I've been working with computers since I got a pair of Apple IIEs when I was 6, around 1993, and I've been hooked ever since. I was really fortunate to have a neighbor who was a programmer, and happened to constantly have a surplus of old computers, and the willingness to fix anything I broke. He helped set me up with an IBM-compatible MS-DOS machine when I was about 10, which I managed to completely break at least twice before I moved onto a Windows 3.1 computer, which was very short-lived and replaced with a much more capable Windows 95 machine.
Windows 98 came after that, and then Windows 2000, I was always a generation or two behind, but that gap really helped me develop a lot of the skills I use today, both in hardware and software. Eventually I caught up to the current generation with Windows XP as I entered my teenage years. Around that time, I started getting calls from family members and friends to help them with their aging systems, or asking my advice as to what direction to take with their computer needs, and I started accumulating a toolbox of useful software and hardware tools for PC troubleshooting and repair. By the time I was 14 I was doing house calls as a PC Technician.
I picked up Microsoft Office and took over running the PowerPoint presentations and other related services for a local church in my freshmen year of high school, and got ROP certified in Office Skills (Microsoft Office) between 2003 - 2006, as well as Computer Accounting using Peachtree (now Sage 50) and QuickBooks. In 2009 I went to Grossmont College and took the A+ prep course, Computer Fundamentals, as well as Video Game Design and Development.
From around 2013 to 2016 I spent over three years working with SEO and Social Media Management, website design, troubleshooting, web development, deployment and implementation, website maintenance and migration from Joomla to WordPress, web editing and content distribution, as well as client relations and interfacing between clients and designers, Google and Facebook advertising accounts.
I love to work, and I love physical work, and construction has taken up a chunk of my work history as a result, as well as other weird jobs. In hindsight, I should have stuck to one field, but I can't do anything about that now. I went to the San Diego Job Corps trade school in 2008 - 2009, studying Construction Electrical, and I used that knowledge as a general laborer in 2012 - 2013, as a Van Technician (Shop Worker) from 2016 - 2018, and as a field technician the rest of 2018.
Now I'm coming back to tech after a bit of a break, hoping to get started again in Web Development or a similar field. Currently pursuing a Certificate of Achievement in Web Design and Development at Palomar College, with one class, JavaScript and jQuery, left for the Fall 2024 semester. In addition to websites, I'm also learning Unity, object-oriented programing with C# scripting, to make games and apps, and I also plan on completing HarvardX's CS50 course.