We all grew up taking computer classes and becoming knowledgeable in how to use a computer but beyond that, how computer literate are you?
Posted by singleguy79@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 348 comments
I'm literate enough to know what I'm doing and to troubleshoot if a problem comes up, but if any other issues come up I have to call my Millennial brother who knows far more than I do. Hell, he put together the computer I'm using.
Kidkrid@reddit
I'm the one people come to, to solve their tech issues. And I hate it.
The younger generations are entirely tech illiterate.
Asleep_Onion@reddit
I remember when I was a kid, always helping my parents and other adults with their tech problems, I was like "Man that's gonna be me someday, being a grown-ass adult needing a 14 year old's help fixing my technology."
Nope. I'm still the one fixing everyone else's shit... including teenagers.
I think what made us excited to learn technology at that age was that it was still a wild frontier. So many things left to do, so many things not invented yet, so many security holes in everything, so many ways you could be better than almost everyone else at something. These days kids don't get any of that, so in a way I kinda don't blame them for not really being that interested in it.
icberg7@reddit
I also wondered what it would be like when I was having to ask for help. And like you, I've come to realize that the younger folks are just as bad (if not worse) than the generations older than us.
I've heard that they've even had to teach remedial courses on hard disks and filesystems in colleges now because the younger folks never had to figure any of that out.
I think it's also because people now just throw stuff out that's broken. Stuff is so cheap now and we treat it all like replaceable trash (thanks, capitalism!). I remember when you had to fix stuff because the mere thought of having to replace a computer or TV would cause someone's face to go pale.
ApolloWasMurdered@reddit
The average high-schooler struggles to save a file.
My wife is a high-school teacher, and she constantly has students asking where their work from last lesson is. Because they opened the program, used the program, then walked away at the end of class. They all have individual OneDrives that synchronise across all of their personal and shared devices, and they still don’t understand you need to save a file before you log off at the end of a lesson.
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
Tbf I'm not in the habit of saving things anymore either. It's auto saved or I've already sent it somewhere. What are they using in class these days? Is auto save not enabled?
lilabell5@reddit
Poster mentioned OneDrive, which is Microsoft and Microsoft inexplicably still doesn't auto-save. Or have real-time collaboration, or a number of other things they're super behind-the-times on. 🤷♀️
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
Oof I thought onedrive had an auto save feature if you have it enabled? I'm also behind the times. I kind of stagnated for about 7 years after a career change to an almost zero tech job, and just used a macbook for casual use. I went back to an office setting a year ago and it's changed sooooo much that I feel close to computer illiterate sometimes. Something I never thought I'd be. Like seriously, I still make discreet calls to my husband sometimes because I can't seem to just figure it out the way I used to, and I don't want to look like a dumbass. 😆
icberg7@reddit
Even if you have autosave, it's not going to help you if you don't know where it's saved to, which seems go track what the earlier poster was saying.
Also, the OneDrive client is annoyingly aggressive about moving everything on your user home directory out to the cloud service. The first time you install it, if you don't override the default options, it sucks everything on your computer away, drops a shortcut that says "where are my files" in a few places, and replaces the home directory in your file explorer with links to OneDrive. So you'll think you're saving to your local machine somewhere but it's really not there. Also, every time Windows did a feature update, it would force you through a "let's get your computer set up" wizard where would again encourage you to back up everything to the cloud.
Frankly, with as aggressive as it is and tied to the OS, I'm surprised someone didn't land an antitrust case on them.
lilabell5@reddit
I work for a midsize municipality and we're a Google shop, but our Dell laptops of course run on Windows. Even though we don't use Microsoft, it is, as you said, AGGRESSIVE about trying to force Edge, Copilot, OneDrive, etc. I'm a Tech Trainer and we have to constantly remind people to just ignore all that and only use Google. Because admins aren't able to remove the aggressive crap from our image. It's not ideal, to say the least.
icberg7@reddit
And Microsoft recently admitted one cause of Windows being terribly sluggish was because they tried to shove Copilot into every orifice of the OS.
ApolloWasMurdered@reddit
In Office, you still have to save the file the first time, before it starts autosaving. But non-Microsoft programs like Photoshop and Fusion and Blender aren’t autosaving at all.
lilabell5@reddit
Not if you use Google Workspace 😎😂
AnswerSure271@reddit
Whatever program they use now Google Classroom or docs saves every change so they don’t have to save their work. It’s all there. Probably the direction everything will go and we’ll need a subscription.
DaZig@reddit
Son was just like this: constantly struggling to find everything, ignoring all advice around doing it right. Finally he completely lost some important work, and had to waste hours redoing it, and now - shock - he knows how to do this properly and has a well organised home folder system.
Seems kids learn more from experience than advice. I guess we were the same! 😅
MasterPhilip@reddit
Something that bothers me is we don't have pc programs anymore. We have pc apps. Idk what the difference is, but I still call them programs.
Asleep_Onion@reddit
Same here, I still call them programs.
Application and program were always interchangeable, and Windows has always called them by both names at varying times since the beginning (like "Error: the application has been terminated unexpectedly" and "Add/remove programs").
They started getting called "apps" when they became more centralized - downloaded, installed, launched, and uninstalled from one place, like smartphones do. It's because at one point Microsoft was trying to make Windows Phones a thing, and they were attempting to make PC windows and Phone Windows cohesive. It didn't work, but the naming stuck.
I refuse to call PC programs apps though. Apps are for phones and tablets. PCs use programs or applications. That's a hill I will die on 🤣
MasterPhilip@reddit
I'll be dying right there with you. 😅
koei19@reddit
They are the same thing. Terminology has just shifted but there is zero difference between an app, application, and program.
MasterPhilip@reddit
I agree. I am talking about the terminology.
arothmanmusic@reddit
Yep. Both the older and younger people in my family ask me for tech help.
SubieGal9@reddit
Omg.. we're training a summer hire, 22yo, and she didn't know how to cut and paste files, sort files by date, name, etc. And she's smart and this isn't her first office job!
I don't think we'll ever be able to retire without a system collapse.
Fit_Indication_2529@reddit
Same, its like asking a car mechanic friend to work on your car for free. Parts and labor.
SuperLeroy@reddit
Imagine if you could get paid for your knowledge like literally every other professional would expect.
Hey Liam, you're a Lawyer now, can I get some free legal advice?
Hey Ethan, now that you are a doctor can you help me with this medical problem?
Oh hey Dave, now that you're a plumber can you help me with this leak I've got?
Nope.
But Mr computer guy should just fix people's shit for free right? Otherwise he's a jerk.
Nah, its people taking advantage of lots of ADHD and on the spectrum individuals in tech, and those folks feel the need to help and be validated by their ability to help, and will help even without pay because thats just who they are.
thecasey1981@reddit
boomer mother. boomer mother in law, no tech melenials at work, wife who gets frustrated, 9 year old daughter.
unpaid tech support sucks
cloudshaper@reddit
Honestly, we pay for a GeekSquad support package for my mother in law's computer. It's so much easier than trying to do tech support over the phone from a few timezones away.
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
I am so reluctant to fix issues for my mom on her phone, ipad, and mac. She's 85, and honestly navigates things pretty well despite not really understanding our current systems (shit, me either sometimes). She used to know her way around PC really well. She was right there with me figuring out IRQ conflicts, config.sys files, manual memory management. She understood file structure, where files were saved, and how to troubleshoot hardware. These days systems are so different and she's not quite as sharp, but I swear every time I fix an issue she's convinced I "changed something" or "messed it up". God forbid something disappears from her doc. That's a full on panic and hard to explain to her that it's still there, and we can put it back, but having so freaking many is why things are soooo sloooow. That and she can't remember the difference between closing the window and actually quitting the app so everything is running.
FoxyDevSelenity@reddit
I'm calling it the enstupidification of the world. Make everything so easy to use and automatic that when it breaks they have to spend an arm and a leg to recover from it!
Guilty_Eggplant_3529@reddit
I was about 12 and we had sold our 286 clone to another expat family, so my dad could buy a 386. Anyways, out of the blue I was invited to this kid's house, it wasn't too weird we were in the same grade. Get over there and the dad sits me in front of the computer and asks, "What do I do with it?" And that has resonated deeply in my life, it's a computer, generally if you don't understand what it is and is not capable of you probably shouldn't waste your money or my time.
Yes, I work in IT, and yes, I still get asked variations of that question still. And I still don't enjoy it at all.
ploomyoctopus@reddit
I work in the English department at a large university. One of our front desk student workers is 19 or so...and I literally had to teach her how to turn on a Dell desktop computer the other day. Including telling her "No, the computer is the box, and the screen is...just the screen."
Sigh.
catsdelicacy@reddit
Yeah they can use the phones they grew up with - so they know Apple OR Android. They can use the apps for that platform, but not for the other.
They don't know about printers, or PCs, or the Internet, or how to get a TV going.
I feel like Gen X had to learn stuff just to get by, but our kids just have what they have and coast.
bananabastard@reddit
I trained people to not ask me for help by being bad at giving help.
My thinking was I wasn't born knowing how to solve tech problems; I faced the problems myself at one point when I knew nothing, and I learned how to solve them myself, so why can't other people do the same?
So whenever anyone asked me for computer help, I would talk them through how to go about fixing it. But they just wanted someone to fix it. So in the future they ask someone who will just fix it, instead of me who will talk them through fixing it themselves.
I'm relieved of the duty.
Moons_of_Moons@reddit
At my last job I worked with alot of younger people (19 to 25). They were actually very computer savvy in some cases beyond my abilities. But they were all mostly engineering graduates or similar.
There are younginz out there that aren't dumb, but you don't see them cause they are in college studying or at thier real first job getting paid peanuts to solve real technical issues while barely making minimum payments on student loans.
sigm45@reddit
I’ve noticed this a lot too. Younger generations can’t seem to format an Excel sheet or put together a .ppt worth a dang. It’s baffling. But then again so many of them do 100% of their computing on their phone. If I have to write a long email or read something long I’ll just wait till I’m at my laptop.
janellthegreat@reddit
Another problem somehow education jusf expects them to be digital natives born from the womb. What? We don't have typing classes until high school yet we have students in third grade turning in written assignments online? Totally makes sense!
Top-Wolverine-8684@reddit
My three kids have all graduated from high school and never had a typing class!
jinsaku@reddit
It’s amazing to note the large percentage of them that have zero concept of a file system. You tell them to save a document or something to their drive, and they have no idea what you’re talking about.
