My love of programming started at the age of 10 with the BBC Micro, largely because I found the user manual so easy to follow. Everything I needed to know about BBC Basic was available in a single book, although admittedly programming languages and operating systems are a bit more complex these days!

I moved onto the Amiga and did a bit of programming in Pascal, then PC and C, but I still get misty eyed when I see that BBC Basic programming manual!

I think I born with the bug inside..

I remember that during the first school years, I was about 7-8 y.o. I started building mechanics with the help of my father a great artisan with an incredible range of materials, from plexyglass to wood, aluminium, bronze, iron and more... I remember building a wooden working catapult of wood, then almost complex machines. But not yet electrical / electronic things. The first stuff built with electricity was a full working telegraph; to make the paper roll I remember we sewed a series of receipt paper rolls in slices Then it was the time discovering gears, magic for me because was the way to change the speed of fast DC motors adapting them to any kind of slow motion engine. I spent yeas going every Saturday to disassemble washing machines timers and mechanical clocks. This was perfect ready-to-use engines; it was sufficient to remove some of the last gears to increase the speed or leave them to have a very slow speeds. Applied these engines to make rotating camera, small cars, strange engines battery operated and everything I was able to assemble.

1968 for me was a sort of revolutionary year. In September is was published the Number 1 of Scientific American, Italian edition. I discovered Martin Gardner and for tenth of years this was one of my better sources of inspiration.

Electronics started fascinating me with the first DIY circuits, very useful to learn the basis and then... I discovered the radio! Sounds strange but the radio waves are another lei-motif that followed me for years, until the mid of 1990 when I patented the first software decoding for the RDS building the Radio PC board that then installed in tons of computers.

Starting with the '80s electronics become my reference point as well as computer study and development...

During my childhood days i was curious on to know how these street lights turn on in the evening and automatically turn off during morning without human intervention. that was start of my interest to learn on the what the electronics function inside the street lighting system. While discussing with one of my teacher in the school got to know that there is a timer settings inside the lighting system which turns ON or OFF. This started on more interesting fact on how the traffic lights work and learning the concept of timers , Relays and how the relays connect to switch the load with inbuilt timing functions and types of indicator lights etc. working on with academic projects CRT tube TV, Radio, and telephones , i was much interested on the intercom phones and the extension numbers it get transferred with EPABX. Developed an IVRS System with 10 extension lines to attend the calls automatically and chosen the electronics design domain and worked on different types of mechanical relay , Solid state relay designs , LED drivers, medical electronics and automated test equipments and that is how the career started.

The bug bit me when my father purchased an Atari 800 and then an Apple IIe.  He would try to key in basic language programs printed in various magazines of the time.  Inevitably there would be a bug, either due to his poor typing or poor editing by the publisher.  I learned to code by debugging his work for him.

I was planning on pursuing the arts after graduating from highschool, but I decided to challenge myself and enroll at the local tech institute, taking a program encompassing the two things I understood the least - electricity and math. I was instantly hooked and have been studying electrical/electronics engineering ever since.

I ended up working for a utility doing telecommunications and power system protection equipment commissioning and maintenance, which has "fuelled the fire" and allowed me to discover more sub-fields and technologies within the engineering field of study every day.

I used to find myself unchallenged in school and unmotivated, but ever since I started my first  day of technical college I've been excited to get up in the morning and learn more every day - going on 7 years now!

When I was five, my family was always worried that I'd hurt myself sleeping with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other. I've always been amazed by trying to understand how things or machines work!, and after knowing that being able to build or design something is just awesome.

Its cheesy, but I just followed my curiosity and passion. Its not an easy path personally or professionally, but the things I've been able to do and work on and the types of projects I'm involved with make it worth every second. Something I've regretted in the past is becoming overly focused on projects and causing problems in my personal life. I don't think I've ever met an engineer that hasn't experienced the same thing, but just a heads up for the new guys - keep yourself in check.

I was very young and always wanted to know how various things worked and the best way to do that taking it apart and seeing how it works. When I was 6 or 7 I found a Philips head screwdriver and asked my dad if there was anything that I could take apart and he gave me an old RC car that didn't work anymore and I took it apart down to bare circuitry and was sadly never able to repair it; however, after that I was completely hooked and started taking apart and putting back together I could find. When I got really into computers and other electronics was when I bought my first raspberry pi in sixth grade. It was my first computer and it was an absolutely amazing learning experience because I got to play with the bare circuit board and software at an almost base lever that I was never able to do before that, along with learning a lot about how networking computers works and soon found anything that I could to try to run Linux on, including trashed computers that wouldn't run any new version of Windows.

