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sugarplumkittyThe router class had me worried. A student in the Networking class is also in an A+ certification course and told me I should show up there. They needed more people in the class. What he didn't tell me was that it's the final of the three courses in A+.
I walked in to a small class of all men and asked to add. John, the instructor looked a little worried, but said OK. He didn't have his add codes with him and sent me to Admissions and Records to pay for the course. They needed me to have him sign an Add slip, and gave it to me. He filled it out. I'd found out that the last day to register was the next day and told him I'd come back to do it then so I wouldn't miss any more class.
He was lecturing about power supplies and how they work. Part of what he taught us was how diodes, resistors and um... something else are part of the power regulation system to turn alternating current into direct current. I was impressed that he was getting into the meat of how PCs work instead of lecturing about how computers evolved and making us to binary arithmetic like the instructor at De Anza had in his curriculum.
The lab part came and because I didn't have equipment, I teamed with two guys to get it done. One of them was the guy who told me to show up. We were supposed to measure the power being put out by the power supply as the computer booted, for both the 12V DC and the 5V DC outlets. I mentioned I didn't know how to use a DMM. That's when the instructor suggested I take his Tuesday night course where the use of the tools is taught. He said it was a prerequisite to this one. I said "OK" and he added it to my Add slip. I needed the lab book so I scooted to the bookstore to get the books for this class, thinking I'd get the books for the other class on Friday when I came back to register. When I got back to the room, they were still working through the questions from the lecture. I quickly read through the lab book to get the answers I didn't already know and discussed the ones I couldn't find with my lab partners. It was clear I know more than they do, already. When the covers came off the PC we were supposed to examine, they were looking around for the information about the power supply we were supposed to find. It was right in front of us! Geez! I pointed at it and said "250 watts see? It's right here on the housing."
My lab partner with the DMM did the power output measurement as we watched. It wasn't as steady as it should have been. It's an old computer, of course. They're not going to let us mess up new computers. The power supply is getting old.
By the end of class, the instructor was much warmer toward me than he had been. I think he's seeing that I do know enough to be there. Yay! I'll be able to take that A+ test this summer, after all!
I walked in to a small class of all men and asked to add. John, the instructor looked a little worried, but said OK. He didn't have his add codes with him and sent me to Admissions and Records to pay for the course. They needed me to have him sign an Add slip, and gave it to me. He filled it out. I'd found out that the last day to register was the next day and told him I'd come back to do it then so I wouldn't miss any more class.
He was lecturing about power supplies and how they work. Part of what he taught us was how diodes, resistors and um... something else are part of the power regulation system to turn alternating current into direct current. I was impressed that he was getting into the meat of how PCs work instead of lecturing about how computers evolved and making us to binary arithmetic like the instructor at De Anza had in his curriculum.
The lab part came and because I didn't have equipment, I teamed with two guys to get it done. One of them was the guy who told me to show up. We were supposed to measure the power being put out by the power supply as the computer booted, for both the 12V DC and the 5V DC outlets. I mentioned I didn't know how to use a DMM. That's when the instructor suggested I take his Tuesday night course where the use of the tools is taught. He said it was a prerequisite to this one. I said "OK" and he added it to my Add slip. I needed the lab book so I scooted to the bookstore to get the books for this class, thinking I'd get the books for the other class on Friday when I came back to register. When I got back to the room, they were still working through the questions from the lecture. I quickly read through the lab book to get the answers I didn't already know and discussed the ones I couldn't find with my lab partners. It was clear I know more than they do, already. When the covers came off the PC we were supposed to examine, they were looking around for the information about the power supply we were supposed to find. It was right in front of us! Geez! I pointed at it and said "250 watts see? It's right here on the housing."
My lab partner with the DMM did the power output measurement as we watched. It wasn't as steady as it should have been. It's an old computer, of course. They're not going to let us mess up new computers. The power supply is getting old.
By the end of class, the instructor was much warmer toward me than he had been. I think he's seeing that I do know enough to be there. Yay! I'll be able to take that A+ test this summer, after all!
