How do you know what you know?

[PhantasmagoricalTech]

I was thinking this could be a helpful post for everyone. Let's share how we know what we know; how we got started with computers, the resources we used, the websites we checked out... basically, how did you go from knowing nothing to knowing what you know now.
I myself know very little as of right now, but here is my history:
I was looking around for great career choices and came upon software engineering. I had always liked computers and this seemed like the job for me. So, I started looking around to see if I could get a little knowledge before college, or maybe even completely self teach myself. After much researching, i chose the C programming language, and started practicing it. A little later, A friend told me about pen testing when we were on the subject, so I decided to check it out... I was really intrigued by hacking, and found it useful to find a community such as this to learn and contribute. A little Google searching, and hence, EV.
I realize your guys' history is most likely far longer than mine, so feel free to abbreviate!

[p_2001]

There is such a topic already

[namespace7]

The question is not how do you know what you know.
The question is, do you really want to know what you think you want to know?
If so, then regardless of where you are now, you will gain knowledge and skills one way or another as time passes by, and step by step your knowledge will increase.

Gaining of knowledge is a natural process which unfolds without the need of being externally controlled. One discovery will lead to the next one, and one answer will propose a thousand questions. Every little bit of wisdom or knowledge you gain will make your next step more and more clear.

Just don't get frightened when the storm hits you: don't run away.

[hanorotu]

Tbh, the only reason I started using a computer was because the thought of making electronic music sounded interesting so I stum-

No I lied, the only reason I started using a computer was because I saw someone back in elementary school playing runescape. Like, 3rd grade or so. It looked like the coolest shit ever so I played for like a month.

anyways, I stumbled across this midi maker, and it was the coolest shit ever, it was actually called midi maker (http://www.brothersoft.com/midi-maker-23747.html), I made many epic songs:
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/127702
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/127712
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/143794

I lied, those songs are horrible. But meanwhile while I was making those I was searching for something better. That is when I discovered the NG BBS and learned of FL studio (Which I still use today.)

It was at this time I was getting settled into my new home in a small 1 redlight town in Georgia. It was at this time I was starting to get very bored so I was contacted via MSN (cause that shit was still popular at the time) by a friend by the name of roen hayden (he was the one that always had the cthulu for president profile pic.) and he introduced me to evilzone where I proceeded to learn almost everything that I know about technology/security.

Ah I almost forgot. If you want to learn JS, code some bots for runescape with powerbot. Really cool to learn that way.