When I first started out in College I took Information Systems which was things like Cobol, dBase, and the like.  I then took some extra courses like Windows and C++ and found that I liked things.

My first job was a Help Desk Analyst but I did allot of reading and learning on my own with technologies as I grew and took certification exams, etc.  It was just a natural path for me as I enjoyed tech.

Now some jobs like the Consultant one I had was stressful due to hours and not seeing my daughter grow up the first 5 years made me realize a change was needed.  So I moved on from that in to a law firm where I excelled with the likes of VMware, Veeam, Storage, etc. and that is when things took off for me.

Now working at an MSP I enjoy what I do and being the Lead Infrastructure Architect is the role I have wanted with design, etc.

my first contact with computers were back in school when some friends of mine had a Commodore C64 (is this machine known outside of Germany?). Games and first tries of programming - a whole new world at this time…

Some time later I had computer science at school. Programming in Pascal, dbase, word processing. I loved it. Got my first PC around then and began to play around with hard- and software. I loved it even more

So, the next logical step was to study computer science and work in the IT industry. And… here I am.

Had several roles since… from system programming (OS/2 mostly  ) to system management with automatic software distribution ( hehe, at this time we sent the software on CDs to the remote branches, because the connections were to expensive. Only the control traffic to install the software at the branches from the CD was sent over the remote connection). Then the whole Tivoli stack. And from there to TSM, my entry to backup and storage. This developed further and now Veeam and Spectrum protect and all kind of storage from architecture to operations….

playing Warcraft 3 and caesar III at 6 and playing with windows 98, reassemble many times my pc at 8 years old, programming in C at 12 years old at secondary school for IT classes with my teacher and one friend. Well i fell into the pot very young

@MicoolPaul : love wireless printer in wep when i was young, yes print ponies on my neighbours printers was fun Don’t judge me ahaha, there was a big joke with on counter strike with the song “petit poney”

For me, the first time was when I got my first PC and picked up a random book that I found in the library about QBASIC.

Next thing I am sitting writing code out and watching it run. That essentially piqued my interest in computing and I just wanted to learn more. Next, the PSU on my computer stopped working and I had to find someone to come fix it. When the technician  opened the case with all the cables, I thought, ‘I would like to know how it all works and I am sure I can do it myself.’ The rest, as they say, is history.

When I was 4yo my dad give to me a 386 and some floppy disk. Put a child with DOS, line of code and some floppy with games and well… magic happens! That was the day when I fall in love with tech.

And of course, printers are jerks!

For me it was like a DIVINE appointment having studied Electrical/Electronics Engineering and now IT 

• I was walking one night and I saw the NIIT sign-post and gave them a call and visited their office for a follow up. Started with Cisco CCNA, Microsoft MCITP (Windows Server) and Comptia A+.

The above launched me into a new world, and my love for tech increased tremendously!

For me it was using my dads computer (windows 98, Intel Pentium 3, 500mhz) to run a SNES Emulator back in 1999.

Each friday evening, my father was out playing cards with his friends. I was 13-14 years old back then. He allowed me to use his computer each friday evening. I started to play SNES games like breath of fire or Chrono Trigger on his computer.

I joined the professional IT Business when I was 24 years old. But I had my first AD, File and Exchange Server already when I was 20 years old in the basement of my family house.

Since then, I made my hobby to my occupation. Working feels not like a MUST for me, It‘s what I like todo.

@MicoolPaul 

Printers are like little devils. No clue, why they still exists

I actually never liked technology much growing up  . My thing was language and literature. However, life is always full of surprises. I did like goofing off and playing games though. Started innocently enough, solitaire, minesweeper. Then got worse Tetris and the show was over when Doom arrived. The problem was that the computer that I had at the time needed more memory to get Doom to really work. There were companies in the country I was living at the time who could do this work but they were charging way too much money and could have adversely affected my beer budget. So I went out and bought a book and went to one of the wild “radio” markets that were there and did it myself. Oh the joy of everything moving fast on the screen. Then MP3’s came and once again my computer could not do it.. back to the book store and I assembled my own PC. My boss at the time also secretly wanted to listen to music and play games but wanted someone he could trust to upgrade his PC. I began to regularly help him and his wife with their computers. Afterwards when an official IT position came up in the organization that I was working in, my boss out of the blue recommended me. There were better technical people applying for this internal only position but to make sure the contest was fair and square he added on a prerequisite of speaking the local language to the job description (which I spoke and the others did not  ) which effectively cleared the way and eliminated all the competition. 

I never looked back after that. 

Just goes to show, always fix your bosses’ computer first!

Of course I am also a story teller so… :) . 

And yep, I am not a fan of printers either! 

Some great stories here people! Everyone comes from different backgrounds and it shows how accessible tech has become that it’s always possible to get involved in and explore. I’m glad you’ve all found your own ways to Veeam too makes these fun Fridays, well, fun!

I love your last sentence! I’m glad you’ve all found your own ways to Veeam too makes these fun Fridays, well, fun!

• Embracing and falling in love with Tech made this possible.

After graduating from the University of Macau in 2006, I worked at the service desk of a hotel. A year later, I went to an information technology company as a Systems Engineer. I started learning the servers and storage. After two years I started learning VMware Workstation, ESXi and vCenter, then I fell in love with VMware and EMC products and started my IT life. In 2013 I changed my role to solution architect and started sharing my knowledge in the community.

I joined the US Air Force shortly after high school. Since I was extremely poor & couldn’t afford college, this was the means by which I could get to college. The Air Force chose my military job for me based off my ASVAB test - I was an aerospace med tech (med tech for flying status personnel). After being in a few yrs the military adopted the use of PCs with Win 3.1. I was intrigued how a tech company could design a UI with “windows”, especially after doing a lot of data input for my job with DOS programs When I started taking college courses at a Community College on the base, my initial plan was to become a nurse anesthetist. After taking a couple yrs worth of classes, I took a break to deal with ‘life’. I separated from the Air Force and got a job as an office assistant/helpdesk person at a college in Kansas. It was here I saw all the many ‘niches’ of technology and what specific path I wanted to go. So, I scrapped my plan on gonig into the healthcare field, & devised a 2yr plan with a counselor at the college I was working at to get my Mgmt Info Sys degree (Bach of Science). Even after graduating, the courses didn’t prepare me for what I really needed to learn to get to where I’m at now. It was at my 2nd tech job after college of doing Tier 2 support which really helped me learn and gave me ideas on how to progress and advance into ultimately what I wanted to do in tech - being a Sys Engr/Architect. So here I am What was it that really got me started?...I’d say seeing those early yrs of Windows PCs.

Hope you all have a great week!

Cheers!