I still remember my first computer, an already outdated Windows 3.1 machine and about 50 floppy disks with hand written labels. I quickly realised this computer thing was pretty cool with it's many disk operation to load AutoCAD, Number Munchers or anything else for that matter. While exciting at the time it was only the start of my interest in computers as we upgraded to a Compaq running Windows 98SE and introducing a 56k modem then another running Windows XP.
I'm not proud of the number of times I had to reinstall XP on that computer, the internet was a wild place back then but it was a great place to learn too. A simple port scanner and a basic understanding of IP address mapping and even on dialup I could access files of half the businesses and schools in the state. By now I had already built and repaired several PC's to save money and learn.
Things got serious when my uncle brought around a disk he had gotten with a magazine including Ubuntu 5.10, being into the custom shell scene on windows this level of customisation was incredible and I went from modding games to modding my operating system. Very quickly I learnt all sorts of higher functions like routing tables and software raid.
Realising how people just put up with issues on their computers I became interested in actually solving them. This spawned my love of open source software and my interest in programming in general. Now I love to tackle problems that are too hard or to produce code to prove "nothing is impossible" and fix real world issues.