Are You A PC Fix-It Person...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
July 1, 2009 7:00am CST
I’m a self-taught computer person. That means that other than being shown two things I’ve learned to use the computer on my own. Those two things were how to turn it off/on and how to get on and off the internet…everything else has been trial and error. I can do my own email, send and receive email attachments, upload photos, find websites, find images, find wallpaper and on and on and on. There are some things I don’t know like web design, the different hardware for pc’s, how to link up more than one pc and stuff like that but I think for being self taught I’m doing pretty good.
I think if I’d went to college to learn how to program or repair pc’s then I’d expect to know more but I think I’m holding my own. My youngest brother went to college for web design and he’s a wiz at it…while Hubby built his own pc and knows pretty much all about pc hardware and software (btw, hardware is the parts that go in your pc and software is the programs that go on the pc).
What gets me is when ppl call me up, who have had training, and start asking me how to do things. I don’t mind their asking but I always find it amusing that they will call up someone who has no professional training and expect them to know LOL
I have a cousin (I know she's reading this) that went to computer classes for like a year and won all kinds of awards and stuff, then she calls me up to ask me how to do html LOL They didn't teach her that :)
I’ve tried to have my youngest brother teach me web design but it didn’t work out. I would love to learn it but I’m not sure my brain could handle that kind of learning…a lot goes into web designing.
Do ppl call you up asking you to fix things even if they are more educated than you are? Are you a self teaching person or professionally educated? What are you good at on the pc?
[b]**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
9 people like this
36 responses
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
3 Jul 09
Good on the computer? 
I can't even find spell check!
I can't even find spell check!2 people like this
@Anandhh (389)
• India
7 Jul 09
Yep tats my profession...my friends call me up for fix their pc hardware problems and troubleshooting problems...im professionally educated now doing my certified course in networking called MCSE and CCNA...I can able to Install os and fix problems in pc or lapy or in the softwares or os..happy Mylotting!Nice to meet u here :)
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
7 Jul 09
Well, I could say I'm self-taught, but when I tell you my qualifications you might think otherwise. Fresh out of high school, I enrolled in computer programming. I didn't finish my degree, although I loved it! Circumstances didn't work in my favor for school. It was many years before I was actually working with computers, and that was on the user end. I picked it up pretty quickly and am almost totally self-taught in every aspect of using a PC. From hardware to software to internet, whatever. When I went back to school for my Accounting degree, I kept computers as my secondary area of study.
One thing to remember, programming a computer and using it are two totally different things... Just because you know what to tell a computer to do to make it run doesn't mean you know how to run the computer. This reminds me of when my mother (a computer programmer for the government) got her first home PC. I had had one for a year or so, so I knew how to get around in it. She was filling out her registration card and it asked for your level of computer knowledge. She wanted to put down "expert" but I told her to put down "novice" because she didn't even know how to turn the darned thing on! It was pretty funny because she was asking me every 10 minutes how to do something.
I'm sure you're the kind of person like me that likes to figure it all out. I don't think you'd have any problem with HTML or hardware. I thought that the Riley book for HTML - the one with the Koala on it - was an awesome guide. I used that in one of my classes and it's pretty easy to read and understand.
1 person likes this
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
4 Jul 09
I am no computer expert but i have like you leard to do things on the couputer. I can e-mail, IM, post photos and video. but there are somethings i am still leaning and I do not know how to do everthing.
@anniefannie (1737)
• United States
4 Jul 09
no i don't know how to do much of anything on my pc and i aam to old to learn lol glad you are doing good with yours i have a nephew that is like you he is seft taught so be proud.
@murtuza89 (513)
• India
2 Jul 09
Well i am just like you my friend. However i have also gained some Professional training. I know basics of everything in Computer Software and Hardware.
I can do anything in this world in Computers.
At my College my friens Belive that i am the best when it comes to Computers. However the fact is not that. I know for myself that i am just a self learned person. Also a training institute can never teach you Advances level things in Computers.
I have got 40% of my Computer knowledge from my teaching Institute and rest 60% is from internet browsing. The computer teachers dont teach you how to rectify errors which occur when you come across them and what those errors mean.
By going through thousands of troubleshooting websites i have learned a lot of things.
Now I can rectify almost any problem in My PC withput Formatting. I remove the Viruses myself. I dont have to loose the Data stored in My PC when a virus attacks.
So i keep getting calls from my friends when they face problem, and i feel proud to help them even when i am not fully professionally trained.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
2 Jul 09
yea,i build my own,so..
that's the thing about PC's,certain things are so diversified now,you find people in specialty areas.
i've just now starting playing with CSS a bit over from HTML..though i build them,i'm not much for server tech or C+ writing.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
1 Jul 09
I have learned alot of it myself...my daughter says it amazes her as she is married to someone with a degree in computer science and I know more then her...I do depend on my other son in law to maintain my websites though...he is a total whiz! I can make movies....do manuscripts...fix certain things so I do think I am good on a computer...I do ocassionally have someone ask me for help but it's because they are like me....self taught!
1 person likes this
@thebeaddoodler (4262)
• Lubbock, Texas
1 Jul 09
"even if they're more educated than you" is a relative term. After I went back to school to upgrade my office skills and learn computers I got a job in an office and part of my job was working with spreadsheets. I got a call one day from the business school and the computer software teacher was asking me how to do something in Lotus. LOL Yeah, really, no matter how much schooling you have there are still some things you have to learn on your own. If your education doesn't teach you to take what you know and figure out what you need to know I think it's over-rated.
