"I Like Working with Computers" Equals what Exactly?

When I was in the 2nd grade, my parents bought me an Atari 800 with the Atari BASIC programming language cartridge, thus spawning my crave for anything "bit", "byte" and "pixle". I was all of maybe 7 or 8 years old, but I wanted to learn all about this new magical thing called a computer. My brother used it mostly for Frogger and Pac-Man; and on occasion, I would too; but my drive was that little BASIC cartridge. I remember going to the library with my family, and running down the computing isle eager to find some gem on writing programs for BASIC. I don't recall the book I first found, but it set me on the way to building my first scripts.

It's a little funny thinking of those early days of my computing life. I didn't have any floppy or storage, so any of the scripts I wrote were obliterated once someone wanted to bring out that Frogger game. I think a few times, I left the power on to retain my prize of a script; a pixelated balloon-shaped object that floated across the screen. I took the whole game unit and tucked it neatly behind the entertainment center, out of reach from my little brother, and out of sight from everyone else. I would pull it out and work through another page in the little paperback programming book, on my way to build gaming history. Well, that is until I left it out, and that Frogger gamed killed my aspirations. Once that power was turned off to put in that game, all my hard work and concentration went up in a blip of logic gates closing in that Atari's massive 8 KB of RAM.

Sad was that day, but it put me on the path I am today. I work on a computer every day. Paper pads and sticky notes are just about extinct in my life. Dual monitor desktop, a tablet, my television as well as my phone have the capability to keep me connected to the online computing world that is all too familiar to me. This is the double edged sword that I've decided to walk on. On one hand, the interest and excitement of new technologies constantly amaze and put me in awe; but on the other hand, it pushes expectations from non-techies in sometimes frustrating ways.

The Truths

Lets list out a few truths, assumptions and realities about myself and see if anyone has some parallels in their own "techie" lives:

• Computer Knowledge:
  • Truth: I know a lot about a lot of different subjects on computers, computing and general technology.
  • Assumption: I know ALL things about ALL computers and I  know why your computer's not working when you tell me "I though l just needed more RAM, so I just started deleting stuff from the C:\ drive."
  • Reality: If you can come up with a computer question, I can generally find out information if I don't know it already, it's all in being in the support and service industry; and; you probably just deleted your RAM and will need to get you some new RAMs. I'll email you some if you deleted yours*.
• Personal Time:
  • Truth: I enjoy working with computers outside of my regular work day and am able to troubleshoot problems with many computer operating systems as well as computing devices.
  • Assumption: You heard that I know stuff about computers, so I am online 24x7 365 days a year to answer your personal computer questions. If you know me, just call me and wake me from the dead of sleep to ask why your mouse stopped working.
  • Reality: Unless we have some sort of contract with me for 24hr support, if you call me in the middle of the night it will go to voicemail. I got to sleep too! I generally don't offer personal desktop support; that's reserved for my mom. There are a lot of 24hr help-desk services out there just for that type of support, an don't forget about that first year of support that most computers come with. If you bought the extended warranty, you may have additional support from the manufacturer who may have some insight on your exact computer or device.

Let me ask a question: If I'm really good friends with a surgeon, and it's time to get my appendix taken out, do you think he'll be happy if I assume that he'll "hook me up" with some free surgery? Maybe he's in the position to get bills reduced if he's the owner of his own facility, but still no way it would be free. I'm sure that at least half the techies that are known in their family or group of friends as "good with computers" have become the honorary tech support for your friends or family. Its not that I'm not happy to help those people in my life with their computer issues, but I often wonder if they ever think that I might get a little down when the only time some of them call me is to get help with their computer.

If any of this sounds familiar, just talk to your non-techie's in your life and let them be aware that you're a person first, a techie second. If you've got a techie friend, let them know they're more than a techie to you! HUG A NERD!

*Note for non-techie's on RAM: You cannot delete RAM, so stop deleting random files from your C: drive to get more, as this will hurt your operating system, and it will get mad at you, as will I if you ask me to fix it.