I used to destroy my toys as a kid. Back then, my parents were frustrated many times with that behavior.

After much reflection, breaking things was a way for me to understand how the world works. I remember taking apart several VHS machines to look into how one motor moved some wheels that carried tape and an electronic module turned the dimmes looking pictures in the tape into a movie with audio (for those young enough to not know, it is a machine that play video cassettes. Yes, we used to go to a store to rent movies that were recorded in a sort of adhesive tape)... crazy right?

By breaking down stuff I was able to see the bits and pieces that made the the whole. This is one habit that I kept throughout the years, but I did learn to be more careful with things.

Instead of destroying things, I learned I could put them back together if only I was more careful about the steps it tooke me, the tools I used and where I put the pieces I took apart.

I am very fortunate in the sense that I grew up during the times in which technology was also going through a radical change. Suddenly, our landlines would give us the chance to be connected with strangers all over the world.

Much of the analog technology started becoming digital. The first massively produced personal computers where launched (not laptops, but big computer towers that would sit in the middle of our living rooms). The first video game consoles were also commercially available.

I would never forget the magical sounds that came out of my television that only 8-bit processors could achieve.

I was always fascinated by how computer ran programs, how videogames were made. I wanted so bad to learn how to do it. And to be honest, I tried and tried but had a really tough time graping the concepts that made a computer show words on the screen, let alone how entire programs worked.

It took me YEARS (and more than a handful), of stubbornness of wanting to understand how all worked, until one day it all made sense.

It was easy, but once I got it... I got it!

In retrospect, I might have "bitten more than I could chew", when you are inexperienced and have no proper guidence to learn about software, you might fall prone to a ton of pitfalls.

Maybe self-learning Assembly as a teenager was a battle that I was always going to loose.

It wasn't until I took a different approach and started with HTML. There's something about a quick "feedback loop" that helps you understand what you are doing write or wrong so you can correct from there.

With Assembly and microchips programming, there was a long period of "I hope what I'm doing is right", then take some time for code to compule and then flash the chip, only to figure out that something was in fact wrong.

After all became clear! I started looking for ways to explore what I could do with software. And boy, it was a ride!

Another "lightbulb" moment came when I learned I could configure things in my computer to work for me!

Between automations and customizations for the programs I used to become more effective, building became my newfound addiction.

Much of the time it is not even about how effective a thing can be, it is about how pretty you can make things for yourself.

Ideally building should be for ourselves. The best learning experiences and the most satisfactory ones are about the things that I build for myslef.

Building is fun! And you should start building too!