A simple reflection on how things work, curiosity and friction
Today I bumped into this blog post - The Last People Who Know How It Works · unix.foo (https://unix.foo/posts/last-people-who-know-how-it-works/) - which brought back some memories. It reminded me of when I assembled my first computer.
Before I was able to do that, I attended a course where they explained the architecture of a computer inside…. what a motherboard was, memory, CPU, heat sinks, fans, expansion slots, hard drives, etc. I was ~ 15/16 years old back then and I remember reading the manuals carefully to understand the compatibility of the different components. Hardware wasn’t cheap or easily accessible in Honduras and you really had to know what you were buying. This curiosity and friction were what ultimately got me interested in computer science. Which funny enough, I was expecting it to be more hardware oriented and only after a few classes did I realise that it was focused on software engineering.
It is amazing how times have changed and how the field has evolved over the past 25+ years. That said, I’m more curious than ever to understand how things work under the hood. Even when it is convenient not to. Looking forward to exploring many rabbit holes in the future.
Reposting here to correct my wrong as highlighted by my friend DJ Adams. Originally posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480610582627524608/.