Tell us about a time when you had to teach yourself something?

I tried college for electronics but was bored out of my mind because they offered ZERO real life skills or training.

So i quit and went to work as a apprentice technician.

I then taught myself electronics at my own speed and made a very profitable career out of it.

Then a few years ago i needed a lawyer but didn't have the money so i studied law on my own and i used the the government's own legal system against them and won my case against the IRS and even made them pay me the same penalty charges and maximum interest rate they would charge YOU if you owed THEM money.

I moved to Italy without knowing a word of the language, and had to learn to speak Italian from scratch. 

Well, I have nvld (non verbal learning disabilities), so usually I have to teach myself how to do things because I learn differently. I can learn them, but it will either take a lot longer to learn, or I have to learn it in a different way. For example, when I took algebra in college, I had to do it one on one with a teacher. When I learned crochet, no one else I know can do more than just straight rows in single or double crochet, so I taught myself using a kit from the craft store, and now I know more than everyone else!

For crafts, painting, art and such, I usually turn to YouTube, but I've also taken a few classes at a local art supply store. When I was trying to figure out how to use my new sewing machine, I called the Singer company customer service number. When I tried to learn how to use DaVinci Resolve for editing videos, I watched tutorials on YouTube. 

Most of my life.

I look up how to do stuff all the time on the internet. Is that teaching myself or having someone else teach me? I didn't know how to make a neural network, had to look up how. 

My mother loved to do all kinds of needlework, but I especially admired her knitting.  I asked her to teach me to knit, but she was too impatient and busy with a large family to be of much help.  This was before the Internet.  

Then I noticed that the craft store sold small pamphlets teaching how to knit, and I bought one of those and taught myself. 

One day my  father was looking through one of my mom's pattern books and saw a man's sweater that he really liked, and asked if she could make it for him in blue.  My mom wasn't interested in making it at the time, but I decided I would do it for his Christmas present.  

My mom thought that was way too hard for a beginner and suggested I make a scarf instead. I started knitting the sweater anyway, and after knitting a few rows, I had my mom critique it, and she showed me something that I was doing wrong.  So I ripped the rows out and started all over again.  I'll never forget the look of joy on my Dad's face when he opened my gift and saw I that I had made him the sweater in his favorite shade of blue. 

For crafts, painting, art and such, I usually turn to YouTube, but I've also taken a few classes at a local art supply store. When I was trying to figure out how to use my new sewing machine, I called the Singer company customer service number. When I tried to learn how to use DaVinci Resolve for editing videos, I watched tutorials on YouTube. 

i had to learn how to use my new microwave, it took me a while to figure it out

When I was much younger I bought my first house. I asked the electricity company to re-connect the supply. They refused as the wiring was old and unsafe. So, being short of funds, I had to learn how to rewire the whole four bedroom property. There was no internet so I read books in the library and colleagues at work gave me good advice as I worked in a railway maintenance depot. I got one light circuit on so they had to connect. From then on it was learning on the job. That was half a century ago. Now my son-in-law and daughter are living there. It passed it's EICR safety test only last week so I must have done something right!