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Nothing like poverty to teach you how to do things yourself.
I grew up poor. We're didn't suffer or starve, mom and dad just never had any extra to give us kids anything like fancy toys or games or anything. I remember being completely bored out of my mind in the house and wanting a snack. The best thing we could come up with was toast and butter ... but sometimes we didn't even have butter so we opted for lard instead ... and sometimes we didn't even have bread! (but we didn't opt for eating pure lard)
What that meant was that I spent all my life learning how to do things myself and on my own. I learned carpentry, plumbing, electrical, mechanics, welding, metal working, landscaping, operating machinery, small engine mechanics, boat building / repairing, hunting, trapping, camping, survival ... mostly because we lived away from the city and we are Indigenous ... we never had anything or anyone help us so we had to learn to do things on our own. I remember being on many snowmobile trips into the wilderness and breaking down ... dad would just spend hours or even a night or two camping, tearing apart an engine, fixing a problem, putting it all back together and going on our way again. Same thing in the summer with an outboard. It all just built confidence for me and my brothers and sisters to never be stuck in any situation. We just learned to do what we could, work at it and figure it out. Sometimes we might not do a great job because we didn't know what we were doing and other times we were geniuses because we had messed up so many times before that we finally figured out how to do it right.
Once you build the skill and confidence, you can do just about anything in any situation ... then the world doesn't feel so intimidating any more. It's a skill and you have to learn to do it. And the only way to do it is to just go out and get started with it.
This is exactly how I got good at maintaining/using computers! I had this old Dell Optiplex gxb with just a Pentium 2 or 3 and 4gb of memory. We lived out in the country and this computer was my only real connection to the rest of the world, so I had to make damn sure not to break it! In fact, I had to fix it several times! I can't tell you how nervous I got putting the mobo in the oven, but it worked! HDD in the freezer? Welp, it worked! I wondered if I might have to put the mouse in a toaster at that point.
Anywho, I think it's the mentality that gets us more than the reality of the conditions. When you gotta be careful, you're gonna be.
That's hilarious because I was the same. I was never able to afford the latest computers, laptops or electronics.... so I spent a lot of time maxing out every device, learning to download software, massive (10 MB) updates on a dialup connection, learning to use cracked software, then graduating to Linux and open source software .... I've tried the freezing hard drives to rescue them but never tried baking my mainboard!
Yeah, the baking is specifically to fix cold solders without needing to see them or have a soldering iron or whatever. If you look up wave soldering on YouTube, you'll see that PCB can stand up to ridiculous temps!
Sometimes we might not do a great job because we didn’t know what we were doing and other times we were geniuses because we had messed up so many times before that we finally figured out how to do it right.
As I grow older, I find this is how you become an 'expert'. You start not knowing how to do it, then you figure out all the wrong ways to do it by doing it wrong. Eventually, when you have messed it up in more ways than anyone else you know which paths not to take and you are then the expert.
I learned carpentry, plumbing, electrical, mechanics, welding, metal working, landscaping, operating machinery, small engine mechanics, boat building / repairing, hunting, trapping, camping, survival
What a skill set! I'm impressed.
It doesn't mean I'm the best or a professional or make the best work ... I am just capable and comfortable in doing these things.
It's amazing what you can learn when you are forced to.
Also ... if anyone wants to argue intelligence ... dad didn't like speaking English, he knew how but just never liked it and preferred our Native language (his English was actually terrible) yet he was able to build several small businesses and equipment companies with city people ... and I have several cousins with a grade school education and are the same way with the English language yet can tear down and rebuild entire vehicles. I also grew up watching old trappers and hunters that didn't speak the English language at all but they played chess like grand masters.
What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter what you know or learned in school or how much education you have ... all you need is a bit of motivation and confidence and most people everywhere no matter their circumstance are capable of doing many, many things.
Don't sell yourself short. That's an impressive, useful skill set. Not everyone could acquire the same skills you have just by watching. And not everyone can muster the motivation and confidence to even attempt new things. And then there is the aspect that you chose to take advantage of the expertise around you. On the other end of the spectrum, you could have ended up like me with a completely shit character build where I dumped most of my stat points into being a nerd long before I knew how the game was played. Being a walking wikipedia and chatgpt-level bullshitter is quickly being obsoleted. But it will be decades before we have robots that will fix your shitter.