Prebuilt Computer Vs Building A Computer Yourself

Richard on

Computers such as any other electronics are a tool. A tool in which you use to do many things from surf the internet, develop software, run a business, play video games, stream videos or movies, and many more other uses.

Prebuilt vs building a computer has been debated by many for years and overtimes the tides have swayed back and forth as key component parts change in price or change performance wise. From building a computer yourself to buying a prebuilt computer made and assembled from a company a battle of options to get the best bang for your buck continues.

So what does a prebuilt computer mean?

Often, most people will recognize a prebuilt computer to be from a manufacturer supplying parts and put together by well-known third party companies for general consumers such companies are Dell and HP.

There are other more specialized companies usually focusing on the gaming market to put together custom prebuilt computers for gaming consumers such companies are iBuyPower, CyberPowerPC, Digital Storm, Origin PC, and more.

Overall, understand these companies do not create/make the components or parts they simply put all parts together to create a functional computer which may sound simple, but can be challenging for those not technically inclined.

Also most prebuilts at an average consumer level will have cases with branding on them and are solid non-transparent which is done to prevent you from seeing inside of the computer, however, a custom gaming prebuilt computer usually have transparent cases often utilizing tempered glass.

What does building a computer yourself mean?

Simple, building a computer yourself is taking out the middleman of having a company or another individual assemble one for you. People building their own computers often use websites such as PCPartPicker to hand pick out every single component part for their computer purchasing from multiple suppliers and different manufacturers to then be shipped to themselves as most supplier or business will not have every single part available in their supply, so it requires branching out to multiple suppliers.

Often individuals will choose this route when looking for the best-of-the-best in computers since hand selecting each component part yields fine tuning a well made to specifications computer likely to stay within budget and be at the peak performance for the individual.

So which should you go for a prebuilt computer or building a computer yourself?

In the end, it is up to the individual and their needs possibly technical abilities to decide. Most individuals will go for a prebuilt or custom prebuilt where they are able to alter component parts to their liking and have the company assemble it for them. This comes some perks from year long to multi year warranties, technical IT support, and saving time from assembling all of which are valuable items to have when things go wrong.

Building a computer yourself yields saving money by selecting component parts often overtime as deals come through and being able to attempt maximizing performance plus learning a new skill in being able to self repair if anything was to happen down the road. Generally, people should choose either considering some factors such as their budget, performance needs, or technical abilities in which option is the best for them.

 

 

References

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/prebuilt-pc-vs-custom-pc.html

https://www.pcgamer.com/should-you-buy-or-build-a-gaming-pc/

https://www.tomshardware.com/features/buy-or-build-gaming-pc

https://www.ibuypower.com/

https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

https://www.digitalstorm.com/

https://www.originpc.com/

What Does A Software Engineer Do In An Average Work Day?

Richard on
https://woz-u.com/blog/what-do-software-engineers-do/

If you are interested in the career of being a Software Engineer there is a few things you should know about the job and its duties.

Understand, there is a such a wide blanket of jobs and position under the title of a Software Engineer in a sense it has become a generic job term similar to how the title of a Doctor when specified has specialties under the title such as Cardiologist, Dermatologist, Endocrinologist, etc.

Software Engineer Career Path. Source

We will be viewing the general entry-level Software Engineer job and duties before entering into specializing into specific roles such as web developer, mobile developer, data engineer, project manager, scrum master, and more.

Reality vs Stereotype

A common perception when most people imagine a Software Engineer they envision someone alone by themselves at a computer, furiously typing at a keyboard, and possibly in a basement with no windows. Often similar perceptions to the stereotyped hacker lone wolf a common misconception to the common day Software Engineer now a days.

The reality is software programs today require a vast amount of teamwork working in large teams, planning ahead of coding, and relatively large amount of infrastructure to often make something viable for a company.

Gone are the days of a lone wolf, now companies hire a diverse amount of skills and technical abilities in order to create teams to tackle these large scale problems or creating new software programs.

At the basic level Software Engineer is just a normal office job, but technical

Most parts are simply doing what any other office job has being meetings and meetings then likely more meetings with sprinkles of coding spread into the schedule. Along with responding to emails and drinking absorbent amount of company provided free coffee and tea throughout the day.

Often this can be a shock for those transitioning from university to the workforce as some believe it should be different for a field such as tech being fast paced and forever changing constantly.

A common day could be described as:

7:30  am – Wake up
8:30  am – Reach office and check email
9:00  am – Daily / Weekly standup meeting
9:30  am - Start coding
11:30 am – Agile meeting
12:15 pm - Lunch!
1:30  pm – Back to coding, usually with coffee or tea
3:00  pm – Collaboration meetings
5:00  pm – Send emails and completing final task to wrap up for the day

Many will end up in a similar job being they go on to work for a corporation or company even those that go off to work at a software startup with their ping pong tables and xbox gaming kitchen in the office these duties still exist and are needed to progress in development of software.

There are many perks to this career this may have not seem as such maybe another post will come up to talk about all the perks of this job and career, so subscribe to the blog!

 

 

 

References

https://codingnomads.co/blog/what-does-a-software-engineer-do/

The Credit Card Recession

Richard on

Once the pandemic hit many creditors took notice and acted swiftly in a very obvious direction of tighten the reins restricting on how much credit they offered to customers in order to minimize their risk.

Many of the major creditors have followed this path in order to reduce their risk on how much credit they extend to customers this includes both reducing credit limits along with closing accounts deemed overextended in credit expenditure.

This effected everyone as individuals with high 700 credit score, very long credit history, and never missed payments either had their credit limits decreased or accounts closed overnight.

What can be done to stop your credit limit being decreased or account closed

Nothing. This is well within the rights of creditors and they can do so immediately, at any time or duration, without being required to notify the individual essentially happening overnight and those customers usually find out when they wake up through an email.

Often a robot or AI once given certain parameters will determine all credit card accounts in their portfolio to be inside or outside the new risk tolerance of the company and will immediately either reduce the credit line or close those accounts, so the decision is generally decided by a machine rather than a human being.

There is the option after the fact once your credit limit has been lowered to contact the issuer and ask for your credit limit to be restored to the original limit number. Some have been successful if they have multiple lines of credit or banking with the issuer through decades of history with the financial institution especially a credit union.

However considering even the best credit score and history individuals are being denied it is a toss up on results. If the credit card account itself was closed there is very little chance of the decision being overturned.

How does this affect you?

When a card has the credit limit altered or even closed then the balance vs limit comes into play and results in a higher or lower credit utilization ratio.

The importance of the credit utilization ratio is it makes up a significant amount of your credit score as it has a high impact worth of the credit profile and when utilization is higher which is bad can result in often denied credit card applications, credit line increases, car loans, mortgage loans, etc.

Credit Utilization Chart. Source

A very important part of credit and when credit card limits are lowered or closed then the utilization ratio if a balance is present will significantly rise as often thousands of credit line extended are retracted from the overall credit profile.

Along with some individuals will have multiple credit cards from one credit card company and if they all are closed can cause a person to lose a high portion of their total available credit limit to go down.

Overall, this is a natural normal process that goes on during troubled economic times there is not much else to do beside vigilantly checking ones overall credit profile and simply waiting for the tides to turn.

 

 

 

References

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/19/you-might-not-get-approved-for-a-new-credit-card-right-now.html

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/issuers-lower-credit-limits-coronavirus-response/

https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/credit-card-issuers-lower-credit-limits-what-to-do-2020-4