I’ve been toying with the idea of having a little hobby computer store for years and I’ve reached the point where I feel I have nothing to lose in trying it.
I don’t intend to make it my main source of income but I’d like to have some sort of formal knowledge base to resort to, regardless I’ve been acting as the tech guy for several years for a lot of people.
Where can I find some good courses/resources, preferably online, to improve my knowledge base?
I’m a long time Linux user so I intend to use my hobby to make some noise about it.
Hardware setup and troubleshooting, as I want to sell custom built machines would be a good start. Basic care and maintenance would be a plus, has I would like to buy used machines to “refurbish” and return to use.
On the software side, I’ve been running installations and system maintenance for years but there is always room to improve.
Programming I really don’t see myself doing but I do admit having some curiosity towards python, going for years, but I really don’t know where to start to approach it.
My background is not on STEM and I was always passed the notion that without roots in hard math I can’t go far in programming.
I swear this is some BS repeated by people who have no idea what they’re talking about. I got told pretty much the same when I was younger - don’t believe it. It may have been true to some degree at some point in the distant past, but it’s outdated advice at best.
Your main general skills when it comes to writing code are the ability to think logically and to think about abstract concepts. Creativity and imagination can definitely help. The ability to keep organized in your thoughts can also go a long way. Just about everything else comes in the form of knowing the language you’re working in, exposure to common coding and software design principles, and knowing your coding environment.
Math can figure into a lot of different types of programming careers… Shit like writing video game engines and other complicated things that model physics and stuff come to mind. But it’s not so much that math is intrinsic to programming, but rather that those types of software just require a lot of advanced math.
For example, I’m an automation engineer. It’s just a sysadmin who writes a decent amount of code. Most of my programming work revolves around sending requests over our company’s local network to servers or internal websites to do shit like remotely power up or shutdown machines or trigger a task or open up work orders. There is very little actual math, if any, in the entirety of my work.
At it’s core, programming is just the storing, moving around, manipulating, and keeping track of bits of information. Especially in a language like Python (which is my primary language).
EDIT: I should probably add my background isn’t STEM either. I’m a two time college dropout who got a break 14 years ago and left the restaurant industry to go into the tech sector instead.
id statt with books like this it might be a bit much at first but push through and youll get it. it doesnt have to be that book theres plenty of great ones out there on the topic. and your local library will probably have more and maybe better recommendations than we can give.
You’ll probably want to start small at first (random number generator, calculator, tic-tac-toe), but eventually you could create an app that would help you with your business. IDK, just thinking out loud, maybe inventory management or a system maintenance tool?
I made that mistake years ago and have always regretted it. I mean, I’m doing just fine now, but that fear of math really did me no favors in life. I really wish I had pursued a CS degree.
I got ruined for maths hard by a very professional teacher; made her life mission to tear down the students.
I still studied math to end of high school but having poor roots made thing too hard.
Thank you for the advice.