Kitchen-Fisherman280@reddit
The schools near me use Chromebooks exclusively. Everything the kids have is saved to the cloud. They also use all of Google's programs, like Google Docs. I had to teach my kids how a PC worked because it was a totally foreign concept to them. They can open Google Docs and the last document is there. They don't know because they dont HAVE to know
Careless-Ad-6328@reddit
This is the key right here.. and it's not just Google stuff, it's virtually all technology they encounter on a daily basis. It all Just Works and hides all the complex stuff so people don't even realize it's happening.
WiFi and Cell Data is a great example of this. To kids in school today, the internet is something that just exists everywhere for everyone and everything just automatically connects and works (maybe you have to enter a wifi password). You don't need to know anything about how it works or what's going on under the covers. It just works.
iPhones and iPads... if these are your primary computing devices growing up (like it is for a lot of kids now), it's actually very very difficult to get beyond the magic and get to tinkering at a deeper level.
We grew up in a time when nothing worked unless you put in the effort to learn and understand it. I remember learning how modems worked so I could use dial-up internet. Or how the OS worked to be able to make tweaks to run my games.
We had to learn to be able to use the tech. They only have to learn when something goes very wrong, which is increasingly rare as tech improves.
Cars would be another good analogy. Used to be you had to know how the darn thing worked so you could do minor service yourself when it inevitably broke down. Today cars are so reliable (and so complex) that very few people know squat about them and just take them to a professional for everything.
Sofagirrl79@reddit
I'm 46 and can't do any of that,never heard of a .ppt either lol
Secret_Elevator17@reddit
Same, and usually I can resolve the issue but I'm annoyed by it.
Lones0meCrowdedEast@reddit
My 12 year old son installed Sunshine/Moonlight on his PC/Laptop so he could play Minecraft Java with path tracing shaders in bed, also installed Forge to then install Vivecraft so he can play it in VR.
He also modded his 2DS with minimal help from me
My 7 year old daughter downloaded the Sonic 2 APK and a Sonic 3 & Knuckles rom and used them to install Sonic 2 Absolute on Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited on their Steam Deck, again with minimal help from me.
People talk about the failings of "the younger generations" all the time but they never seem to talk about the fact that kids learn.... (drumroll)....what you teach them.
NiceGuy60660@reddit
Lol, you should definitely be proud of your kids, but i kept thinking this house has malware bugs running through the walls by now
Lones0meCrowdedEast@reddit
We have a pihole on our router so theyre not encountering any ads on curseforge or any of that, and the piracy is all done on Soulseek so there's no concern for malware or virii in general.
German_Merman@reddit
Yep this ends up being my role in every office I've ever worked in. I'm not even trained in IT! I just spent an unhealthy amount of time in the 90s getting games to run on old PCs that really didn't want to run them.
NiceGuy60660@reddit
That's how we all got our unofficial IT associates degree, man
kingtyrone-za@reddit
I came here to say this...
jesusmansuperpowers@reddit
Anyone not in the xennial range is the worst about tech. Exceptions exist of course but I feel like we’re 80% positive where everyone else is 80% negative
OriginalFerbie@reddit
As are the older generations. 1981 here, I am tech support for EVERYONE in my life. No matter how old they are.
CunnyMaggots@reddit
Yup. Our neighbor's internet was out for 5 days before they said anything and then you know why it was out? The router was unplugged. They're both in their 30's.
c_b0t@reddit
Same. Although usually if I wait long enough to respond to my mom, she figures it out herself.
Happy_Macaroon2726@reddit
Ive been using computers since 92, and have been doing hardware, application, and resource management as well as system and complex application training. Im retired now, with only one computer to manage 😀
Powerstroke357@reddit
Passable. I can do more than I have to be able to do in order to manage. To the tech savvy i'm like a babe in the woods but to my parents i'm a tech genius.
For them i do extremely difficult tasks that require extensive tech skills such as connecting a Bluetooth device, paying a bill online, downloading and uploading documents etc. The kind of thing that will have my dad cussing up a storm inside a minute. He once had me drive to his house just to hook up a digital antenna for him.
The dude can build a custom automobile starting with nothing but the frame out of one that burned up. He can fabricate whatever, he can do plumbing, roofing, drywall, flooring and the list goes on. Never seen him whipped by any kind of job like that but the 5 step process for setting up an antenna is apparently too much. Personally I'm not buying it. I think he could do that stuff if he really wanted to learn but he doesn't.
Motoescape@reddit
I’m useless with a computer, I can do everything I need to on my iPad
perhaps_too_emphatic@reddit
I manage a team of data engineers, helped my son build his first PC, and run local AI experiments on my computer because it is interesting technology but data centers are a curse.
JobNo3928@reddit
I know more than the generations before and after me. It's surprising to me how many people don't know basic windows command prompts or useful features of a spreadsheet.
I also know how to put physical components together, but given the price of computer parts these days, I'm too afraid to even install a graphics card myself, let alone swap out a processer.
Lesbian_Skeletons@reddit
Somewhere between Crash Override and a hapless techno-weenie.
59apache01@reddit
Believe it or not, I made it all the way through high school with virtually no exposure to them in a school environment.
That said, we always had one in the house. From an Atari 800 to a Tandy 1000SX, I cut my teeth programming in Basic, then moved on to Pascal. I'm not much of a programmer anymore, but I can still troubleshoot pretty well.
What I struggle with today is stuff like website development. Now mind you in 1997, I could hard-code a site using HTML, but these new development tools like WordPress tend to frustrate me.
oskich@reddit
WordPress came out in 2003, not really that "new" 😁
somecoolname42@reddit
I have a degree in IT and several certifications. Better than average, but I'm no Acid Burn.
fromthedarqwaves@reddit
Me neither but I did get an ATM somewhere in Bumsville Idaho to spit out $700 into the middle of
the street. Was that a righteous hack?
Weekly_Guidance_498@reddit
You're having across start lines from your home?
somecoolname42@reddit
Yeah, pretty righteous. You could take some of that $700, buy a cassette recorder, put some quarters in a phone, record the tones, then hit the change button and get your money back. Then play those tones back into a phone to get free calls till you get tired from standing in the street.
Asleep_Onion@reddit
Yo, you're an amateur, man!
Competitive-Teach675@reddit
Hack the Planet!
Kelvin_Inman@reddit
They’re trashing our rights! TRASHING OUR RIGHTS!
Asleep_Onion@reddit
You're closer to being Acid Burn than your think, just get yourself a 14.4 modem and a PCI bus to triple the speed of your Pentium
somecoolname42@reddit
14.4, I could send a fax over such speeds.
mentalbackflip@reddit
I remember teaching basic computer skills in the early 80s for the computer company employees where I worked. Like when your mouse reaches the end of the table you can pick it up and move it closer. You don’t have to continue up the wall.
Urbit1981@reddit
I own a tech consulting company. I can pass for computer literate.
AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit
I build my own computers and troubleshoot them. Im not an expert, but im above average. I have also watched nearly all of Ben Eaters YouTube channel where he builds a PC from scratch and explains how transistors and logic gates work. I always had a curiosity about how pcs work at the most fundamental level.
2_minutes_hate@reddit
I'm a computer science engineer.
keyser1884@reddit
The whole thing about us being tech support for our parents and our kids is super true. Young enough to have grown up with computers, old enough to have been using computers that required real knowledge to operate.
_ism_@reddit
in 2004? very. now? mid. more than ipad babies who never learned qwerty typing. less than maybe all my richard stallman ass licking ex boyfriends
D0nk3yD0ngD0ug@reddit
I used to impress my family by starting SW and searching files from DOS. Felt like an IT wizard. Now? Can’t even find a file I swear I just saved to my desktop a few minutes ago. Also avoiding using AI like the plague. I’ve become the old dog and I don’t know how I got here.
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
I had this revelation a few years ago. I was always the person people came to for tech help. From the time I was 15 I would dig around and "play" with computers and devices until I learned every in and out. I left my career in 2016 to take a job that uses almost no technology, and beyond a macbook for casual use and my phone I stagnated. Then I went back to school and started another career last year, and was embarrassed at how far behind I was! It doesn't help at all that my husband is the techy in our family and just does it for me when I have a question. I'm trying desperately to catch up now, but PC (and especially the office suite) is nothing like it was in 2016.
_ism_@reddit
the thing that changed for us is UIs and OS's don't let you "play" anymore. they assume you're the dumbest ever and lock everything down, hide things, make gross assumptions about my habits, above and beyond simply looking for default settings to customize. I don't know how to explain it. And then somehwo there are people who exist who don't know what a settings menu is or to look for one.
Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit
Yes. That's a huge part of it!
BaconIsGoodForMeh@reddit
This
_ism_@reddit
i use AI a little now, and younger people are always warning me not to let it make me psychotic, murderous or fall in love with it. and i'm like... i don't know how other people are using theirs, but i don't talk to mine in a way that lets it "in." and i delete things it wants to remember, and micromanage my settings as best i can.... and i also know how to do Motivational Interviewing which means I get it to explain its own mistakes to me and i catch them and push back on them.
BaconIsGoodForMeh@reddit
Severely underrated comment.
….Built computers; could change the “start” button on windows 98 & windows xp to say “hello”, or “fucko”, (any other 5 letter word) back in the day…
Everything now seems very frustrating when there’s an issue. Almost like the programmers tried to anticipate what people wanted then took it way too far….
_ism_@reddit
i set a BIOS password on my ex's computer before i left for good >:)
BaconIsGoodForMeh@reddit
🤣
nudave@reddit
This is going to sound crazy, but it’s exactly where I am, and you are the perfect candidate for chatting with ChatGPT if you ever want to restore some of your knowledge.
My kid got interested in building a computer. I realized that all of my knowledge about how to do that is stuck in about 2003 – and some of the vocab words floating around my head are laughably older, like “VESA bus.”
20 minutes of AI conversation later, and I actually feel like I had a pretty good idea of where to start on that project in 2026. (and 10 minutes after that, I had a really good idea of why we’re rejecting it until ram prices normalize.)
More recently, I had the exact same experience when I wanted to play around with running a local LLM. I had no idea where to start, and that was instantly helpful.
