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Brag on your technical achievements!


Cy~

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Have you ever done something involving technology (of any kind) that you were kinda proud of? Well, why not share?! Boost your self-confidence by celebrating your accomplishments!

 

Nothing is too "small" for this topic, and nothing is too silly. Whatever you've done, share it! :angel:

 

  • Learned how to use iOS (laugh at me all you want, I'm proud of this, since I'm terrible with phones, lol)
  • Modded Fallout:New Vegas in a way that lets the game still work half decently (harder than it sounds)
  • Wrote my own forum software (a while ago, but I still glow over this, hahaha)
  • Cleaned up and restored my keyboard after pouring strawberry lemonade into it (I can be an idiot)

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Letzee...

 

  • Was responsible for making Cy~'s forum software beautiful.
  • Have written my own PHP scripts for various uses, despite not really knowing anything about coding, scripting, or PHP itself. Yeah.
  • I went from working as a locksmith in a company to administrating the collective totality of everything IT-related, including their antiquated green screen mainframe system that ran the entire company.
  • I'm good at cheating in PC games. Seriously, I've done some fun things with a memory editor and debugger.
  • I repaired a non-functional NES console, taking it from a useless paper weight to 100% functional.
  • I buy expensive headphones, so when/if they develop issues I take steps to repair them myself.
  • Uhhh... some other things, I think, but this is all that comes to mind.

Cleaned up and restored my keyboard after pouring strawberry lemonade into it (I can be an idiot)

 

You mean you can be angry? xD

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I setup a web server on my home network that was publicly accessible (not active any more)

I made a layout that works on Habari and Ghost.

I created two apps on Android and ported them to iOS (only Android versions are available now)

I also tried creating a site in PHP, without a CMS.

Created a Linux Live DVD using a distribution that had a script that was not exactly friendly for Linux newbies.

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I've strung up a fully-fledged media centre out of an old TV, half-broken cd player, various bits of a computer, and peripherals... all from the 'Electrical' section of the local recycling sentre. So other people's trash.

Why do people throw this stuff away?!

 

I have a battery for my bicycle that is built from 18 power banks connected together and it can keep my power-hungry phone going for a week.

 

I've designed a coffee table that has a hidden pull-up wine compartment in the centre. It's the first of it's kind in the world and I've started to build it already.

 

As an 8 year old I managed to convince a Nectar representative (nothing to do with my username, they are a British loyalty card company) that I was 18 years old, using a voice changer, and in charge of a business in order to get them to send me a business loyalty card. I recieved it a week later and I think I still have it somewhere.

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As an 8 year old I managed to convince a Nectar representative (nothing to do with my username, they are a British loyalty card company) that I was 18 years old, using a voice changer, and in charge of a business in order to get them to send me a business loyalty card. I recieved it a week later and I think I still have it somewhere.

 

Hahaha, it's a small world! I actually did something similar when I was 8 years old. I used the power of the written word to convince a sales rep of a big software company to send me a free, full version of their commercial 3D editor. The poor guy thought that I was an interested buyer and a negotiator for a large multinational company.

 

In reality, I was just really really good at sounding mature through written text. I managed to get the software mailed out to me, but what I didn't expect was for him to PERSONALLY come by shortly thereafter. My mom was intensely confused when a sales guy showed up at our home wearing a suit and talking about million dollar licensing fees.

 

Basically, I had a lot of explaining to do, but the guy was super nice about it and I got to keep the software. :D

 

This should count as a technological achievement, since back during this time (ugh, I'm old), email and things like that were actually hard to do. I managed to use the family computer for this and not get caught. :P

 

So, yeah, just something really similar. I approve of this kind of thing, hahaha. :angel:

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I forgot. I made a few python scripts too:

 

One that can export posts from Habari, so that they can be safely imported into another Habari site (Habari has import and export scripts, but I liked using SQL dumps, as I did not need to log in to a web interface)

One that changes file extensions from one to another (e.g. M4V to MP4)

One that goes through an SQLite database and exports content to HTML

 

First two were my most impressive and were made cross-platform recently.

 

I also created a shell script to produce EPUB files (only works on Mac/Linux/BSD environments).

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I used the power of the written word to convince a sales rep of a big software company to send me a free, full version of their commercial 3D editor.

 

That is... completely and utterly brilliant xD

I'm very impressed! If only I could read such a letter :P

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Not much really!

 

I figured out how to fully customize my android phone while I had it, based on my screen most people didn't know what kind of phone I had. (I use iPhone now though)

 

I used to be able to use AutoCAD fully without a mouse. I've since forgotten every single command though!

 

I've done a full run up (as in start the engines and shtuff) on a Boeing 747 and a Eurocopter (pretty sure it was an EC135).

 

I know how to drive a stick shift (nowadays it's uncommon for people to know how to drive a manual transmission, in Canada anyway. Usually aren't even allowed to take your driving test unless it's an automatic transmission now either).