I've been a tinkerer ever since and I do it whenever I'm stressed because it helps me destress when I can learn how something works at its base level.

I seemed to have posted my little story somewhere I can't seem to find. Here's take two

I think what got me started was the curiosity of how does everything work. Looking at a fan, I kept wondering what was inside that made it spin at high velocity and how can I make it myself. I got my hands on a  screwdriver early on and went on a rampage, dismantling electrical appliances at our homes as well as our cooperative neighbours. My grandfather promoted this interest and instead of buying me toys, purchased for me books. 1990 was not a great time of the border city of Amritsar nor was the internet yet available. So books became by best friends and I developed a fascination for the sciences and began reading electronics books at the tender age of 10. I taught myself most things from component selection to circuit and as a result my circuit with a 555 was a mangled mess of wires without a PCB. I learned by doing, failing and getting back up. Due to a lack of good electronics resources and guidance, I electrocuted myself a number of times and have the scars to show for it even today. The process of self-learning was highly beneficial as it helped eliminate any dependence on an 'expert' in the given field.

Looking back, I think my inspiration was my grandfather who supported my inquisitiveness and interest in a field he did not completely understand. The habit of reading and self-upgrading stuck and I am always in explore-mode which is usually a good thing. From the age of 10 through to 15, I learned how to use electronic instruments, solder, use a breadboard, repair a phone, experiment with cordless phones, repair televisions, program in various languages and even made projects such as water overflow alarms, beacons, Cassette players, audio amplifiers and I still have some of the hardware since it was practically used at the time.

It was much later that we were able to afford a PC and that's a different story all together but my I feel my passion is rooted at the fact that there was a struggle and spirit of enquiry at the base of it all. Its important to nurture that feeling and eventually it will bloom into something beautiful.

So many interesting stories to read here!

I was always into science and technology; at the age of 9 or 10 I chose a science encyclopedia for my book prize (it was a tradition that maybe many schools no longer do - It was a gift of a small sum of money (maybe £5 or £15 from memory) if we'd done well in the year, for us to purchase a book which would then be awarded to us at a school ceremony.

Also, one of the classrooms had a stack of ancient science magazines, called 'Knowledge', I'd borrow some of those (or I'd borrow the Charlie Brown books, depending on mood : ).

By 11 I was lucky enough to have one of the Tandy/Radio Shack X-in-1 project kits, it was the best thing in the world as far as I was concerned : )

Long story short, I was hooked on electronics and my father would walk with me for miles searching for businesses or stores that had some parts to sell me (generally things like transistors and ferrite rods). He was never too busy not to do this with me, he always understood the desire for knowledge and experimentation.

Also, like many people here, I stripped a lot of old hardware to pieces to understand it!

The local radio store was my source for light-bulbs and batteries. My first electronic component was a red LED from Tandy (the second was five resistors).

The staff were so friendly, they would let me (probably a 12-year old by then) solder and troubleshoot my projects in their office, while they got on and served customers.

At 12 I also discovered the famous (it still exists, although now it's more CCTV stuff that they sell) 'Henry's' in Edgware Road London, which was like a treasure-trove of electronics, it was a train journey away (but then kids like trains too : ) and my first breadboard was from there.

image source: ebay

My dad gave my brother and I a crystal radio kit for Christmas one year in the late 60's.  How that simple thing picked up a radio station and I could hear it in the earphone mesmerized me.  There started a curiosity for all things electronic but what to do with that curiosity I had no clue.  So years later in the 70's off to college I go to be an engineer.  Computers are still not quite available to the masses so I take a Fortran class typing my programs on punch cards.  That's when the bug really hit.  My love for computers exploded.  I wanted to develop embedded systems and soaked up all I could in school.  As life would have it my career never took that path.  I was still working with computers throughout the years but never coming back to my love for the embedded system.  When the Raspberry Pi hit the streets I decided it was time to get back to that love even if just for fun.  My path has still been slow with the Pi but I do it for fun.  My projects are just for me at this point.  Often I sit down with no real direction in mind and start building something.  One day I'll complete a project or two, or maybe not.  Maybe in a year or two I'll share one with my grandson and possibly light a desire in him.  Possibly my passion was just to fuel a fire to pass on to others.  Or in a year or two more share it with my granddaughter.  She seems very curious...