_ism_@reddit
i use gpt pretty regularly. i feel like i know how to approach it with more common sense and awareness of its limits. i often make it explain its mistakes to me, and one of its favorite things to say is "you're right to push back on that." i treat it like an object that takes directions and i give it a healthy dose of cynicism. it's not a relationship or a mentor to me.
TotallyNotRobotEvil@reddit
I am running like 10 agent swarm at work at the moment, each with its own set of skills (some that I've trained personally, and some just out of the box). It's so good at my job at this point it does actually scare me a little bit at point. I for the most part just keep it secret and let everyone think I'm just 10x more productive than I used be lol.
ECSJack@reddit
This is the way. For stuff like how-tos, recipes, etc. it saves so much time or at least point you in the right direction.
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
About the same here. When I embarked on my career they pretty much got intimidated by my tech skills and I had to 'unlearn' much of them.
_ism_@reddit
I had to do everything with the mouse, when I was familiar with keyboard commands for maneuvering and text editing, whenever my boss stood over me because otherwise "you're changing your screens too fast, you're typing too fast, i can't make sure i can see what you're doing." if you need to stand there and watch at your own speed, why did you hire me then...
fidgety_sloth@reddit
I am on the parent board for an extra curricular activity that my high school daughter participates in. In no way would I consider myself especially technically inclined - I can use Photoshop. I can change the background color of a Sign-up Genius. I have basic google search skills that I can use to figure out how to do things. But to both the older parents and the younger ones, I’m some kind of tech genius, to the point that I told them they could outsource stuff to me even after my daughter graduates. It is absolutely mind boggling.
DriveOld8007@reddit
I work at a FAANG company and I’m far more literate than most of the employees my age and as far as overall knowledge I have the most well rounded knowledge base of my direct co-workers, including software engineers(which I am not).
Darkwing873@reddit
As a designer I shocked some web guys when I told them I knew C. They knew js. It was like they were disgusted haha.
JeffTS@reddit
I’m a web developer and everyone thinks I know how to fix computers. I can open up the box and blow the dust out. I can install RAM. But that’s as much as I feel comfortable doing. My boomer sibling built my computer and is the one how likes to take things apart and put them back together.
Darkwing873@reddit
Sniff- high level language users - sniff
gravteck@reddit
Same as you. 20+ YOE Software engineer here (systems guy though) , and when my family got it's first computer in 1997, I, the QB, quit the football team and started programming and making websites. Somehow there was enough of my brain leftover paying from the age of 7, but I have installed some RAM and a video card a couple times in my life. I have some confidence I could troubleshoot hardware a bit, but I don't even have a real life mental picture of a motherboard or power supply I would have even seen.
BritOnTheRocks@reddit
Also a web developer. I could deconstruct and rebuild my tower computer in college, but as soon as laptops got powerful enough for coding, I never bothered with desktops ever again.
JeffTS@reddit
I actually switched from desktop to laptop and worked on one for the longest time. I switched back to desktops because I'm also a photographer and wanted something more powerful for editing and also for gaming. Both my current and last desktop were custom built by my sibling and gave me both the power and disk space that I needed.
SeaSkimmer2@reddit
The hardware configurations and operating-system software of windows PCs and laptops really hasn’t significantly changed in decades, other than some things like hard drives becoming solid-state (SSD) versus spinning platters, and some basic-level laptops having integrated memory on the motherboard without expandable slots. The software may seem different, but it’s largely just new window-dressing…no pun intended.
Darkwing873@reddit
They have really knocked the rough edges off of things though, and you don't need to pay as much attention to any of it since modern frameworks are mostly stable compared to the old days. So as a result less people have to fix things, less people know how to.
RightYouAreKen1@reddit
I’ve built every computer I’ve owned (except laptops). I run Linux on my main PC, and have worked in the software industry for 27 years.
jasonrubik@reddit
I'm going to have to switch to Linux later this year when the Extended Security Updates for Windows 10 expire. I will never install Win 11 on my personal desktop. I use that crap for work and it's terrible.
I'll likely dual boot Mint and Win 10 with no Internet connection as needed. The issue is that for work we have to remote into a Win 365 Cloud PC and that app doesn't run on Linux so now that I think about it, I'm not sure what I'm going to do
bridymurphy@reddit
It works in the browser
jasonrubik@reddit
Thanks. I'll try it out
Phoniceau@reddit
Extremely. I was the one to handle all my family’s tech issues as a kid (HOURS on the line with Gateway and Dell tech support lol). Today, I work in big tech, though not as an engineer, and all the engineers come to me to handle their IT issues instead of actual IT. So yea.
playfulwarning@reddit
I took word processing in high school and a couple of computer classes in college. I know enough to do what I need to do. Anything beyond that is Googled or found on YouTube. I'm honestly astonished by the number of younger people who can't even manage to do that.
Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit
I've a degree in computer engineering. 🤷♂️
MonkeyBred@reddit
Although I don't consider myself anything special, particularly when I try to comprehend solutions people type up on StackOverflow or coworkers mention APIs, I would say I'm extremely, generally skilled.
I know and have worked with dozens, if not hundreds, of different programs. I can write some code; I've hacked some old devices, and I do shit with Excel that used to make my job near effortless until AI gave everyone that ability.
nyght2063@reddit
I'm pretty computer literate. More focused on ai recently.
Euphoric_Egg_4198@reddit
Enough that when I got hired by my current law firm our CTO half jokingly told me that he should have hired me for the IT department. I am one of the most knowledgeable remote employees and can usually learn a new system easily.
I started working remotely around 2000 when it wasn’t a thing yet. I’m still weary of AI and don’t use it. I also hate the BI dashboards we’re supposed to use that half ass info gathering but that’s probably partially the creator’s fault. Data visualization still has a lot of limitations, especially in the legal world where we have to access multiple apps and databases.
fuzzydice82@reddit
I'd say I'm an Enthusiast, but not an Expert. I can troubleshoot hardware and consumer software, but I can't do coding or System Admin type stuff as easily.
My dad had his own small business in the 1980s and really tried to get his files and accounting on computers. He was really ahead of his time back then and he would go to local computer meet-ups where other enthusiasts would trade free software just to get people to try out their stuff. My brothers and I loved it because he would come back with games like Frogger and Dark Castle for us to play.
We had a word processor and a paint grogram, and my dad was always trying out new dictation (speech-to-text) software for his job. We even had one of those awesome dot-matrix printers with the tractor feed perforated holes on the side. (Us kids loved playing with the tear-offs, and my mom used them to space out her edge-stitching on her quilts.)
Unfortunately, my dad would always research the best tech to get at the time, which turned out to be the worst long-term tech. We had a Macintosh computer and a Beta VCR. Had to switch to Windows PC and VHS in the 1990s. (Though, one local video rental store lasted further into the 1990s with Beta offerings than you would think.)
All that to say, I had a computer available to me earlier than a lot of people, and I loved tinkering on it. I've just kind of kept on trying to have an above average knowledge of computers. My current job is 100% on a computer (not IT or coding), and I'd consider myself a savvy computer user for all the end-user programs and use-cases.
I've built a few PCs, and replaced internals on a lot of Apple products that aren't supposed to be user-replaceable. Maybe it's because I grew up replacing and fixing anything you could do yourself to save money.
Now it's really not that hard to fix and upgrade hardware using iFixit, troubleshoot basic things using a web search and/or YouTube, and anytime I've had to do basic System Administrator stuff on my home computers, a simple web search paired with an AI prompt/conversation has guided me to the solution.
I use a PC for work, but my current daily home computer is a 16-year-old 2010 Mac Pro that I've upgraded to almost the max with dual CPUs, 96 GB of RAM, modern Bluetooth and WiFi, and tons of storage, and I've "hacked" it to run as modern a macOS as possible. Unfortunately, the dream is dying and that computer can't run the newest macOS, so I've picked up a new M-Series iMac.
I am trying to pass on a healthy knowledge of computers to my kids though. My youngest kid watched/helped me tear down a 2014 iMac and replace some of the internal components. She also helped me teardown a Nintendo Switch and replace the battery. And the kids use Windows PCs for school, but I also get them to use Macs at home. I just want them to have a full understanding of what they're using and not just be mindless iPad kids.
BeenisHat@reddit
Extremely literate. I'm a network engineer these days.
SecondRandomRedditor@reddit
I have a computer science degree. So I like to think I am pretty knowledgeable.
Calm_Drummer2591@reddit
We’ve had a PC and been online since 1995 or so, so I believe I’m pretty literate. And I also put together my own desktop PC years ago, so yeah. I feel comfortable.
Frippertron42@reddit
I’m a complete Luddite. I’m pretty tech averse if I’m being honest.
OpiumPhrogg@reddit
Uh, had aol dial up in 1994-ish , had a T1 connection to my house and a p.c. in my bedroom by 1996, was doing IT Operations for a call center at 19 years old, worked overnight for Y2K - have been doing Tech/IT in some form or other for however long now - like 25ish years?
So fairly knowledgeable I would say.
Ineedavodka2019@reddit
It depends on who you ask. If you ask an IT person not very. If you ask my husband or work colleagues it’s the opposite.
Matshelge@reddit
Computer class was me playing typing of the Dead and testing out different NES emulators, it is not the reson I am computer literate.
All of this needed to be done without internet, and I think that is one of the reasons it was such a hard learned lesson.
Usual-Bag-3605@reddit
I worked as an Advanced Agent at Geek Squad for nearly a decade and learned how to do coding/programming.
Black_Pill_Oh@reddit
I can diagnose a lot of shit. Basically keep a pc running until something major fails. Also I try to remember that sometimes it's not you, sometimes the app is just really that badly designed.
delladoug@reddit
I am the tech support for family and friends for the most part. My friends as a late teen were computer salvagers then I went to work for a tech-savvy engineer who had me doing our network wiring, server setup, and all sorts of other things. From a PC standpoint, I am solid.
bananabastard@reddit
I've never needed to go to anyone else to solve a tech problem.
epidemicsaints@reddit
I'm a media jack of all trades person. Electronic musician, photography, video, web development (design and PHP), a typesetter and typographer.
I am a curmudgeon though, I do everything on PC. I hate smart phones and TVs with a UI.
I am still using the Adobe suite from like 2014. I am not doing this Creative Cloud subscription shit, so there are ways that I have fallen behind. I don't upgrade. Whatever FOMO is, I have the opposite.
dutchrock@reddit
You mean you actually OWN software?
epidemicsaints@reddit
100% and I am still fighting Windows to make it use a local account instead of a fucking sign in. I am not logging onto the internet to turn on MY computer. I will go back to running XP in a box on Linux.
bridymurphy@reddit
This is the way.
