Journey Through Domains, DIMMs, and Debugging

After publishing my first post last week, I dove head-first into some brand new territory. What started as the simple task of updating my LinkedIn, launching this blog, and attaching it to my LinkedIn page quickly turned into one of my most hands-on technical weeks yet. This was not just theory anymore. I was actually building things.

The DNS Side Quest

When I published my first blog post, I decided to attach it to my LinkedIn account. It turns out that LinkedIn is very picky about what links you put in your experience and featured sections. So I did what any sane person would do at 2 in the morning — I bought a domain name. This sent me down my first real-world experience with DNS records. Setting up A records and CNAMEs, troubleshooting propagation delays, and realizing just how invisible DNS errors can be was both frustrating and surprisingly satisfying.

In typical career shift fashion, while I was lying in bed trying to wrap my head around DNS propagation, my bed frame collapsed underneath me. That led to an emergency bedroom rearrange at 5 AM.

Seeing my blog finally go live under my own domain was a small victory, but an important one. This side quest gave me my first taste of real-world configuration work, something I know will pay off once I start doing labs for my future certifications.

Memory Access Pathways and Mental Roadblocks

I officially wrapped up Chapter 3 of my A+ studies this week and moved into Chapter 4, where I ran into one of my first serious roadblocks: Memory Access Pathways.

What started as simple RAM quickly turned into diving deep into data buses, address buses, memory controllers, and understanding how modern systems actually move data back and forth. I had to backtrack into CPU architecture to even make sense of it. Once I worked through the confusion, everything started to click.

I even built out some personal diagrams to help myself better visualize the data pathways. This is my favorite one so far:

I plan on making more of these for harder-to-grasp concepts. I might pick a day and knock out a batch of them. These can be made directly inside Obsidian using the Excalidraw plugin, which allows me to link or embed the diagrams right into my notes. It’s proven to be pretty useful so far.

This was one of those moments where I could feel my understanding shift from memorizing terms to truly grasping how these systems interact.

The RAM Breakdown

After working through Memory Access Pathways, I finished out Chapter 4 and completely restructured my notes into a more atomic format. I broke RAM down by generation — DDR3, DDR4, DDR5 — and started building connections between architecture, installation procedures, troubleshooting, and system requirements and recommendations.

Some of the Windows material I’m studying is already starting to phase out in real life, like the gradual migration of some Control Panel applets to the Settings app (along with the removal of hotkeys to access them). But knowing both the old and new approaches helps me better understand how Windows evolved and where it’s heading.

The Non-Study Days

This week was not just study. I spent time with the kids, including a mini technical project of its own: setting up cross-platform Minecraft multiplayer between Switch, Steam Deck, and PC. This turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. It involved parental controls across multiple ecosystems, Microsoft Family (and Xbox Family) and Google Family Link, Nintendo accounts, and a surprising amount of research. There was also a ridiculous number of apps needed to get everything working.

While this isn’t exam content, one of my focus points with this career shift is making sure that I’m not neglecting my family. I know my studying will eat into time that I could be spending with them, but I want to plan things with and for them that include working on skills like this. One of the things I started doing was having the kids run me through the practice tests at the end of each chapter.

I try to make sure they understand that this work I’m putting in is for their benefit as well. And who knows, maybe they’ll pick up a few things along the way. Maybe they’ll even find an interest in the IT world too.

Financial Planning and Preparation

In addition to studying and technical work, I also took time this week to sit down and focus on financial planning for the transition. With the internship, part-time work, and the baby on the way, I want to stay on top of every aspect of our budget.

I read a really interesting article that suggested using ChatGPT to analyze bank statements (after removing any identifying information of course) to create a personalized plan to pay off debt, hit personal goals, recognize forgotten subscriptions, and suggest ways to trim unnecessary spending. Naturally, I had to give it a shot.

We reviewed our current expenses, built out an updated monthly budget, and worked through some contingency plans for the months ahead. To my surprise, it was able to create a solid plan that would leave me with a substantial amount of money left over each month, even after taking a significant pay cut of $10–13 per hour and dropping my hours to make this leap into IT.

This step was just as important as any technical study. If I am going to make this career change work, I have to make sure my family is good first and foremost. Seeing the numbers laid out helps take some of the uncertainty out of the process and gives me even more confidence moving forward.

Looking Ahead

Next week will be a little bit lighter on work hours, so there will be more time to dive into a few more chapters. I plan to use lighter study days for reviewing and refining my notes while continuing to expand my tagging system inside Obsidian. I also plan on looking into some of the different A+ labs available, and may set up the spare PC I have in the living room as another device to use for labs. I'm thinking multiple VMs with remote access capabilities, and maybe even tying it into the new domain name I set up.

Every week gets a little more technical and a lot more exciting.

One cert at a time, still all in.

Week 2: Domains, DIMMs, and Debugging My Own Brain