Hello new PCDIYers and veterans of PCDIY. I welcome you to one of the best things in life: Do It Yourself. There is a resurgence and renaissance in users of all kinds wanting to be hands-on with their technology, and there is no better catalyst to inspire, excite and learn from than PCDIY.
How and why I started building my own PCs are simple questions that requires a complex answer, but then some of the best answers in life come from these type of questions. My childhood was a struggle with meager beginnings, but one I thoroughly enjoyed. Like many users I grew up in a broken family without many of the shiny things a lot of us hope for. Growing up in Oakland and in a community with little funding, technology was not something I had a lot of access to. Even with these limitations and lack of direct influence, I had two parents that while divorced both supported my interest in comic books. Soon I spent what time and little money I had to find as many books as I could get my hands on, allowing myself to be enveloped and engrossed by the amazing technological wonders of Superman, Batman, The Fantastic Four and so many others. These amazing worlds, environments, characters and the technology they had inspired me and excited me. I wanted to be able to understand more about computers and technology as a whole. Looking back I see it as a way I escaped much of the bleak and basic environments around me. As the years passed, things got harder and almost reached the point of being homeless, but the brain and heart do amazing things to keep things interesting, exciting and enable you persevere.
During these times, I continued to read books and magazines on computers with a dictionary. I would look up words that I did not understand and research topics or technology detailed in these stories slowly developing my knowledge and appreciate for all things tech. This helped to foster my interest and increase my knowledge.
Soon after, I moved in with my father and my brother. My brother at the time was in high school and really looking to get a “PC”. The internet had exploded. The world of pop culture, email, chat, games and music were all things that had become much more exciting and interesting. My brother decided he would save money to build a PC as it would be much cheaper than buying one. In another interesting story, his friend who was going to help him build it unexpectedly left him with a set of components and a system that would not turn on. His investment was essentially a “pile of parts”.
Once I realized what was there in front of me, I told him I’d like to make it work. Hours later and with the help of a fairly well written manual, I had built my first PC and loaded Windows for the first time. This experience changed me forever, and so did the motherboard in that build. From that moment onward I had a sense of pride and passion that would drive me with a focus of wanting to build as much as possible and learn as much as I could and maybe someday work for ASUS and meet the people who designed and developed the P2B used in my build. I write this today as Senior Technical Marketing Specialist for ASUS. So if someone asks me what does PCDIY means to me in one word, it means DREAMS. I hope my experience creates some interest and excitement for you to consider and enjoy PCDIY whether you are a novice or veteran.
Best Of Luck In Your PC DIY Endeavors and Do Not Be Afraid To Ask Questions!