ET2-SW@reddit
I have no idea how but somehow I've been using my Win 11 gaming computer with only a local account, it hasn't been bothering me. I attempted to use my Mac Mini without an Apple login and it was totally useless.
Pretty sure once my windows 10 systems are shot, I'll switch to Ubuntu.
ValancyNeverReadsit@reddit
Right on, I hate that everything now needs to be a subscription. Eff every company that forces us into them. Not everyone can afford to pay monthly until they die, and those who can afford it shouldn’t have to want to.
GotWood2024@reddit
Thanks to google for having docs. I'd hate to be forced into MS 360 or whatever that subscription is.
max_power1000@reddit
You can still buy office, but they bury the option where it’s hard to find on their website.
GotWood2024@reddit
That figures! And proly more expensive than previous versions to get you to move to subs.
max_power1000@reddit
It’s only a single license too for like $150. All the way back to 14 or so you could usually activate 4 or 5 machines off of one office license, so that’s particularly shitty if you ask me.
That said, especially considering the included 2TB cloud storage, a family 365 subscription isn’t that bad at $100/yr, and especially not at $70/yr which I could get through a purchase program at work. Plus my wife has her own business that we expense it through. Granted that only factors in if you actually want/use cloud storage.
GotWood2024@reddit
That sort of makes sense if you have a family and a business....and also because they limit the amount of PCs you can use it with.
We also have a home use program with MS at my work. Right now Google docs is good for me for doing my little house budget.
max_power1000@reddit
Yeah, it's something worth considering when you have multiple users with their own machines. I've got 2 kids, and the older one is approaching middle school. They both have chromebooks now, but if we move to windows machines as they get older, the additional licenses would kill us compared to just having a family subscription for office.
jasonrubik@reddit
I just use Office 2003, it works fine still
GotWood2024@reddit
I probably would if I didn't have Google Docs!
TwistingEcho@reddit
I couldn't buy a non smart TV in a reasonable price band. I've had to settle for never connecting my TVs to any network ever. So far so good 👍.
TotallyNotRobotEvil@reddit
Same, I just connect roku or apple TV and never actually connect the TV to the internet. Every TV App UI I've ever used is utter under powered shit anyway. I had to use the TCL Googlr UI on one of my TVs when we were moving because the Roku for it was still packed away and it was so painfully slow.
MockeryAndDisdain@reddit
Open the back of thr TV's chassis, pull out the wireless card. Should be easy enough to find, if not, the information will be on the internet.
Everyone hates smart TV bullshit.
There's also making a PI Hole.
NiceGuy60660@reddit
Get a cheap 4k and connect a Google Streamer (or your favorite variant). That saved me from destroying my basement TV, *Office Space"-style.
Fuck WebOS so hard. You hear me, LG??
TwistingEcho@reddit
Yeah mate, all over it. We are a Chromecast2 household. It just works and works so well. I know my data is obviously being harvested either way but this is a much more efficient interface and I don't cop random advertisements of slowdowns from bloatware.
epidemicsaints@reddit
I just use a PC to watch in a browser and VLC on a normal monitor. 80% of my watch time is youtube anyway.
spuldup@reddit
Dude, we should hang out.
epidemicsaints@reddit
Party time!
DarksunDaFirst@reddit
Oh man me too with the TV’s. My wife hated the fact I spent a month trying to get a new TV and it didn’t come with any apps.
You know how hard it is to find a high quality “dumb” TV? Nearly impossible these days.
tokudama@reddit
My relatively basic tv from 15 years ago works perfectly still, and I dread the day it dies.
BasvanS@reddit
On a dumb tv, how do you skip ads? I only use the HDMI, and it’s just not getting any internet connection, so it’s not even going to try to be smart.
epidemicsaints@reddit
I watch my mom using her TV and it makes me so sad. The remote sucks, so much menu diving, she hates it, and I don't know what's going on or how to help. It's hell. I just click on something with a track pad and watch it.
DotNervous7513@reddit
I never had a computer class in school other than CAD as an elective at my first high school. Literally even my typing class was on a typewriter. That said, my dad worked in the military with computers and (even though he was never home) I was always on the computer figuring stuff out on my own. I’m still the one in my extended family people ask questions about with the computers, although I have distanced myself from that in the last few years because I don’t want to have to be the fixer all the time.
BreakfastBeerz@reddit
Computer literacy is largely unnecessary anymore, even more so now with the prevalence of AI. It's gone the way of learning how to saddle a horse.
melissa_fornow@reddit
Outlier: I have several computer science degrees.
Kalle_79@reddit
Uhm, all I got from computer class in HS was a bit of Basic, Turbopascal and the one with the Turtle...
However, I learnt how to work my way around a computer at home and have become the go-to tech guy for family and friends since. Which was also a decent way to earn some extra money during college and beyond.
Never had the patience and the dedication to dive into proper coding though.
Moons_of_Moons@reddit
I'm not a developer, but a pretty substantial power user of Windows and Linux systems, and I can write basic python, html, and VBA code. I know more excel stuff than most of my coworkers.
But my HS computer class was on an Apple 2E green screen POS where we learned AppleWorks. That had no bearing on my future abilities whatsoever.
PeteDub@reddit
Kids today won’t even know how to do some basic research. They just ask AI for the answers.
Used to be kind of fun to sleuth out answers.
SilverDem0n@reddit
PhD in Computer Science and career as software consultant.
So yes, I mainly work in PowerPoint.
Next-Honeydew4130@reddit
Lol
DigitalArbitrage@reddit
The software engineers on my team do presentations in HTML. I'm pretty sure they use Github Copilot to help generate it.
Cross_22@reddit
Software engineer here. I'm pretty sure if you gave me a few thousand transistors I could MacGyver a computer from scratch.
Next-Honeydew4130@reddit
Now THAT is computer literate.
jasonrubik@reddit
I'm there with you, but it would take me forever to design and build it.
Top-Wolverine-8684@reddit
We never had computer classes. None of my classes had computers in them.
I've worked remotely for 17 years. My whole life is on a computer, 16+ hours a day. Despite it not being in my job description, I work for a mom and pop, so I built our website, manage the social media accounts, and run the Google Ads account. I use dozens of programs at work. If I don't know how to do something, I'll watch YouTube videos and figure it out.
Okra-Tomatoes@reddit
Same here. I'm like, y'all had computer classes? We didn't even get typing.
Sofagirrl79@reddit
Class of '98 and same. I grew up in a middle class district so it's not like my school was particularly underfunded compared to a poor rural or inner city school 🤔
thewayshesaidLA@reddit
The meme of us helping the generations above us and below us is true. I’ve spent hours on the phone with my mom to fix issues. Now my kids also seem helpless.
DBDIY4U@reddit
I would say I am middle of the road. I have kept fairly current and can still do all the stuff on PCs that I used to be able to do such as installations, reset and reinstall everything, and anything else I need to do. I would say that I am more computer literate as I need to be. Better than this current generation. I'm finding they do not know how to do basic functions on a PC such as transferring something from one computer to another with a flash drive or saving as you go on software that does not auto save or I guess it would be called an app now.
waftedfart@reddit
All my computers run Linux. Not sure how much that tells you.
LacyKnits@reddit
I am a computer user. I'm a good user, I can generally be trusted with admin rights, I'm not getting caught by the phishing and scam emails, I learn new programs quickly (including highly specific engineering stuff). I can do some pretty complex stuff in Excel, and I handle all the peripheral set up without issue.
When I can't get something to work, I'll Google for a fix before calling someone about it. If I call IT, it's usually because there's a system issue or I've broken something spectacularly and all repair suggestions involve command line prompts or access beyond my permissions.
But a few weeks ago one of the new grads at the office sat with me while I tried to figure out GitHub access, installed python, downloaded a certain script, installed the damn thing and all of the associated stuff ... I KNOW I was coming across like the guys who couldn't figure out how to save to pdf, or open their email when I was young. It was crushingly embarrassing!
Graywulff@reddit
I worked as a computer technician at 16 making 35/hour adjusted for inflation in 1999 doing Y2K upgrades, building computers to spec for clients, pc repair.
I was my schools co director of it senior year, co head of student help desk junior year.
Placed third in the state and top 50 nationally on computer concepts and applications.
Type 100 wpm, familiar with Mac windows Linux and legacy computers.
Top 10% of IS&T at mit at 24, systems administrator at a startup in 2009, etc.
I got in car accident and have been on LTD since then, but I regret the other drivers decision bc according to my mentor if I stayed at mit I’d be in charge of IS&T by now.
I found out if you learn to play a musical instrument, a TBI can be overcome, so I have a Stratocaster squire and a little amp, it’s the most anyone has studied TBI recovery and the best results from studies I have seen.
I’m def not good at guitar, 🎸, but I hope it helps me get back on that trajectory and all the time lost. I’d basically need to be an intern again, instead of super specialist, but it only took me five years before.
Gotta hope I can get back in the saddle at some point.
ApatheistHeretic@reddit
I with in IT networking, and an shockingly useless in Windows. People come to me with PC problems and I'll need to Google the issue more often than you'd expect.
The last version I really "knew" was NT 4.0..
Next_Cartoonist_8444@reddit
C:\ Cd\doom
That's about peak for me, if that's even correct.
optimaloutcome@reddit
I would say pretty dang literate. Been working in data centers since I was 19. Back in the day they called me an integrator. Now I'm a platforms engineer.
SuperNintendad@reddit
We had a summer intern who I realized grew up entirely using iPads. They had no familiarity at all with computer directory structure.
We had a lot of conversations like this:
“I saved it.”
“Yeah but where did you save it?”
“In the app.”
“But where did you save the file?”
“What?”
LeakyAssFire@reddit
I was only interested in building computers and gaming when I started out. I wanted to be one of the dudes who worked at the local PC shop just fixing computers. I ended up doing that for a bit, but the pay sucked, so I kept going. 20+ years later and I am a very knowledgeable systems engineer\architect.
Dry_Inspection_4583@reddit
Very.
Kitchen-Fisherman280@reddit
I am tech support for everyone in my house. When my wife was sent home in 2020 to work remotely, I had to set up her monitors for her. I routinely fix issues for her that her own IT can't fix. Kids are in the same boat. They know how to use technology but know fuck all about how it works
TheBrownCouchOfJoy@reddit
Networking, pretty good. Windows support, pretty good. Linux support, pretty weak. Mac support, no idea wtf I’m doing.
