gainning experience

[alley]

Hi:just wondering how we can gain an experience by computer if we do not have the chance to work in an IT Environment...
thanks in advance .

[Stalemate]

Apart from owning your own PCs to mess around with...

You could try to offer your services to a non-profit organization to gain experience.

The ideal setup would be to find experienced technicians or an IT shop which would be willing to take you under their arm as a mentor. Kind of like an apprenticeship.

And make sure to read, read, and read some more! Subscribe to relevant magazines and borrow or buy those big volumes on the appropriate subject matter.

Good luck, and welcome to the adventure

[Orangeman]

When I entered my first computer classroom people would move away from me for fear I would ask them some question. Now I am advsing others how to do computers.

The first thing you need is a computer with a decent technical support guarantee. My teacher taught me well in suggesting I get a Gateway. It costs alot more but the tech support is well worth it. I've had it for three years and they are still supporting me.

Second, seek out as many people you can find and just ask them questions. You're off to a good start by being here in the first place. Join computer clubs and online groups. Talk to people who know more than you and don't be afraid to sound stupid.

Third, read as many manuals as you can and take your time reading them. You're not in a race. Every time you have a problem try to solve it yourself be going into a help menu or researching it on the web. You don't gain anything by having a techie solve it for you.

Fourth, make a backup of your hardrive. Get something like an Iomega or a CDR for this. Also, buy a product like "Go Back" or McAfee Activity Monitor(part of McAfee Utilities). They will restore your computer to the way it was before you made the mistake. Go to a store and see what you can afford.

After you have everything backed up, and know how to uninstall a mistake, then have at it!

Good luck,

Peter
[email protected]

[garye]

I have to agree 100% with Peter, I started by getting some old computers that were useless to anyone else. I took them apart, learned what each component did, when I had questions I asked people. I moved to software, learning dos and dos commands. Moving to windows 3.1 (old i know) learning by hands on, if i messed it up, i knew how to fix the hardware and i now knew how to setup dos and reinstall windows. From there i went to windows 95, than 98, up to 2000 and NT. During this time I bought ALOT of books, visited the library, the is a book that is a few inches think called "Troubleshooting and repairing PCs", it helped me more than anything else. The "for dummies" books are also great. There is even a computer book monthly club i subscribe to "Computer Books Direct". From them I learned Linux, C ++, Visual Basic, Visual InterDev, Html, Xhtml, SQL Server. A little time and dedication is a great start. Welcome aboard this roller coaster ride of technology. Good Luck and Happy learning!

[Platypus]

I had the advantage of a background in electronics when I started getting into computers, but the thing that was most helpful to me early on was joining a Computer Users group. Luckily it was a small group, not full of technospeaking supernerds or gamers, and I learned quite a bit & made one good friendship which has continued past the demise of the group. This contact has been very beneficial, we still swap parts, help each other with problems & go to swap meets etc.

[MacGyver]

Keep up with current events in the computer world. If you don't, you will be become obsolete faster than the computers you work on! There have been plenty of new developments like Socket 370, RDRAM, Gigabit ethernet, etc and if you're not in the know, you're not in the game.