This thread hits close to home for me. I wont say I "Modify everything I own" but Ive always been one who liked to understand how things worked, and that often meant taking things apart.
When I was 13 years old, computers were just starting to become popular. This was the days of the Pentium 100mhz processor. We got our first family computer around this time. It was over $2,000, had a blazing pentium 166mhz cpu. Prior to this computer I was all into radio equipment. Scanners, short wave radio, CB base station in my room with 45 foot antenna out my window. I talked skip all over the country. At 13 I was already profecient with a solder gun. I had modified scanners to pick up cell phone signals, which were analog at that time. I had modified my CB to provide talk back through headphones. Etc etc. I had boxes of old antennas and wire and things I would modify all sorts of stuff. I took an old CB Walkey talkey and wired an external antenna to it that I mounted on my bicycle. All ofthis at 12 and 13 years old. Then we got the PC - so back to that pc. I decided to take it apart one day. At this time I knew NOTHING about pc's. My dad walked in the house and I had it in pieces in the floor. He was furious with me but I told him I would put it all back together. He said well it better work just like it did! I put it all back together and it was fine, but I learned a lot in that. I would later take it apart again and perform my first overclock on the cpu, usingthe Front Side Bus of the motherboard to take the cpu from 166mhz to 187mhz.
That initial overclock was the start of a hobby that I still now, in my late 30's, enjoy. Since that day I have custom built and modified my own computers. Through highschool I got heavily into overclocking and computer modification. I broke the 1Ghz cpu speed barrier on a stock 700mhz AMD athlong cpu a full year before 1ghz cpu's were ever officially a thing. Yes I fried 1 or 2 cpu cores during this time, but it was just part of the game. This thread brings it home because Ive always been told the same things by people "Dont mess with it, you'll voidthe warantee!" "You cant do that, you need to go to college to learn that" "You aren't qualified to do that you need to call a tech" Their mind and my mind aren't built the same. Anything I work with I inevitably become an expert with - its just how I am. My computer knowledge became so strong as a teenager that it has now catapulted me into the career I'm in. I was hired for my current job strictly on word of mouth recommendation from folks who I had worked on their computers or networks. I work around people everyday who have USED computers for over 20 years, and still cant do basic things on them. This is the majority of people in fact - they learn how to go form A to B to do their job and never go any further. This is where I am different. I want to understand why A and B matter, How they are connected, how the system moves from one to another, and how the entire system functions. This is a completely natural progression for me - I can never work on something for years and still not understand it - this is incomprehensible to me. All the folks who can do that, and aren't bothered by it, they are the ones who tell you to not touch it, call someone else, you need to go to school for that. Had I followed all that advice I would be bagging groceries today for a living. I never went to college, I had zero interest in more school after high school and went straight into work. Im blessed that today I've worked myself into a good career however. You can teach yourself ANYTHING if you just have a mind to do so. Even complex subjects can be mastered solo.
At the end of the day much of this inclination, or lack thereof, is down to a persons personality. I understand where you are coming from 100% NHSleddog.