CosmicFelineFoliage@reddit
I built and manage my own server. I own over 50 websites. I have no degrees in IT. All self taught. We didn’t have computers in high school. I learned on one my mom brought home from a work auction.
Dimplefrom-YA@reddit
i’m a tech director at a company that builds medical and governmental products. recently i learned how to program ai. not learn ai. but program it.
i can program in many languages.
i have designed my own laptop and msi offered me a beefed up laptop to do my work.
in my past i used to create flash tutorials, make websites, develop, was part of the original team to create the mapping system at harvard, and I’ve done PACS programming (xray machines).
Oh i do have a bs in comp sci and an ms in bioinformatics.
so i am pretty knowledgeable
bfjizzle@reddit
I am computer illiterate. I graduated in 2000. I have worked as a server or hairstylist since. I don't ever use basic computer stuff. My husband started a catering company. I had to have someone come and show me how to make and print out labels for sandwich boxes. It's embarrassing sometimes, but also rarely comes up 🤷♀️ My 77 year old parents are better than I am
Professor_Anxiety@reddit
I'm not a great coder or anything, but part of my job is finding technology solutions to problems, so I have a pretty solid understanding of what's possible and how to build things that work.
Skulls_of_Ink@reddit
I build VR and Gaming rigs as a hobby, did a few business setups for people.
Took computer information systems over 20 years ago and learned to code in Q Basic which feels pointless now.
Was never able to find a computer job during the onset of the internet era sadly....
viridiansoul@reddit
I can do all the basic stuff, but for everything else, that's what my husband is for. He's the computer guy in the house. I pay him in pizza.
statix138@reddit
I'm a senior systems engineer and Linux SME so I dable a bit.
SmokinHotNot@reddit
Worked for software houses for decades. Built, installed, and customized apps around the world.
MasterPhilip@reddit
My wife's a few years younger than me and she has a bit of an ego about her computer skills. But, I've had to fix her computers for her quite a few times.
Ramone5150@reddit
I’ve definitely gotten better the last 15 years or so. I’m pretty good at using your standard laptop with Windows. My wife bought a Mac a few years ago and she mainly uses that. I’m still learning how to use that one as I’m so use to Windows.
bcentsale@reddit
I work in IT as a sysadmin, so I'm really good at getting Google results.
papercranium@reddit
Honestly not very, mostly because my spouse (also xennial) is a techy person so I delegate most of that. I can handle the very basics, though.
BenignAtrocities@reddit
Literate, I’ve built computers but didn’t own one for years. I took programming in college (MIS major) and now I explain software for a living. Just recently used AI to help build a small SaaS tool front to back and trying to make a business out of it. I’m the nerd people come to or ask questions of when they don’t understand something.
Dickrubin14094@reddit
What are these computer classes you mentioned? Never had any in school. My knowledge came from trial and error, and trying to get something to work.
Hiryu-GodHand@reddit
Born in '82, and through my late teens to mid 30s I thoroughly enjoyed putting together my PCs. It was cheaper to order the parts and you could find discounts from different places and build something pretty good for cheap. It seemed like quite a few people I knew were doing it too.
Now that interest seems to have waned quite a bit, and I think a part of that is how the market has changed. You were saving hundreds of dollars putting the PCs together yourself, where now, it seems like tge discounts are applied as packed deals.
tokudama@reddit
I have maybe intermediate tech know-how. I had to help my parents all the time for about 20 years and my most recent roommate of the same age, and as a librarian patrons of all ages asked for help with anything and everything from iPhone password recovery to creating a google account to photoshopping or “creative” copier use (which I’d always decline, I wasn’t there to help cheat on assignments or commit fraud…). I’ve legit had to explain how to use a mouse to so many people of all ages that that was a good chunk of what caused me to burn out and quit the public library system.
I think we were in that sweet spot where home computers were kinda ubiquitous, interfaces weren’t intuitive, everything was kind of a process, and search engines were difficult to use and we were the right age to just learn as the tech progressed. Then for the past decade or so with smartphones and now with AI all over the place… digital literacy has been falling off and continues to plummet.
RevolutionaryBake362@reddit
All of my family is computer literate, they either helped or built their own pc.
ShootinTheBreez@reddit
It’s kind of amazing I can even type on Reddit.
TheSentientSnail@reddit
I'm forever fixing things for people. Not because I know how anything works these days, but because I have enough foundational knowledge to ask the right question in google, then scan for which answer (and solution) look most viable. That's it.
I'm also not afraid of tech the way a lot of folk seem to be. Terrified they're gonna 'break' something all the time. Fuck that. I came from the blow in your Nintendo cart and give the CRT a whack generation. A lot of tech troubleshooting is straight up brute force. Sometimes you need to do the 'fix' three times to work out the problem and get it to stick.
Cashewkaas@reddit
Compared to my friends im a complete noob but compared to a lot of my younger coworkers im a bona fide whizzkid.
Dimac99@reddit
My brother is 19 months younger and a software engineer whereas I mostly know enough to get by and do a bit of googling and/or find a YouTube vid so I don't have to bother him too much. I build my own PCs, have done for over 15 years, but I needed his help to get started. Still not got a clue about Excel though, I need to relearn it every time!
Fydron@reddit
I can build a computer from parts without instructions and make it fully without any knowledge what I'm doing.
Nobody ever taught me how to do that I only learned software stuff in school but the mechanical stuff is like instinct to me.
RoundTheBend6@reddit
I know all the twitters and facebooks
Docccc@reddit
Became software engineer. Become obsessed with modding games early on
ryguymcsly@reddit
Well I’ve worked at three of the top 5 tech companies as an engineer so I’m doing ok in the computer stuff.
NicholasVinen@reddit
My digital media is write-protected
Every file inspected, no viruses detected
I beta tested every operating system
Gave props to some, and others? I dissed 'em
While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin'
It does all my work without me even askin'
Got a flat-screen monitor forty inches wide
MsInput@reddit
I spent a decade teaching computers professionally, a decade fixing them, and a decade+ breaking them (as a software engineer 😆)
The only thing I don't understand now is how people are so willing to feed the T2 timeline that is clearly going to lead to Skynet.
ipsumdeiamoamasamat@reddit
I think I’ve become less so, not with just computers but with things in general, because I Google every time something goes wrong. I used to actually spend time playing with things and I learned much more about how they worked.
Significant-Cry-9204@reddit
I majored in Computer Science and had a job in it from 2013 until I got laid off in February
VVrayth@reddit
I'm very computer literate. I've been tinkering with PC hardware since like 1990, and I only recently (within the last \~6 years) stopped building my own PCs because I'm just sick of the process.
carryon4threedays@reddit
I did technology as a job, most recently advanced tech support for a big fruity computer company. I let that world during Covid and could not care less about tech anymore.
switheld@reddit
i know enough to google or youtube my issue. which is apparently one MILLION TIMES MORE than anyone else in my life knows how to do. I flunked out my computer programming class and absolutely hate a lot of things about computers, but get called to solve every issue
herzmaedchen@reddit
EU here, we didn't have computer classes, we had a programming class that wasn't mandatory. I was one of probably two girls.
my dad bought a pc early on, as soon as it was affordable to us. that's where I taught myself.
I now work in a software company in a very diverse role.
frooootloops@reddit
My kids are PC gamers and quite tech literate, and I am apparently “no slouch,” according to them. They still occasionally come to me with a problem if my husband isn’t around (it’s kinda “his” thing) and I’m generally able to help. Pretty proud of that.
tavikravenfrost@reddit
I'm excellent at using computers, and I can do basic fixes and maintenance. I do have a blindspot when it comes to some of the more technical stuff, but I'm more proficient than most people.
When I had a job where I occasionally had to go to the office in first year or two of the pandemic, I called our IT department with an issue that I was having, though I can't remember the details of the problem now. One of our IT guys, Bob, came over to my office and asked, "Do you know how to _____?" I can't remember what he asked, but I said, "Oh, yeah! I know how to do that." I popped open the right application and banged out the process real fast, and that fixed my issue immediately. Bob said, "OK, I didn't expect you to actually know how to do that. Maybe I should hire you to work for my department."
temporary_bob@reddit
Yeah plenty of us still work in IT or software so this will be a moot question (assuming we're still keeping up with AI).
withbellson@reddit
At this point, after a long career in usability and consumer insights in tech, my main problem is getting mad at all of the hardware and apps and services that transparently don’t have robust UX teams. There’s been a backslide in companies staffing this function and people are just putting up with it. Feh.
wrathofthewhatever2@reddit
I’m awesome now that I can ask AI everytime I have a problem
Kinetic_Silverwolf@reddit
I went into IT, starting at 16. The family shop I worked for went out of business a few months after Gateway Country opened down the road.
I talk my kids through the troubleshooting process of anything we're working on, analog or digital, so they understand the process of "figuring out this thing I've never seen before".
S0bchak@reddit
Stuck in the middle of usually being the resident "computer guy". Tech service for boomer who struggle with all texh and gen z who only know mobile operating systems.
PapaTua@reddit
I'm literally tech support for everyone I know.
I can fix your printer or your VoIP telephone adapter and your phone screen.
arcenciel82@reddit
Well I used to be super literate compared to all the boomers I worked with, but now I frequently tell people how much I hate websites so…
4luminate@reddit
I know enough to fuck shit up real bad on purpose. But can’t fix it. It’s a weird position because I get called upon a lot, yet building a machine is voodoo magic to me.
Lived with ECE and CS majors in college…
Office suite - 100% self-taught. Fairly proficient.
pixienightingale@reddit
It depends on the issue, honestly - I run through all the articles in forums and on Reddit and such first with a problem, THEN call or chat with support.
There is a reason I get to pick my husband's tech now, though.
sonny894@reddit
I started building PCs and Linux servers and home networks in college and never stopped. I have a home lab and network that's overkill for a family but it's fun for me. I like automating things and using AI. I used to be the person everyone comes to to fix things, but honestly, things rarely break anymore.
The most frustrating thing to me are iPads - Apple makes everything more difficult by trying to lock down and hide things.
TheVenetianMask@reddit
I can read regexp.
bjgrem01@reddit
I'm in IT. I work at an MSP supporting multiple corporate clients. I'm in a support role but I also write software.
