Fearless to get hands dirty: the most valuable skill ever
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Most people in love with the old Thinkpads era say that today’s computers are built in a way that make them impossible to self-repair, and for that matter there have been newborn companies that try to solve this problem (for example, framework laptops). However, I completely disagree over this fact, as it is not a matter of being impossible, but just harder. It is true that there are companies that try to make it impossible (I am looking to you, Apple) by requiring you to buy specific tools, but it is not the general behaviour.
For example, not that long ago, I had a Xiaomi MI Mix 2s with a broken screen. New screens for this mobile (at the time of writing, are about €50); luckly for me, I found a second hand unit that was OK in terms of screen, but had a faulty motherboard, for just €25. I immediately bought that phone and repair my phone for just 25 bucks. Second hand units of this model are in my country for €100, and I have been a proud MI Mix 2s owner since launch date in 2018. This was my first phone repair ever, and I did not know much of what I was doing, but from now, to the end of the times, I will be capable of changing any mobile screen without even hesitating. I wish other people learn to do things this way and become self-sufficient as much as possible. You could argue that this required a lot of tools, but it did not. I wish I had a heat gun for that time to disassembly the screen, but I did not, I used instead a hair dryer. Anything can be a hammer if used properly.
After a while, an antenna connection got loose and I got myself a soldering station, the rework I did was not even succesful, but looks kind of nice and learned a lot of things.
