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Thread ID: 93481	2008-09-18 09:54:00	Venturing into a new job	qazwsxokmijn (102)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
706163	2008-09-19 09:15:00	....and just to backup one thing pctek said, know the older OS's. A majority of the computers I fix still use Windows 98	Myth (110)
706164	2008-09-19 09:32:00	I work fulltime in retail but do afterhours pc repair work, I have no formal IT qualifications, But have worked with computers since Windows 3.1 It would be fair to day I know them inside out, However I couldn't offer assistance with Macs or Linux, cause simply I have no experience, so I don't. So called "professional" repairers in my town leave much to be desired at times... Poor workmanship also one instance telling customers that Vista has been pulled off the shelf and everyone has to go back to XP!! Don't know where they got this advice?? It makes me wild when these so called Professionals misguide people and overcharge and under deliver. I have fixed many computers that they simply couldn't or said could not be fixed. Which makes me wonder how these people survive. While I was away my mother got her computer fixed by a store in town. What a horror story, 3 months later she got it back, O/S loaded but drivers missing, Internet not setup, she lost all her photos documents etc.. and was charged $300 for this Mess! I have a No fix no fee policy and I must say my success rate is extremely high. Probably around 99% of the time. I did have one customer the other day with a Toshiba Laptop Vista Home Premium and some kid at her daughters school had changed her Vista password, So I tried to boot from CD with some tools and the bios had a password also which she didn't know either. According to one website it had to be sent to toshiba to have the bios password reset and another website said 2 jumpers needed to be shorted on similar models - this to just unlock the bios, She didn't want to reinstall vista. Which I could have done from the hidden partition. So with the bios being locked there was no way I could access the cd rom drive to try and reset the password or recover her files. I tried to find the cmos battery to remove it in hope that it would remove the password. But short of striping the laptop any further I gave up. I returned the laptop and wished her best of luck. She was happy I tired and I explained to her that she would have to send it to an authorized Toshiba repairer I don't advertise, just word of mouth which keeps me plenty of busy enough. What the pctek and the others are saying is right, people will moan about anything. So be prepared. I charge $50 per hour, Which is also my minimum charge but I cap it at that for a lot of jobs even if it takes me 3 or 4 hours, because Scans etc can take ages, and I hate charging people. I prefer that people drop them off and pick them up, this is when I make it cheap. Workshop repairs are cheaper. I hate doing call outs and that's when I won't offer flat rates. I don't have the time or the energy. I use too but I have to much too do these days Friends always get a discount, sometimes free, first time always. I use to do them all as freebies but I had to draw the line somewhere. I offer flat rates which helps give peace of mind, and I aways go that extra. I wouldn't say that no qualifications equal cowboy service either, you can ask anyone of my customers they will offer great feedback about my repairs. I always go that extra mile. I'm not a network specialist either, however I don't get any demand for it from my customers, I have setup networks before - just my own and a couple for mates, but I really don't know them well enough. I would direct any customer to a network specialist. Tools I frequently use HJT Active@ Boot Disc Barts PE Trojan Remover Trend Micro housecall CCleaner System Mechanic Spybot Spyware Doctor Avast Killbox Memtest 86 My Advice Keep working at the Supermarket and offer to fix friends computers and their friends then start to charge them something if they are happy with your work. I would recommend that you ask your customers if they have backed up their important files, or back them up yourself before you undertake any work that may cause file loss. Which really could even be just turning it on. Anti-static straps are over rated, I have one, never use it, just be careful, However no harm in wearing one. Make sure you try and get details of what the problem is and try and find out what they were doing last or have installed leading up to this problem. You will find that they mislead you at times at what may be causing the problem. Most times unintentionally. If you are good, word of mouth will attract customers and you will have your self a good little earner, just don't take big steps to fast. Hope I have answered some of your questions. :thumbs: Very sensible advice I do something similar but on a smaller scale maybe only about one a month that's enough for now after all I still have my daytime job to do and I like to get out and do stuff (see my avatar)	gary67 (56)
706165	2008-09-19 10:31:00	I tried and failed. Muhahahahahahahaha. nevermind.:clap You tried. Thats the important bit. So many people don't try at anything. PJ.	Poppa John (284)
706166	2008-09-19 11:22:00	All my advice.... Damn, thanks a lot. Sure is a lot of help. I'll be making sure to include those programs in my USB stick too. I can't think of a more soul destroying place to work. :p. It's impossible to think of another one. When I left there were 17 advertising. Gone down a bit, huh., Gee.....I wonder why. Things changed since you left. The listings grew shorter every month. Unless you are really interested in it as a career don't. Pissing around playing at making a bit of money is worse. And flogging ****boxes from cheap shops off TM is a ripoff too. You are rapidly going down in my opinion. You want to really do it, then do it properly, not just because you hate the supermarket. Oh, I genuinely want to do it. I still like computers, and if I know how to fix computer stuff it's a bonus I can keep in my life on top of the main skill I'll be studying at uni. And I won't be flogging crap from TM. Lol. I know of pricespy. I just want to try for a month or two to start. May be a risk, but it's one I'm willing to take. Won't know if I don't try huh?	qazwsxokmijn (102)