RedneckThinker@reddit
Compared to my older AND my younger coworkers, I'm nearly god-like! Imagine being able to navigate FileExplorer... with akeyboard... in DOS!
Scherzkeks@reddit
I can do ms office stuff, the google equivalent and soooooorta Inkscape. I hate investing unlearning new programs bc there’s always a risk no one else does or worse—they become monthly subscription services. I refuse to rent every damn thing in my life!
ken830@reddit
I have BS and MS computer engineering degrees. I've been writing as a hardware design engineer for the last 26 years. I've been working in the AI industry for the last 5 years.
I think our generation as a whole would be the MOST computer literature because we grew up with it (the 8086 was introduced in 1978) yet the tech was still primitive enough in the beginning that we had to understand how they worked to be able to use them. This is unlike younger generations that grew up with modern GUI-based OSes and touch screens with everything abstracted away.
seamonkey420@reddit
extremely... i'd say upper echelons. run my own homelabs, share my media server and collection w/pals, can still install any operating system on nearly any hardware (if there's drivers), can build a custom windows deployment..
i was a paid geek for the longest, sysadmin, mobile device admin, etc.
and i have zero fear of being replaced by the younger kids.. our knowledge (the ones of us who paid attention, went into the field) is beyond the scope of most of gen alpha, z. we built this world
userannon720@reddit
Pre 2000 i was a demi-god on a computer. Now I wear a hockey helmet and scream ' Hey you guys!!" When I touch one.
DisasterDebbie@reddit
I work for a niche software company. Account Manager not programming but I can read our logs enough to troubleshoot a lot of weird stuff for customers. I also do all our customer and new hire training on the software along with alpha testing to find any possible ways a customer could break something.
Sad-Introduction-783@reddit
Self taught. Some days I wish I had a better "teacher."
gotkube@reddit
I’m currently coding a project that’s essentially my life’s work
SlackerDS5@reddit
I’m using computers and different systems every day. Once I got my hand on a computer as a kid, I never stopped learning, short or some white hat stuff. And I don’t shy away from ai at all.
marmot1101@reddit
I made a career out of those. HyperCard in 7th, 8th grade gave me a big advantage. Especially when Mr Gross said “It’s like this new thing that’s coming.” When I started doing html web stuff in 2001 I was like “Oh this is what he was talking about”. Add in some community college classes and a career was made.
EpistemeUM@reddit
Used to be in IT. Repair for awhile, building some. I'm borderline, Xers seem old to me but a couple of Xers actually got me into it and taught me a lot.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
I unfortunately didn't really grow up taking computer classes. We had some mess around time on computers from the 70s while I was in grade school, and then one 9 week class in Jr High. That was it. Beyond that, I was all self taught in computer labs in college before I later bought my own at age 20. I think that this is one of those areas where there's a big gap between elder Xenials like myself and the younger end. I also grew up in a poor area.
pi_guy@reddit
I am forever the tech support guy. I used to do help desk support but for the last 20 years I’ve been in wireless telecom so constantly trying to keep up on the pace of that technology is pretty insane.
kirabug37@reddit
I’m a web designer by trade with a master’s in software engineering and years of experience advocating for web accessibility.
I’m the person friends send pictures of horrible websites to so they can hear how creative my cursing gets.
NSA_Chatbot@reddit
I am the final boss of the internet.
just_cows@reddit
Literate enough to google the problem if I get stuck
burnitdwn@reddit
I've been building PCs since 96 when I got a job and built my first system. It was a piece of junk low end cyrix, built from cheap parts from computer shows.
I can more or less read any code, though I'm best with c.
I don't mess with windows any more, have 100 percent of my machines running Linux. I fell in love with Linux in 1998 and have always had at least 1 dedicated Linux box over the decades.
I'm very literate when it comes to server, but not great with anything that uses a touchscreen.
DarksunDaFirst@reddit
I knew more about computers than whatever they taught in computer classes. I grew up around them. My father, and his two brothers, made their careers around them (one software - worked for iD in the early 90’w, one hardware - independent contractor, did some side stuff with the FBI, one network development that did a bit of both). Had computers in the house since the early 80’s.
I’m not even tech savvy but I can pretty much figure out most problems where I work, which is nice for them since their IT department is only the other side of the ocean.
Tygria@reddit
I’d say on a scale of 1-10 (10 being best) I’m probably a 6+. I can sometimes help people fix their lower tier tech problems but I’m married to a computer genius so he’s who I escalate to when it’s beyond me. Honestly, having him as a safety net is probably why I’m not higher (I probably would have given myself a 7+, ~15 years ago). I don’t have to be as good anymore since I always have him as backup.
PopcornSurgeon@reddit
I’m pretty good but I try to hide it because I don’t want people asking me to solve their problems.
missed_sla@reddit
I am a system administrator with a focus on cyber security, so I hope I'm fairly literate
_____AMOK_____@reddit
I use my index fingers on a keyboard 🤷🏻♂️
CunnyMaggots@reddit
I hunt and peck at about 35 wpm... lol.
_____AMOK_____@reddit
Mr Big WPM ova hea
BritOnTheRocks@reddit
as well you should, they start on the keys with the bumps on them.
throwawayhbgtop81@reddit
I can take mine apart and put it back together, install an OS, and slowly but surely learning actual coding.
It won't be enough to be able to fix all the vibe coded slop that will need to be fixed in a few years though.
Miami_Mice2087@reddit
i don't understand the question. it's my computer, i bought it, i decided on all the components, i will fix it if it breaks. no one helps me with my computer.
rainy-brain@reddit
I can build one, install operating systems or hardware or software, fix a lot of problems, maintain file systems, I know lots of software. I don't have any highly advanced/specialized tech skills, though. I am also the cutoff for Xennial, 1984. haha
CunnyMaggots@reddit
I can replace hardware, do light troubleshooting on my own, install windows or other operating systems, add or remove applications and can install them where i want- not just to the C drive, can do pretty much whatever needs doing because i know how to use Google... lol. I know how torrenting and newsgroup access works, and i know my way around several of the OS options for an rpi.
I did not take any computer classes because in 3rd or 4th grade was the only time they were offered and the school told us to bring a floppy disk to store our stuff on. My dad sent me in with a 5" and they wanted a 3" so I was permanently banned from the computer lab and had to sit on the floor in the hallway all year for supposedly trying to start trouble.
The reality is my dad didn't know that newer smaller floppies existed. It was an honest mistake.
I'm everyone's go-to for tech help and I find myself lying because I can buy don't want to deal with it... lol.
Phy_Scootman@reddit
Pretty damn literate, I'd say. I recall my 8th grade typing "teacher" that nobody liked and was for all intents and purposes a glorified babysitter. I eventually got a bit fed up with the guy's endless snark and decided to offer him a 3.5" diskette with a copy of "the hottest game" that I'd acquired. Running said game would trigger a virus of some sort, so yeah, brilliant on my part.
He accepted the disk and told me he'd check it out over the weekend and let me know how he felt about the game. Monday morning finally rolls around and I'm sitting there trying to mentally prep myself for him to lose his shit, assuming that the virus had likely crashed his PC and perhaps even infected a Gibson ;)
Thankfully, the only words I ever heard about it were "nice try" paired with a moderate stank face, as he'd run a virus scan on it first thing and immediately trashed it. I also heard through the grapevine that I wasn't the first to try something of the sort, so he'd come to expect such, understanding that most of not all his students thought he was a major douche (which I believe he secretly reveled in).
So yeah, 733t h4X0r and shit, obviously.
Skipper0463@reddit
Barely. My teenage son has to fix all my tech issues. But that’s mainly because I’m a total knucklehead with technology.
Crabcakefrosti@reddit
Windows paint. Microsoft golf. Gmail account
silentknight111@reddit
I never took computer classes. My school didn't have them.
However, I was always fascinated with them so as soon as I could afford one I bought it and learned everything I could.
Today I'm a developer, and everyone in my family comes to me for tech help. (Or comes to my wife, who then comes to me, in some cases - like the in-laws)
j_dick@reddit
I’m a self taught engineer. That’s how it worked out for me. I can make a computer or (most)websites do what ever I want for the most part. Growing up with all the new tech and computers and consoles was fun and I loved tinkering, obviously. I started with an old Tandy computer from RadioShack that my dad brought home from the office at the construction company he worked for when they upgraded. It was very outdated but fun. Only games were Pirates and F-14 Strike Eagle on the old 5.25 floppy disks!
geekdadchris@reddit
I spent most of my career in IT and computer helpdesk jobs. But I left that career a few years ago and now everything is AI agents and I just don’t know what I’m doing with new tech anymore.
RedSolez@reddit
I was smart enough to marry a software engineer.
chadwickipedia@reddit
CS major, been in tech over 15 years. I know enough to know Claude will fill in any gaps
MagnumPIsMoustache@reddit
Software engineer
degeneratesumbitch@reddit
Absolute whale shit. I don't know a fucking thing about computers.
nipslippinjizzsippin@reddit
i work in IT with a computer degree, so i think im pretty computer literate.
Munchkins_nDragons@reddit
Compared to the majority of my coworkers - both older and younger than myself - I’m basically a computer genius. I personally feel like have pretty average computer knowledge. My superpower though is my ability and wherewithal to troubleshoot when things don’t work.
RusticGroundSloth@reddit
My school computer class was just typing. My dad had several home computers in the ‘80s. First computer I used was an Apple ][e with a couple games on it. The original Mario Bros (not super Mario), moon buggy and something that I think was called penny arcade.
Early ‘90s when I was 10 I got my own PC for Christmas. Couple years later I could write autoexec.bat and config.sys from scratch from memory. Fast forward a bit more and I was working at a local computer shop doing repairs and custom PC builds.
In college I was the main student tech for the campus WiFi for a couple years (like 2005-2008ish). Worked as a SysAdmin for 9 years, now I’m a product manager dealing with cloud infrastructure for a huge multinational company. At this point I’m pretty specialized in networking and I work directly with companies you’ve definitely heard of helping them figure out how to configure their firewalls to use our software.
Soooooo…I’m more computer literate than most people. But I would also never claim to be a network engineer or anything. I know enough detail about a broad range of computer technology to wrangle the engineers and the customers without my eyes glazing over when they start talking about IP addresses, ports, TLS (transport layer security), etc. I also know my limits and when to bring in the experts.