 

I converted my old laptop into a digital karaoke system for my parents (over 400 discs had to be ripped onto an external hard drive. There's still some that need to be done).

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I'm very impressed! If only I could read such a letter :P

 

I'm about to stamp a date on myself, but sadly - this was more than twenty years ago. All records have been lost to time and space. @_@

 

Data can be ephemeral.

 

Not much really!

 

I've done a full run up (as in start the engines and shtuff) on a Boeing 747 and a Eurocopter (pretty sure it was an EC135).

 

I just had to quote that and say... NOT MUCH?!!? Omg, that's so cool, tho. xD

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I just had to quote that and say... NOT MUCH?!!? Omg, that's so cool, tho. xD

How is this not awesome? :D

I went to post-secondary for aircraft maintenance. The run-up is a required part of the course!

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Doesn't keep it from being cool! ;)

Honestly the entire course is beyond cool. I don't talk about it much though because as much as I enjoyed the program, I don't want to work in that field. The entire program is a big technical achievement for me though. I graduated with an 84% average grade (half the grade comes from theory and the other half comes from practical). So I've got two years worth of adavanced technical training. The program is actually only 16 months long, but because it's full time (Monday-Friday, 8-9 hours a day, with only a one week break during the summer), it counts as two years worth of hands-on experience towards your AME certificate. AME stands for Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Canada's really fancy way of saying aircraft mechanic. There's three different categories though M (maintenance), E (avionics), and S (structures). My training was for the AME M, which is all the general maintenance plus a bit of everything else as well.

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Honestly the entire course is beyond cool. I don't talk about it much though because as much as I enjoyed the program, I don't want to work in that field.

 

Bask in the coolness! Own it! Even if you're not intending to work in the field (and honestly, that seems like the sort of thing that I'd be interested in learning about, with zero desire to actually work in the field), how many people can say that they've done any of that?

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I created two apps on Android and ported them to iOS (only Android versions are available now)

 

No kidding? Did you use the java-like Android language for this or was it a higher level language?

 

Created a Linux Live DVD using a distribution that had a script that was not exactly friendly for Linux newbies.

 

Hahaha, I'm going to take a guess here. Was it Gentoo or Arch Linux?

 

I forgot. I made a few python scripts too:

 

Python coders represent! :D

 

I didn't realize that there were more of us here. (o^.^o)

 

Any other python projects that you've done?

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Bask in the coolness! Own it! Even if you're not intending to work in the field (and honestly, that seems like the sort of thing that I'd be interested in learning about, with zero desire to actually work in the field), how many people can say that they've done any of that?

 

I cannot. There are a lot of things I wish I can do, but cannot because of my disability. I myself might have been interested in checking it out, just to see how things work.

 

Unfortunately, most I have done with only one hand is remove hard drives and put in RAM in a computer.

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Bask in the coolness! Own it! Even if you're not intending to work in the field (and honestly, that seems like the sort of thing that I'd be interested in learning about, with zero desire to actually work in the field), how many people can say that they've done any of that?

I briefly considered going back for the avionics program and pursuing that path instead of maintenance. That part of my program came very naturally to me and I highly enjoyed it. However, because I'm not 100% sure, it's too much money for me to throw down. Also, it's a lot easier for M's to get work than it is for E's. AME E and S are both a lot more specific and involved and aren't needed as often. Whereas AME M is always needed because aircraft are maintained on a very extensive schedule, where most of the work falls into the M category.

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No kidding? Did you use the java-like Android language for this or was it a higher level language?

 

Java. I am no expert in the language, but I am most comfortable with that language.

 

Hahaha, I'm going to take a guess here. Was it Gentoo or Arch Linux?

 

Nope, I have dabbled with Arch and did a LiveDVD of it, but it was neither of those, as they have somewhat good documentation. It was Void Linux.

 

Python coders represent! :D

 

I didn't realize that there were more of us here. (o^.^o)

 

Any other python projects that you've done?

 

Not really. I did think of doing a Dominion Shuffler, but things get fairly complicated in that, since I could not really get configurations right.

 

Usually, I do it when necessary, such as renaming iTunes files.

 

My main source of income is writing anyway.

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I made a calculator using Java two semesters ago. BUT I FORGOT HOW!

So I think... my technical achievement became null? *sob

 

Interesting. Was that with GUI or CLI only?

 

If GUI, than that is impressive. GUI programming in Java is ridiculous.

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Interesting. Was that with GUI or CLI only?

 

If GUI, than that is impressive. GUI programming in Java is ridiculous.

I don't even know what those acronyms meant. I'm so bad HAHAHA.

We used the software called Netbeans.

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I don't even know what those acronyms meant. I'm so bad HAHAHA.

We used the software called Netbeans.

 

Google is your friend. If you use the define: prefix you can figure out what practically anything means.

