Instructors Bio's

My History With Computers … Debbi Baird

Or ... HOW long have computers been around, really??

I've been dealing with electronics and computers in one form or another since the early 70's.  Most people think that computers weren't around then ... they were, they were just in another form ... much bigger and bulkier and mostly found in large corporations or universities.

I won't bore you with details but if computer history interests you, then go to the Computer History  ( http://www.computerhistory.org/ ) web site and starting with 1960 you can see some of the history of DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation), the company I worked at for 20 years.

While working at DEC, I did mostly technical work, testing and repairing computers and all the parts that made them up at the time.  With PC's (personal computers) almost everything that makes up the computer is in the box that you turn on.

The units that we have today at our desks are much smaller and yet much more powerful and sophisticated pieces of machinery than the ones I worked on many years ago.  Because of that sophistication, today’s computers are much easier to learn and work with. Everything on today's computers are related in graphical terms, that is, what you see on the screen in pictures that you click on with your mouse gives a series of commands to the computer that years ago would have taken many typewritten steps.

Computers have always fascinated me, ever since I read about them in the Science Fiction books that I devoured growing up.  So when I got the chance to work for a computer company, I grabbed it!  

Jump ahead 20 years to the company closing the plant I worked at ... I needed a direction to continue from there, so I took the opportunity to go back to college to get a degree in something I already knew, computer hardware. 

Along the way, I got diverted into learning more about software and how it works on a PC (Personal Computer), which puts me where I am now, a knowledgeable computer trainer with the skills and the patience to teach just about anyone!