is part one of a multi-part series exploring my journey into software engineering. Clicking Everything: How Curiosity Built My Foundation The first time I broke my computer, I wasn’t upset. I was thrilled. Breaking things taught me how they worked, and that black terminal screen wasn’t just a mystery; it was an invitation. It’s a little bit unclear when exactly I got into software engineer, but I have some ideas of what started my curiosity in computers. The first and most important thing, is that my mom got us a computer in the house and my grandpa would give me his next-generation laptops that he stopped using. Having a machine for yourself in the late 90’s meant that you get to learn how to install/remove stuff and to play games. And playing games in that era required a lot more work than it is today. What do you install? Typical? Custom? Compact? How do you even choose? 1. Insert installation disc 2. Run setup.exe 3. Enter product key 4. Install appropriate drivers 5. Configure display settings 6. Run game with disc inserted With the troubleshooting you had to do normal stuff, you learnt a lot about computers this way. I used to spend a lot of time clicking everything in the start menu, one by one, and trying to understand what it did. Yes, this included making briefcases When clicking all the things, I stumbled upon CMD.exe; the little white and black terminal that was always a puzzle to me. What do you do little terminal? What can I type there? @echo off echo Hello, what is your name? set /p nam...