 

Essentially, I was asking if the calculator required a terminal emulator or if it ran in a window users could interact with easily.

 

NetBeans is an IDE (Integrated Development Envirnoment).

 

Really wish I could use HTML's abbr and acronym tags on forums.

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Okay, so according to @zoop I was selling myself short in here, and I need to "own" my technical achievements. In that case, I won't be coy and I won't hold back, hahaha.

 

 

 

Dinosaur Era

  • (Accidentally) Destroyed a computer by wiping the hard drive using admin commands when I was 5 years old. (The computer cost $10,000 and yes, I was grounded for a fucking long time.)
     
  • When I was 7 years old, I wrote an interactive fiction game using QBasic.
  • Setup double entry accounting to manage my own finances when I was about 7 years old (fml).
  • I installed Linux when I was about 9 years old, and I read through a massive number of paperback guides on system administration.
  • Also by the time that I was 9 years old, I had learned about 4 or 5 programming languages (Python, Perl, QBasic, C, C++).
  • Assembled a collection of classic PCs, including an XT, AT, 286, 386, 486, etc, etc - all of the way to the Pentium III.
  • I ran Linux OS as my desktop operating system from about 1995 until 2005. (On about 5 PCs.)
  • (Accidentally) Blew out power to our house with an electronics experiment that went very, very, very wrong.
  • Wrote mods for various old games that no one cared about, hahaha.
  • Used sweet talking and ummm friendly messages to gain server access to anything that I wanted.
  • Used Excel to build a stock market prediction tool that put me in the top 5% on a virtual portfolio site.
  • Caught a computer monitor on fire and then put it out.
  • Wrote a custom AI for Age of Empires that was completely unbeatable, without resulting to shitty AI tricks like free resources.
  • Obtained a vast quantity of commercial software through emailing company reps and using charisma and smooth talking.
  • Setup and maintained a lot of semi-popular gaming servers for various open source games.
  • I used Linux and FreeBSD as my server operating system from 1994 until 2016.

2000 - 2010

  • Designed an entire Roman town using Lego CAD software and rendered it in 1080p (not very common back then).
  • (Accidentally) Incinerated a wireless Palm Pilot using custom code.
  • Started my own game company (failed miserably, oh so miserably, and quickly).
  • Used Lego CAD software to do some basic computer animations (I deeply regret not keeping any of these).
  • Wrote my own MP3 library manager and player using Perl, converted it to Python when I could no longer remember wtf it did.
  • Submitted patches to a fairly popular open source game (patches were accepted).
     
  • Maintained the Mac OS distribution package of another fairly popular open source game.
  • Wired up a small university with Cat5. (Manual labor, lots of cuts and bleeding, lots of crawling through weird places. I was very sad. Broke all my nails. Pls don't ask how I ended up doing this.)
  • Started a web hosting company on a custom server management platform. Failed, sadly.
  • (Accidentally) Melted my palm pilot phone into a pile of plastic goo due to a failed electrical experiment (phones don't overclock well).
  • Wrote simple games in Java and tried (and failed) to get them to run on a Palm Pilot.
  • Worked in IT for my college, using my Admin powers to play World of Warcraft all day when I was supposed to be working. Hue.
  • Worked on an open source game, helping them port over a hundred AI scripts into Lua. (Created automated script conversion tool.)
     
  • Wrote my own blog system based on Perl.
  • Started another game company, making a cross-platform game with Java (failed again, hahaha).
  • Wrote a basic roguelike game with a semi-random fractal-based dungeon generator.
  • (Accidentally) Melted a computer CPU and caught the mainboard on fire.
  • Created a strategy game that ran in Excel.
  • Wrote a portfolio management and reporting software package for a small investment company.
  • Wrote a blog, forum, and calorie calculator for a calorie tracking website (that was never released).
  • Built an automated web scraper that could "borrow" content from a website and neatly archive it for science.

2010+

  • Linux server administrator for a site with over a million posts. (Retired! Overworked and under appreciated.)
  • Wrote text to morse code generator in Ruby.
  • Used Excel to build interactive blueprints for furniture layouts of the apartments that @zoop and I have lived in.
  • Linux server administrator for a site with over a hundred thousand posts. (Retired! Overworked and under appreciated.)
  • Wrote yet another forum software package (over 50,000 lines of Python scripting).
  • Wrote more than 10,000 lines of Visual Basic (ew) on the job, macros for changing the way budgeting was done.
  • Currently working on another game company. THREE TIMES IS THE CHARM! :?

 

 

 

Okay, okay. I did the thing. I feel strangely guilty, lol, this is kinda "bragging" I guess. However, @zoop likes to brag on me, sooooooooooo... :crazy:

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Okay, okay. I did the thing. I feel strangely guilty, lol, this is kinda "bragging" I guess. However, @zoop likes to brag on me, sooooooooooo...

 

Less a matter of bragging on you, more a matter of feeling that you're way too humble about certain things.

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