_buffy_summers@reddit
I was a computer major about twenty years ago, though I never got a degree. Today, one of my sisters was having trouble with using the internet on her phone, and one of my other sisters told her to clear her cache. I hadn't even thought of that. I feel dumb.
arcxjo@reddit
Enough that when I fix people at work's spreadsheets with three keystrokes just so I don't have to listen to them grunting like a monkey doing trigonometry all day, they get promoted and not me.
Fuck you, Clint. This wasn't hypothetical.
Torkin@reddit
Very. I’ve built my own computers several times. Can comfortably go into the bios or registry. I have a local development environment on my work computer and regularly submit issues and PRs.
I am the product manager and product expert at a small SAAS company, so I need to be.
tiny_purple_Alfador@reddit
If it's a software problem, I can probably muddle through enough to fix it, if it's a hardware problem then I'm screwed.
Texas_Kimchi@reddit
I'm in IT. I'm stuck with this crap.
BallsDieppe@reddit
I ditched Windows after buying a laptop with Vista. I’ve been using Macs ever since and though I know what I need to do to accomplish tasks on a modern Windows machine, I don’t know where anything is anymore and I look like a fucking idiot.
I can, however, do keystroke magic on a Mac.
When it comes to phones and such, I just don’t care enough about most things to figure it out if it takes more than a minute.
Mikrobious@reddit
6th grade keyboarding class has never let me down. I’m one of the few people on my team who can type over 60wpm.
bloomsday289@reddit
I make computer
Budgiejen@reddit
I’m really good at transposing music on my computer. I used to have more skills but I don’t really now.
ScreenTricky4257@reddit
I work in tech. I am a wizard who lives in a tower and people come to me for answers, and I charge them a price they are often unwilling to pay.
ValancyNeverReadsit@reddit
I just resigned (I’m in neurodivergent burnout and have been for more than a year) from my job as communications director at a church. My tasks were to make and print worship bulletins, run the social media accounts, run the website, and other tasks as needed (it turned out the physical bulletin boards were also in my purview but I hadn’t had advance warning of that)
But also because I’m very computer literate I made myself the de facto IT person so that the IT person they were working with who was trying to retire could actually retire * I redesigned the entire website in 2020 when the PHP version the old site was using stopped being supported by WordPress (it was really old… for those of you who know that stuff I think it wad PHP v5.2), picked out & purchased a WP theme, managed existing plugins and installed more as needed, created a 404 page, that sort of thing * Because the church has its own domain, I learned how to set SPF, DKIM, and DMARC when that was required. I’m not entirely sure to this day that I set it up correctly, but based on everything I read I think it was correct * When our VoIP phones got hacked and AT&T allowed our hackers to rack up a bill of $10,000 that AT&T reps could not or would not remove from our account, I (with permission) canceled our AT&T fiber account & switched us to cellular internet and cell phones so we didn’t have to buy new VoIP phones. It’s cheaper and we haven’t had any issues, plus we now have just 2 phones instead of like 8 VoIP ones * Related to the last issue I also got all those charges backed out by contacting the Better Business Bureau with loads of documentation. To avoid bad press on the BBB website, AT&T made the charges just disappear like they had never existed *I’ve done a good deal of copy machine troubleshooting
I’ve also built my own PC before, back in 2013. My current one isn’t a home build because I didn’t want to expend the energy on researching parts, etc. Unfortunately that backfired on me a bit because the physical hardware for some reason can’t handle Windows 11 and I didn’t know that in 2021 when I bought the PC
There are plenty of things I don’t know about computers, but I do know a lot
new_publius@reddit
I never took computer classes. You just make do with what you have. That said, I'm generally computer literate.
tc_cad@reddit
Very much so. Enough to be dangerous. I opted out of my company’s IT services. My VP agrees that I know enough to not need the services and not be a threat to the company. IT provider has fucked up so many times. If they would just listen to me. And I’m not IT at all, I just know how to fix things as I’ve broken many things.
ailish@reddit
I think more than average people our age, but nowhere near as much as my souse who was a computer science major.
ailish@reddit
I think more than average people our age, but nowhere near as much as my souse who was a computer science major.
Alwayshigh001@reddit
I build my own pc after watching youtube so I think it am okayish
CSWorldChamp@reddit
Very. And I often wonder if we will be the last (only...?) computer literate generation. We watched it grow up. Even we laymen, we saw it progress from the C64 through DOS, windows 3.1, and everything beyond. Even those of us who don’t really understand it have seen what’s going on under the hood. It’s not mystical. It’s a glorified calculator. It is a finite thing; merely a complex tangle of IF/THEN logic gates.
That’s still what it is, but kids these days are first encountering computers in the “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” phase. The actual operation of the thing is buried under layer upon layer of UI. To the uninitiated, it might actually seem like magic. Not finite, but infinite. Or like there’s a personality under there. Or a soul.
I worry that without those decades of watching it in its infancy, they won’t know how t manage it.
Or let me put it this way: If someone ever hands world’s car keys to some singularity-minded AI, I don’t think it will be a xennial.
KitchenNazi@reddit
Very. Younger generations know how to use an app but don't know how it actually works or any of the underlying tech. Building a computer used to more difficult back in the 90s with IRQs / DMA / IO settings and parts that weren't compatible and no google. Building a computer in the last 15+ years is easier than Ikea furniture and it's absolutely not a flex.
Fragrant_Culture_649@reddit
I'm really good with cell phones... Everyone confuses that with knowing a lot about computers... They are not the same! lol
I know enough to get by, minimal Excel sheet stuff, and copy and paste power point. Beyond that, not so much
gimmeslack12@reddit
kittenpantzen@reddit
I can build a PC from parts and get it up and running. I can troubleshoot and repair most system issues that a home user is likely to encounter. I am not good at diagnostics that involve parts inside the machine unless there is a handy error code that just tells me what the problem is.
Konnorwolf@reddit
I basically learned computers and typing on my own. I recall something extremely basic at school in the early 90's.
I learned troubleshooting, repair, building computers etc... I was always the tech IT person in the family. Can't know everything of course and Reddit comes in handy, I have to re-flash a phone OS so I had to double check how that's done. Worked perfectly.
I may be a little rusty as things don't need repair the same as they used to.
Underfyre@reddit
I'm the guy that put your computer together for you and fixes it when you break it.
CubicleHermit@reddit
I make a living at it, having had both Software Engineer and Engineering Manager titles in the past few years, and it remains my main hobby.
Fortunately, I live far enough away from family, and my friends and coworkers are all other techies, so other than the occasional advice about what to buy, I don't do informal tech support anymore.
staring_at_keyboard@reddit
I suppose having a PhD in computer science makes me computer literate in the most literal sense of the word.
analogthought@reddit
It’s only been in recent years that I’ve fallen off a little with my know how. I’m sinking into my “this is good enough” phase rather than being an early adopter like I used to be more inclined to be. Saying this as I type on my iPhone running a beta OS🤷♂️
Asleep_Onion@reddit
When I was a kid, all of the most successful people I knew were computer people. So I was certain that's what I wanted to do for a living, too, especially since I also loved computer. I spent countless hours every day learning all I could, reading programming books, writing code, learning new software, etc, all throughout high school.
Then 2 months into my computer science coursework in college, I was like "fuck this. It's not fun when you're just doing things people tell you to do, I don't want to do this for a living."
So I went into engineering instead, and I think I made the right call. I get given a task that needs to be accomplished, and then set loose to figure it out myself and do it the way I want to do it. It's great. But certainly the computer knowledge I learned in yesteryear has come in pretty handy, but I'm one of the better people I know at using computers so I still have to play tech support way more often than I'd like.
enstillhet@reddit
Pretty computer literate. I started learning coding languages in the 90s in middle school. Have built my own computers. I am the person people ask about things, generally. I do not work in tech. I just know it.
NemeshisuEM@reddit
I spent the morning replacing the motherboard on my pc. Come to find out the problem is my psu. I'm currently havimg a smoke and scrollimg reddit before I go back in to swap it out and tacle the wirimg nigjtmare that goes along with it.
StillhasaWiiU@reddit
I modify and repair game consoles as a hobby. Also worked in IT for 6 years back when the Y2K scare was a think.
SunshineInDetroit@reddit
too. much.
SweetCosmicPope@reddit
Well I’m an IT professional, so I hope I’m pretty literate.
NoLimitHonky@reddit
I started working on a Tandy at 8 years old. I built my first PC, and not from a kit, at age 12.
I taught myself to type and use the numpad before I even got into junior high so I knew more than my teachers by the time I had computer classes in 6th grade which caused issues lol. All these decades later I still do a lot of my own IT work for my business.
-threefeetoffun@reddit
I work in network security and have built my last 3 computers. I’m ok.
symonym7@reddit
I provoked one of my teachers into losing his shit on me via my talking shit about the Macs he’d set up for a “music technology” class in high school. The OS didn’t make sense to my windows 95 brain and I was an asshole.
Naturally, I now have a Mac Studio, MacBook Air, iPhone, iWatch..
..however at work I’m a PC, and as the only one there in the Xennial demo am a tech sorcerer to anyone +/- 10yrs.
eejjkk@reddit
I'm a Senior Cloud Infrastructure Administrator.
Weekly_Library9883@reddit
The 23 year old at my office showed me how to have Word and an internet tab showing on the screen at the same time.
But damn it if I’m not the first person to Google the funniest cat videos.
CornishShaman@reddit
20 years ago i was very knowledgeable and was even building my own PCs. Now im not bad.
If i do ever get stuck i google how to do it and that normally tells me how to sort it out. Funny thing is my work bestie is 26 and she never thinks to google how to do stuff and is always asking me.
Responsible_Park3317@reddit
I can build PCs, troubleshoot, and show my entire floor at the office how to made their programs work efficiently. But I'm not knowledgeable enough to make (more) money at it, according to management. 😒
q120@reddit
Very literate. I have an IT career spanning 20 years and have done desktop support, systems administration, software development, and data center work. Just got a job at another data center that comes with a 30% raise. I owe a ton to being IT savvy.
1101base2@reddit
i was the family IT guy in the 90s and early 00s and when i wanted a career change i got into IT and got a few degrees in it. so i would say moderately computer literate...
481126@reddit
My husband is the computer guy and he's very much Gen X. The younger people in the family come to him.