706167	2008-09-19 11:24:00	What do you intend to do as a career? Do you plan to go to tertiary study and if so what interest you? I've been via many jobs and yeah they are all similar. Self employer - well, you have your own customers, so imagine yourself or your parents need help with say Student Loans or Student Allowance, the bank, your computer place you use, the plumber, the electrician, your ISP - how much crap you do you give them? That is what people would give you. IT. There is hardware as above. You can work for organisations, if they have a computer issue they want it fixed straight away, if not they cannot do their work and it spirals out, multi business units in the organisation would be impacted not meeting deadlines. This could affect the intranet, the internet, the network, the IP phone system, the email system, blocking access to specific software. Imagine say a bank, imagine say the student allowance system. There is software, imagine if the payroll system has a bug and everyone in the organisation's pay is affected. Imagine then next week their pay will be corrected and affecting the amounts they get paid, maybe payrises etc, or performance appraisals etc., are then delayed. Imagine if you set up a new kiosk system - what happen if there are bugs in the system and staff cannot do their monthly financial reports, if they cannot book travel and process expense claim forms, what happen if they cannot log / request annual leave or put down how many hours they work each day? IT is a support industry for the organisation. You can either work as support or work as project implementation. Project work is just that, risk taking, you have deadlines to meet and those in IT I know have known to work in weekends to get the job done or when they have been delayed and need to meet deadlines or work overtime during the weekday. Going away from IT. You maybe writing reports each week or each 2nd week and then a bigger one each month and then a even bigger one each 3 montly and one annually. Your deadlines are not yours but need to accomodated by others. If you are not bragged by customers you are bragged by your boss, collegaues and staff members from another business unit of that org. I have written reports etc. Because other depts may be slow or delayed it falls onto you cos you are author and then you need to give it to the more senior people to proof it etc.. and make changes or answer questions and head back to the many depts and get more details or clarification. Yes, you may mean you start work prior to 8, work later than 5, maybe take work back home and work on it or in the w'ends. Lunch break yeah .. head to the cafe and bring back lunch and eat it while you work on it and grab a cup of tea of coffee from the tea room. For myself, I have an interest in aviation, if I knew this before, maybe I would be better off in the army ... that would be a bit diff but it probably carry something that is also similar. By the way if you are thinking of working in IT self employed - you thought of your tax obligations and getting a GST number etc ... ?	Nomad (952)
706168	2008-09-19 11:43:00	What do you intend to do as a career? Do you plan to go to tertiary study and if so what interest you? I want to do something for wildlife and their environment.....you know, hippie stuff. Completely irrelevant to computers, but I want to keep computers as a hobby and if I can make some money out of a hobby, then it's a +! So I would be doing BsC in Bio science and envi science. Long term goal is Canada or N. America to work with wolves or Africa for the big cats. Was thinking China as well to help the only 30 surviving South China tigers to rebuild their natural status, but I think if I get too attached to them and they go extinct very soon (which is very much a BIG possibility at this rate), I'd become too devastated to work with wildlife again. I have no intention of doing PCs my whole life, though it is my second choice if ever I would become physically incapacitated to work with wildlife.	qazwsxokmijn (102)
706169	2008-09-19 11:59:00	IMO, customer service (types) are maybe the most feasible for a student. You could also look into office administration like a part time position if you want. I have known graduated law students doing that work prior to getting a job with a law firm. I also know another who was / still in administration while she got allowed to be a barrister. Maybe a visitor centre or customer service in a zoo or such? Some other crappier ones are like call centre roles, in bound calling, or out bound calling, telemarketers .... I've known those who have worked in clothes stores, bookshops, applicance stores, fast food restaurants, pizza deliveries, office admin at the uni, uni tutors, uni research assistants ...... Re: IT again. There could be a bug, like if data cannot be pulled out of those processing, therefore depts cannot do their forecasting.... If they are uploading something and it didn't work, it may mean it can only be scheduled each Friday night so its a week delayed, or if lucky, next evening or free day (w'end) and then they work overtime. I've known some IT guys who take shifts and some work up to say 10pm - esp with the finance and insurance firms which their workers work up to later.	Nomad (952)
706170	2008-09-19 12:51:00	Yeah, I know customer service is probably the easiest route I can take right now. Calling jobs? I'd castrate myself first thanks. :p Fast food restaurants? Again, I'll castrate myself first. Uni stuff I might go into, but my chances are quite slim. A friend of mine got lucky and landed a job watching over a few PC systems at the business building of UoA. And he has little IT experience. He is learning though.	qazwsxokmijn (102)
706171	2008-09-19 21:21:00	Things changed since you left. The listings grew shorter every month. And I won't be flogging crap from TM. Lol. I know of pricespy. Yes, because the cowboys go bust. So you will flog crap from Pricespy. If you are going to sell anything then do it properly.	pctek (84)
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