How to 'learn the trade' for a career in computer hardware?

M

myles161

New member
Hi
I'm 16 at the moment and am heavily considering a career in computer hardware, whether that will be engineering, repairs, journalism etc. I am not yet sure, but I was wondering how I can get a better understanding of computer hardware and how it works. I already have knowledge of how computers work and their different components but it is fairly basic e.g. I could repair or build a PC while following a tutorial, I understand the significance of each component of a computer and I know the basics of overclocking etc. but I don't know the more in-depth stuff like what the difference between various PCI ports, what the difference between sandy bridge and ivy bridge is and why more gigahertz is better etc. I'm not asking for answers to these questions, but I was wondering where I should go to gain more knowledge. Should I take a college course/try and get on to a university course, should I gain my experience through going straight into work or should I scour the internet? I have a work experience replacement at a repairs shop in the summer so i'm hoping that will give me some more experience. Overall, I'm just after some advice from anyone that is in the field themselves, and how they got into it.

Thanks

Myles
 
Experience is probably the main thing.
You can't really just learn from one post of here, telling you to read up on stuff or anything.
I think you learn best through actually being part of it on forums like this. Stick around here for a month or so, give your own advice, listen to responses and other people's replies and you'd be surprised how fast you'll pick things up.

There are so many more things than the small things you've mentioned, and tbh - working in a PC repair shop I doubt you'll learn too much :p
Most of the people there know how to put together a computer, install anti-virus software, and then search google if anti-virus software doesn't fix the problem. You'll learn far far more if you spend your time on here :)

There are so many opinions in this industry and scouring the internet, looking for answers will give you a lot of people who think they know everything about computers and try to answer everything online, so I think you just get bad advice doing that. Also, half of the hardware reviews get paid by companies to give products a good review, so again even reviews aren't too reliable.

The best experience I think is just through talking to people about tech and reading replies, along with giving your own opinions - and where better to do that than OC3D eh? ;)
 
Be lucky enough to get your foot in the door and the rest shall follow.

I'm now pursuing a career in teaching IT after doing the whole college/uni thing plus working in computer repairs.
 
If by hardware you mean reviews then its not really a career unless you are insanely lucky.

If you mean building stuff like the in house builds at a retailer then its not very well paid......

Computing is a hobby and should always be treated as such until a time it morphs itself into anything else.

Everything you want to lean I have learned here. at oc3d. Everything I know is self taught and thats the best way. Thats why I even go into my local college to teach their hardware units because whats on the curriculum is shit.
 
If you want to go into low level (designing components, RnD) like a career at Intel then you would really need to take a degree in electrical engineering and have messed around a lot with your own hardware outside of education too.
 
Im currently 17 myself, 2nd year on BTEC LVL3 Extended diploma in IT.

Its not an easy course by any stretch of imagination, just like you i was 16 and though of going into computer hardware but after few months you quickly realize that the base knowledge of the computer you had is barely enough to get you through hardware related unit(3 or 4 from 18 total).

Before I've gone to college i worked for a friend of mine, part time doing pc and laptop repairs so id say i already knew alot more then an average 16yo it student, such as gpu reballing etc etc.

But to my suprise alot of the units on the course a software related or are not even related too much such as Employ ability skills and HCI(Human computer interface).

Its very hard to jump from high school to college.

If you want my advice, get into networking, data protection and programming(sql,php,vb,vb.net,java,javascript,css,html) There is always alot of well payable jobs on the market involving those.

but most importantly do what you like to do, because in 5 years time you will just be working full time job(possibly) and if you are fed up with it then all of that education will just be in vane.

If you are still considering going for computer hardware, go to a college open day and just ask the lecturers about the course, there was alot of them before christmas, you can probably get a 1 to 1 with a lecturer or someone if there arent any open days.

Whatever you decide on doing, Good Luck mate.
 
If you only want information on it then don't take a course in Computer Science/Engineering. What you do is watch/read reviews, whether on YouTube or here, and there are many great reviewers.

Just read around each component, you can teach yourself just as much by looking on the internet as you get direct access to the posts of people who have been using computers for a couple decades, and have a lot more knowledge than most lecturers or teachers on a course would have.
 
Ya93sin said:
If you only want information on it then don't take a course in Computer Science/Engineering. What you do is watch/read reviews, whether on YouTube or here, and there are many great reviewers.

Just read around each component, you can teach yourself just as much by looking on the internet as you get direct access to the posts of people who have been using computers for a couple decades, and have a lot more knowledge than most lecturers or teachers on a course would have.
Click to expand...

