I have been taking things apart and putting them back together for over 50 years. I learned about programming computers in high school at an Explorer post. We used punch cards—try using white out on those! The amount of computing power that took up a corner of the room now fits in your hand. I started repairing and building electronics when tubes and individual transistors were used. Now common Intel processors have 1 to 2 billion transistors inside a single package.

Times may change but a consistent, diligent commitment to “fixing the machine or the problem involved” never changes. This is what I love to do. The fruit (symptoms) is what you see. The root is the actual cause—and until the root cause is fixed the problem isn't solved. For me, this is where detective stories meet medicine and technology. I follow the clues (symptoms) to find the guilty party (parts, software, both). We arrive at a solution—can this computer work again (usually, but at what cost?).