I've been using home computers since 1986 when working at Bell Labs. Learned a lot form friends there, and have been building or fixing the occasional computer for friends ever since. I've always found unique solutions to problems, such as putting a VGA card in my AT&T PC 6300 (which only supported it's own built in card) when it was thought to be impossible.
Self taught, I just keep using what I've got and learning how to improve it for my needs or for other people. No real programming, don't do gaming, but I do run several websites for friends.