Growing up Geek: Chris Pirillo

Welcome to Growing Up Geek , an ongoing feature where we have a look back at our youth and tell stories of growing as much as be the nerds that we’re. Today, we’ve a different guest: internet entrepreneur, tech support blogger, media personality and geek, Chris Pirillo

Our family had an Atari 2600 (I uploaded the unboxing of both it and my first LEGO set to our YouTube channel ). i believe that is what started me down the trail of being an off-the-cuff gamer? It wasn’t until my grandfather picked up a Commodore Vic 20 and connected it to a black and white television set that i began to explore computing. Granted, there wasn’t much you may do with it back then. I honed my curiosity when “Santa” delivered a Commodore 64 — the sights, the sounds!

I fiddled with BASIC programming for it slow, but really not more than the common child may need done within the day. I loved the house computer for what it enabled me to do – software, as crafted by other hands, drove an addiction.

The Atari 2600 took a back seat to the unique NES. Though, many years later, I wasn’t as concerned with gaming up to i used to be writing. After having learned to type on a true typewriter, having word processing software at my fingertips was a tremendous accelerant. i assume this interest in somewhat-creative writing is why i finally fell back on a pursuing some extent in English? Gaming sucked, if only since the options were expensive and hopelessly buggy.

It wasn’t until many years later, as a sophomore in college, that i’d get connected to the web for the 1st time – and that’s the reason when I’d say my life really changed. From the primary email I sent to a man sitting across from me in a working laptop or computer lab, i used to be hooked. It couldn’t be this straightforward. It couldn’t be THIS incredible. Mind you, the terminal was a computer running some earlier type of DOS — no graphics, no World-wide-web. My eyes were open. It was fun to explore what the net needed to offer — limited because it was.

I used the net to hook up with other folks, primarily – that is what drew me in day to day. i could not easily hook up with people I knew, however (we certainly did not have Facebook, and it was a hurdle to get an account on the university first of all). To me, the web still is nothing without people. I fueled most conversations via ISCA, the world’s leading BBS on the time.

We had both PCs and Macs on campus – though it would be difficult to assume (or remember) just how different they were from each other. I lived largely in DOS, though i did not have a pc of my very own. My junior year roomie had an awesome Mac Classic – which I used to explore fonts and design dynamic HyperCard experiences. Still, my first computer was a computer running Windows 3.11 – and long before MP3s were available, I’d fill my 420MB harddrive with amazing freeware I’d find through newsgroups.

I became a real software addict.

It was this passion for exploration and love for sharing my discoveries with others that created the “Chris Pirillo” i’m today. In 1996, i might parlay an old highschool nickname (and online handle) “Locker Gnome” right into a brand for delivering information to other curious people. That’s when social media started for me.

Within just a few years’ time, i might be sending LockerGnome.com email newsletters regularly to 100,000+ people from world wide. i have been doing that ever since (after which some). My passion has result in several amazing projects through the years.

That’s the way it started – not at TechTV, as some believe. I had made a reputation for myself with peers long before that network was named (and i have certainly outlived it with a better degree of success). It wasn’t until once I had authored a book on email publishing that i’d even float onto the radar of open-minded network show producers. They were searching for another individual to fill some insanely large shoes – and that have would become both a boon and a bane.

I’ve never aimed to be anybody but myself. Some people have a difficulty with that, and they are not afraid to share their less-than-constructive opinions with the arena.

The important irony? i am getting bullied more by other “geeks” now than I ever did by jockasses in highschool. That is not funny. The enemy was THEM – and now it sort of feels to be US.

i used to be interested in the net with a feeling of wonder, a sense of true connectedness – and now it kind of feels I’m becoming increasingly overwhelmed by a way of rampant entitlement.

i do know that some geeks / nerds are happy to have interaction in anti-social, destructive behaviors, but this could never be brandished as a badge of honor – it is a tremendous shortcoming in an afternoon and age when everybody is hooked up to this global stream of consciousness with free-flowing content and approaching-unlimited connectivity.

I continue to publish my very own perspectives and discoveries online – everywhere. Seriously, where am I not sharing today? I’m sure I’ll continue to craft geek-centric content for myself and others until the day I shuffle off this mortal coil. My goal? To continue to thrive in a career of being myself. That, and to be acquired by Aol.

Chris Pirillo are available on his live video stream , Twitter (@ ChrisPirillo ), Google+ , LockerGnome and chris.pirillo.com

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This post is tagged: basic programming, black and white television, electronic objects, internet entrepreneur, media personality, word processing software