- Played Lemonade Stand and Action Biker on the Commodore 128 my dad used for geneaology and the local BBS
- Played Oregon Trail on the Apple IIe and learned basic typing with Mavis Beacon
- Soaked up my friends' IBM PC (Ultima VII and Skunnykart!) and Nintendo/Sega like they were drugs
- Moved to new house and was so bored I connected the whole VCR/antenna/sound/TV system together just based on color
- Convinced my parents to ditch Compuserve (email address consisting entirely of numbers!) in favor of Juno, which was Free Internet
- Got my own super cool virtualreality13 [at] juno.com email address (which I just reclaimed -- I guess their threats about deleting inactive accounts weren't hollow!)
- Learned HTML from "HTML for Dummies"
- Made a Sim City 2000 cheat codes website on Geocities -- www.geocities.com/timessquare/realm/ (i forget the number)
- Also made a personal homepage on Tripod but I forget the address
- Got own first computer, Windows 98, with own internet connection -- locked self in room for subsequent decade
- Upgraded to Hotmail, like a boss
- Experimented with "DHTML" (really old bad Javascript)
- Took a basic web development and programming class (HTML, Javascript, LOGO aka Turtle Graphics)
- Took apart and fixed computers
- Started learning PHP from web resources
- Helped new computer teacher set up computer classes at school because the only other one was a typing class
- Built own brand-new computer from parts (ten-pound Antec SOHO case, naturally)
- Learned A+ and Microsoft MCSE stuff from computer classes
- Programmed a simple PHP/MySQL-based "snack fund" accounting thing to track income/expenses/profits/inventory
- Organized and ran LAN parties
- Hosted my own websites / domains / etc for fun and experience
- Was a general menace on AIM/IRC
- Helped administer the Windows network at school
- Fixed windows computer problems and deployed new networks/computers during computer class
- Made websites for various schools and departments in exchange for money
- Dropped out of Calculus because it was too hard and I wasn't doing my homework, took a proctoring class and did more tech support for teachers
- Learned basic VBscript and Flash programming
- Applied to DeVry and got accepted because they accept everybody
- Got a beta Gmail account and encouraged my parents to invest in Google's IPO
- Got paid once or twice by a legit business to repair their customers' computers
- Started CIS classes -- mostly .NET MVC, Object Oriented Java, SQL, proper modern Javascript, Business Communication...
- Took my first legit job, soldering wire together to create brake and lighting harnesses for dump trucks
- Helped out in the library and front desk, doing paperwork
- Started out as an intern due to my MS networking experience from HS, when I graduated my boss quit and I became de-facto IT Manager for 7yrs
- Started making websites for legit businesses on Craigslist, etc
- Helped start a hackerspace, set up its website/network, try and manage its community
- Learned Ruby on Rails from online resources to improve web development skills
- Quit day job, freelanced fulltime
- After about a year of freelancing, it got tough, so I took a "full time" job coding PHP in a Rails-ish MVC framework
- Going on two years now, who knows what's next?
- I'm making it up as I go along
- Maybe I'll become a construction worker