Good for you learning technology on your own. As for learning web design, you can do it, you just may need to learn it in small bites, and it may take a while for your brain to make the connection between all the pieces.
1 person likes this
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
1 Jul 09
Hi twoey68,
you are so clever to self taught how to use the computer, as for me I was so scared of the computer a year ago but now I have learnt how to cut and paste upload photos, add photos to my page and now I have even ablbe to get embeded code for the youtube, its amazing what you can learn in a few monts, and oh, I have also added a desing on one my other site on my page. Still don't know half what to do yet, but learning everyday.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@modstar (9605)
• Philippines
2 Jul 09
I learned from a friend few years ago. He's pretty good in Windows tips and tricks and i kind of adapt to what he has taught me. I have improved too by learning some thing by myself. Sometimes, i would be forced to learn like when i bought this graphic card and my friend was too busy to install it for me. So i installed it on my own, installed the drivers then voila! It's all set. The same goes with other peripherals. I do know some basic stuffs about software and troubleshooting. Anything beyond that would be me needing the services of a technician. But so far, my computer hasn't paid a visit on computer shops yet.
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
1 Jul 09
I like you learned all about the computer by trial and error. Everything that i know it took a lot of time trying different things, and yes i have people call me to help them with different things. Web design is something that i have not learned, and i know nothing about it. but if it was something that i was interested in. i would sit down and try different things until i got it right. as for HTML i guess i know the basic stuff. I never took any kind of class to learn my computer.
1 person likes this
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
1 Jul 09
well i can fix my own computer. i was trained for 6 months with it but im still honestly not that good with it.
my weakest side is the problem on fixing os errors.
my line of work really is so far with computers but this is what i like to do in my free time.
i have also learned some basic web design like html css javascript and a little php but nothing else.
1 person likes this
@gcorp09 (940)
• Singapore
2 Jul 09
Well, I don't really think I'm a PC Fix-It person, but I must admit that I did learn myself on some aspects of the PC programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc. I also learn from the Internet on HTML codes before, and had previously designed a simple website using HTML codes (although I must say that I had now forgotten some of them after not using for several years)...
However, I do think that my husband is a PC Fix-It person. He did not receive any formal training about PC, but he really knows a lot of PC hardwares and softwares. All these are all self-taught, and learn from his own experiences. He had built a lot of PCs from scratch, and DIY the PCs by buying all the different components (Ram, processor, CPU tower casing, etc), and fixing them all up by himself, whether it's for his own personal use, for friends/family, or for office use. He will also advise based on budget, the type of computer components which will be suitable. Sometimes, when I had problems with the computer, he will also try and diagnose the problem, and fix it back to running mode again.
He's currently an Administrator for his company, and helps to maintain the office networks, and all the PCs in the company. It's funny that before he was "promoted" to the current Administrator job, the company had one round of interview with some people who had got diplomas and degrees in computer/IT, but he's the one who got the job... His co-workers also like to ask him in regards to technical issues about the different computer components (his company is dealing with distribution of computer components).
1 person likes this
@Eskimo (2315)
•
10 Jul 09
I've done a few minor things like add on extra hard disk (in the days before plug in ones). I would like to build a new computer some time, but never really had enough time, and it is so much easier these days just buying one off the shelf.
I have written some software in the past for my work, usually for interfacing analysers to main computers, but again these days there are now companies doing that. 
@James72 (26790)
• Australia
3 Jul 09
Oh God no! 
There are a number of things in life that I consider myself to be quite adept at, but fixing things is certainly not one of them! Not just PC's either. I'm talking about ANY task that involves putting something together or handyman type chores and things like that. I'm absolutely hopeless and me getting anywhere near a job like that is pretty much a gurantee that something's going to end up broken way more than it was before I got there!
There are a number of things in life that I consider myself to be quite adept at, but fixing things is certainly not one of them! Not just PC's either. I'm talking about ANY task that involves putting something together or handyman type chores and things like that. I'm absolutely hopeless and me getting anywhere near a job like that is pretty much a gurantee that something's going to end up broken way more than it was before I got there! 
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
3 Jul 09
I'm afraid that I am not very good at real problems. I've figured out some things by trial and error but for important or big issues I have to ask either one of my daughters or my son in law. They are better at this stuff than me.
@saundyl (9783)
• Canada
7 Jul 09
I am professionally educated with computers - although I have taught myself alot more through online and books since college. I repair pcs for a living and since theres always new hardware, new software and new problems coming out...i have to keep on learning.
I really like playing around with things getting them to work and the feeling of success at having done it myself without having to go to someone else for help.
People come to me both at work and home and in family life for help with their computers.
@baileycows (3665)
• United States
1 Jul 09
Yeah that is my job. I fix computers and internet for 10 hours a day and have been doing it for almost 8 years now. I am tired of it I want to do something else, but I still have one year left in school before I graduate.
1 person likes this
@walterdsouzajr (98)
• United States
6 Aug 09
I have been using computers most my life. I am a PC Technician.
There places on the WEB that give free help. www.keen.com is a pay site. Check it out.