Fianna9@reddit
I can manage the basic stuff, and use an iPhone and iPad for things like photo editing.
But in a new position at work I was trying to make myself a form I could fill out. I could NOT manage to make multiple charts.
Cue to me literally cutting and pasting things together and then photocopying the final result
Competitive-Teach675@reddit
I do IT for a living, and I even have a vintage computer collection, from IBM 5150s, IBM 5160s, IBM 5170s, etc.
I'm really into computers. I was on IRC in the early 90s and did BBS stuff before that.
NighthawkCP@reddit
I grew up in a very tech heavy family so I've had a desktop PC in my life since I was like 5 and dad bought a Tandy 1000. I grew up adding components to our family computers and built my first PC in college. Now I've been working in IT for like two decades and manage a team of techs at this point. I've built every computer I've owned in the last thirty years and built desktop computers with my kids to teach them how to do it as well. They are quite tech proficient themselves and took some computer classes in school, plus we work and troubleshoot on their computers when issues arise. I'm still pretty tech savvy as it relates to new technology as well and not really afraid of tech at all. Still need to learn more about AI but I use it a bit at work.
ScorpioPhantasma@reddit
I know just enough to undo whatever I broke trying fix something else and to understand IT professionals while sounding like an idiot while talking to them.
Chunklob@reddit
I can flash a mb's BIOS
Moxie_Stardust@reddit
I just wrapped up a project to dual boot Linux Mint on my decade old gaming laptop so my partner's kid could run Minecraft with fancy shaders enabled. It was trickier than expected because I had to shuffle around partitions and add an EFI partition for Mint to boot. I host our multiplayer server on my current laptop (but I'm planning to offload it to a NUC in the near future).
So pretty literate, probably.
blackhawksq@reddit
Use my a+ cert to pay my way through college. Got a degree in CS. Have been a software developer since. Now i get to watch AI destroy my job. Hopefully will have enough to retire by the time it gets me.
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
I’ve worked in it for 20 years. So a bit.
imalasagnahogama@reddit
I’m the “excel guy” never become the “excel guy” it’s hell.
Working5daysaWeek@reddit
I'm unofficial IT for my office. Way more techy than my spouse, definitely more than most people.
Inspi@reddit
20+ years in IT, I'd say I'm pretty good lol
jaybomb40@reddit
I was the tech for everyone, fixed computers, cell phones. I don’t miss that shit at all
mtron32@reddit
I’m on my sixth self built PC right now that I built in 2018, the only thing carried over from the previous was two SSDs and the case.
16Shells@reddit
unfortunately it’s my career. i can build a PC from scratch, troubleshoot basically anything, i can deep dive into most programs and learn what i don’t understand fairly quickly, i’ve dabbled a bit with various programming languages to get a rudimentary understanding, im quite adept at SQL for examining, processing and recovering data, general QA abilities, working with developers to locate and fix bugs/translate dev speak to normie speak, i have a degree in CGI animation that i never ended up using etc etc etc
i fucking hate computers. every day i think about becoming a carpenter or something where i never have to touch a computer in. professional environment again
BeefSupremeeeeee@reddit
Very, I get paid well for it. Though I wish I could do something other than tech for a living.....
buckut@reddit
i knew my way around a pc pretty well. in 2001ish i upgraded the turd ass pc i had as much as i could. then i built my own gaming pc in 2003. i had a pretty decent laptop when i was in the army and college after. it mostly died in like 2011ish and i havent owned one since.
i used to use one for work and i was good at usng excel n the companies inventory and quality programs, i was in quality. i was in that position from 2016 to 2020-21, i still use one but its basic shit to clock off my work.
from 1999-2006 i was heavy into Everquest and i figured the best way to not play again was to not own pc. i still wanna play, so clearly im not over it lol.
mr_chill77@reddit
I don’t know how to code, but I like to think I’m pretty advanced. I’m a corporate trainer, and I teach my company’s other employees how to use Microsoft Office, Salesforce, and a bunch of other systems that we have, including some legacy systems from the 70’s where it’s a green screen and you can’t use a mouse because those didn’t exist back then. I”m actually going to be teaching our cashiering system called EICS this week which is super old, but I gotta say, the damn thing works. It never goes down, and it seems like everything always works the way it should. It can’t do much, but what it does do, it does really well.
DethByCow@reddit
I have to help my boomer parents and my GenX brothers with tech.
ACorania@reddit
I didn't have computer classes, but my mom worked IT (started on main frames), so I was learning to program in grade school. Building PCs in high school. Now I design AI/ML solutions for various federal agencies.
So, as is logical, my schooling was all biology and chemistry
M_Me_Meteo@reddit
Software dev, but I started later in life.
I feel like my skills and desire are keeping up with the times which has me at odds with most people my own age and older and more comfortable caucusing with younger people when talking about the future of technology and how excited I am for it. I'm not a PhD researcher or anything, but I felt well placed to be able to learn about how these new-fangled tools work and what that really means for my career as a software developer.
A lot of folks younger than me seem to be afraid that this shift, being the first major tech shift they've seen in their lives, is more consequential or meaningful than the last several thousand shifts that has caused the world of technology to *completely upend itself* (not my words). Those of us who remember how crazy our parents seemed when they told us to limit our online hours or not use it for research papers see this as just the next thing that makes the normies nervous and the nerds excited.
I'm just afraid that the people who wrote the small amount of good code these LLMs are being trained on are actually well paid for their work in the end. People make a big damn deal over LLMs being trained on Reddit and social media, but the good shit that's actually used to train the more impressive models is the creme-de-la-creme of coding and most of us aren't even close to that level.
anOvenofWitches@reddit
Taking computer classes growing up gave me 63 WPM typing speed.
Unfortunately that’s about it 😬
Riala4@reddit
Husband is the hardware guy, and I'm the software gal. At work, my teammates come to me for little fixes before bugging the IT guy...
KingCarnivore@reddit
I was an IT manager up until 10 years ago. I’m in art school now and have to help my older teachers and my younger classmates with tech stuff.
CalmTheAngryVoice@reddit
I definitely did not grow up taking computer classes, but I did get to use a computer occasionally. When I got to college, I got my own computer for the first time. Four years later, I built my first computer with a friend's help. Two years after that, I built a computer for my girlfriend. At this point, if I didn't hate working in IT, I could be a sysadmin.
Aronacus@reddit
Systems Engineer by trade.
For the better part of 2 decades friends and family bring their tech issues. But that's not the worst.
This is the worst.
Random acquaintance pings me out of the blue with a business proposition. It's the next big thing [it never is] they want to offer 20%of the profits. But, I need to design, engineer, and maintain this 'Next Big Thing!' It's always something that's going to take 100,000 hours to build. Using an entire data center of kit. But, don't worry. After I cover it all. I'll get 20% of the profits.
Character_Bend_5824@reddit
I know IP address reservations and vaguely the difference between Cat5, 5e, and 6. Beyond that, not really. I'm decidedly an end user.
UnderH20giraffe@reddit
A lot more than anyone younger than me I’ll tell you that
Serious_Lettuce6716@reddit
Hardly at all, as a blue collar worker since high school, after which I went 5+ years without even having a computer. Just the other day I was trying to make a log sheet on Google Docs and I could not figure out how to add the lines and columns. I broke down and asked my boss to do it for me. I have reverted to “iPad baby” status myself. But I can type! There are way too many meaningless symbols in task bars and drop down menus these days. What ever happened to words??
ONE1-ZERO@reddit
Easy. Learn how you learn and apply the skills. You called your brother because it was easier than learning and digesting the information.
ForceGhost47@reddit
We are the master of desktop computers
CalgaryChris77@reddit
I never went to school with a mandatory computer class there are definitely people my age who are 100% computer illiterate. On the other hand I’m in IT with a degree and 25 years experience so I can proudly say I’m also computer illiterate.
KMFDM__SUCKS@reddit
Very. Very.
BloodyPaleMoonlight@reddit
I have a friend from college in IT.
Whenever there’s a problem I don’t know how to fix, I’ll call him.
But what he usually does is just googles the problem, and tells me what to do from that.
I’ve wised up, and now I just google any problems myself. Any problems beyond that, and that’s when I call him.
PrncessVespa@reddit
Literally work in IT...I can fix or build nearly anything I'd need for home use.
Deep-Interest9947@reddit
I took typing in 8th grade until I was kicked out and no computer classes in high school. I don’t even think we had a computer lap. I did always have computers at home.
I was okay through my 20s and early 30s. I don’t consider myself knowledge anymore.
flipzyshitzy@reddit
If it's a Windows. I can fix it and this isn't a brag.
superhex12345@reddit
At one point I was building PCs from parts. It's been years since I've actually done it, but I'm pretty sure I could figure it out again. My kids don't even know what the home keys are.
desertdweller2011@reddit
dude i used to be so good at computers. my work laptop broke and i had to send back to IT (i work remotely) and the loaner they gave me was a PC. i haven’t used a PC since college and i could BARELY FUNCTION
SteelGemini@reddit
I've always been exactly as computer literate as I need to be to do the things I want to do with computers.
If I know a thing is possible, and I'm motivated to do it for some reason, I can figure it out, but I'm not blazing any trails or treading new ground. I go online and figure out what people are doing and how to do it. It's not rare for me to encounter an issue I can't be bothered to deal with, but it's rare to feel like I couldn't figure it out if I wanted to.
CaterpillarIcy1056@reddit
I do a lot but if everything. I’m coding, vibe coding, being the resident tech expert for the school district I work in.
jasonhn@reddit
I used to build towers, build websites. I still run my own internet business. The internet in the late 90's was easy money. I just wish I was more focused but regardless I did well. I also was the computer fix it guy for my family.
aroundincircles@reddit
I’m a virtual infrastructure engineer. I forgot more than most people know, and I hate it. Everyone comes to me for help, and I always have to remind myself of stuff I haven’t dealt with in years.
HalfFrozenSpeedos@reddit
I'm the tech one in my family, the older of my 2 younger brothers treats anything tech related as being akin to "white goods".
The younger one games and can put a pc together but beyond that he trusts Amazon reviews and buys stuff that my electrical safety side cringes at, he bought a power strip that I know to be dangerous but he wouldn't let me buy him a replacement from a trusted brand, nor would he let me show him why it was dangerous. Amazon reviews were fantastic and it turns on so all is hunky dory in his world....while he has about 2 grand worth of electronics hooked up to it.....