Depends what level you want to be at. You're not going to find reviewers talking about logic gates and set theory for example which are some of the fundamentals of comp sci/eng.
 
There's various factors which you need to consider regarding what's the best way you learn. What I mean by that is, are you more of a hands-on learner and like to be shown and do things whilst being taught or view from a distance; videos / theory work, no so much hands-on, learning by way of listening etc.

I'll use myself as an example, I'm more of a hands-on person and like to dive into the deep-end, I still watch youtube videos and browse forums to learn information but I find learning while working suits me best. You need to find out what works for you.

My secondary school had ICT courses but nothing fancy and I didn't really learn anything, it was more teaching us how to use Office packages (haha). I learned by using the internet and watching guides because that's all I could do.

College was much more in-depth and somewhat blew me away, it may not relate to what you want to know e.g. difference between sandy/ivy bridge but they can teach you a whole lot in different subjects: programming / networking / computer architecture / web design - it's one thing searching up something you want to know, it's another truly understanding and grasping it by having to complete assignments and demonstrate knowledge based on the subject.

I did a lvl 2 btec course and a lvl 3 btec course both in IT, and at the end I could have applied and gone to uni but I wasn't 100% sure on which career path to take or what to study. So 3-4 months after finishing college and looking for work, I caught a break and got employed with a local computer shop.

I already knew most things when it came to computers thanks to college and my own research, but I did also learn new things that I wouldn't have researched or known about because I would have never come across it, whilst working on computers that came into the shop.

I know this is a bit of a long post but I'm nearly done, I promise, and what I'm going to say now is nothing personal it's just my honest opinion.

IT jobs aren't super-rare, IT jobs are plenty and employers are looking for people to hire. You can be doing easy jobs with a good amount of income, but and this is a big but, employers seems to be stuck with the idea that to be good with computers you need qualifications / degrees even.

So if you want to skip college / uni and want to go directly to work in the IT field it's going to be extremely hard for you, I'll admit I got lucky, if I hadn't of got this job at the local computer shop, I would have applied for uni. But now, seeing as I've got experience I can put on my CV and my college qualifications paired up with references I can provide with my employers, I have somewhat a good chance to break into a support role or contract IT job from my position.

This is what my advice to you would be:
1)Gain as much experience at the computer repair shop you are going to work at.

2)Apply to a ICT college course, whether that be a btec lvl 2 or btec lvl 3. When I first applied they said I would have to start from a lvl 2, so that's what I did and I'm glad I did as when I progressed to lvl 3 I found it easier than the people that just came to lvl 3 straight from school.

3)At the end of your course if you haven't decided on what to do, look for an IT job in a local computer store or in a junior support role. if you can't find any, apply for a uni course in a subject you like.

If you would like any more help or information drop me a PM or reply to this thread, good luck in any case mate.
 
SPS said:
Depends what level you want to be at. You're not going to find reviewers talking about logic gates and set theory for example which are some of the fundamentals of comp sci/eng.
Click to expand...

Yes, but from what I gather the OP doesn't want to know at that kind of depth.
 
I would like to offer what I have learned so far, even though I also am new to much of this stuff (computers).This site is probably one of the best I have encountered as far as people here willing to help someone like you and me out. I know already that Mr. M & P sent me a detailed description and breakdown of a paper he had published here, which helped me out quite a bit. I'm saying you are in the right place. As far as learning goes, I do believe that to get ahead in this field, you need both hands on experience and theoretical knowledge. I have found that in any field creative or tech its good to have both. Why not have as many tools in your box as you can carry ? I have a book to study for the A+ exam, and I can tell you that it has helped me out quite a bit also.
Keep up the good work !
 
i'm currently in my first year of ICT(Information and Communication Technician). It hasn't got a whole lot to do with hardware, even though we do the basics in it, but more with programming, setting up and maintaining servers, databases and automation. if you are really into PCs you will probably like that as well. It's also very well paid from what i've heard, making interfaces between systems is very expensive.
 
A Gigahertz is one billion calculations a second.
So 3.8GHz is 3.8 x 1,000,000,000 calculations a second.

oh, and a computers heart beats more times in a second then your's will in a life time.

85 times a minute,

5100 times an hour,

122,400 times a day,

44,676,000 times a year,

3,797,460,000 times in 85 years

And that's still less than the 3,800,000,000 times your computer beats in a second!

Just thought some interesting little tidbit of info might interest you.
 
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