General Education Essay

Nikson Restituyo

Connections Wed 12:00

When I found out I had to take CGS-1000 Intro to Computers to graduate, I was upset. I’m a

person that has loved computers and technology since my dad bought our 1st computer when I

was around 6 years old. Everything I’ve learned is self-taught. In Middle school I learned how to

put computers together by doing research on Google just for fun. So when I was told I needed to

take a class that would introduce me to PC’s I figured it would be a waste of my time. After the

first week of class I realized that I was going to learn a lot more than I imagined in that class.

One of the things I learned was exactly how a PC ‘thinks’ using electricity, math, and binary

code. Binary code was a little scary at first but once you get over the initial confusion it is quite

easy, along with hexadecimal code. We also covered the different internal components of a PC

and how they are connected and how they operate together to make our lives easier. Knowing

this helps you put a PC together if you know where to buy the parts, or you could get a job

upgrading PC’s hardware. The chapter on networking was very informative and useful; I was

able to go home that night and create a home network linking all of my PC’s wirelessly using my

internet router so we can share files seamlessly. But the most useful thing I would say was the

Microsoft Office lab that was required in order to pass the class because documents are turning

digital and anything you write/present/catalog will probably be done using one of the programs

in Microsoft Office. The lab guides you through Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, the

most widely used programs on a regular basis. When I first started I thought I knew pretty much

all there was to know about Word, but the further I went the more I kept discovering that I had

no clue you could do in Word. Excel I never really used and never really understood its purpose,

but the lab on it and the chapter on databases cleared up the enigma for me. PowerPoint is the

weakest of the three, but I learned a bit there as well. I now enjoy working with those programs

because I know I can make the programs do what I want them to do, increasing productivity and
the professionalism of my documents. After this course I would feel qualified for a data entry

position at an office.

Thanks to CGS-1000, I already know more about computers than the average person in the US.

Computer skills are already becoming crucial to survive in today’s job environment and anyone

not skilled enough will be left behind. With this class under my belt I will be able to branch off

into more complex computer disciplines such as programming, for which I’m taking

Programming Logic currently. Intro to Computers was great.