Computer Technicians 201: Expanding your market – SoHo repairs

Zen and the Art of SoHo Maintenance

Prior to getting to work, if there are any technicians employed there, try to steal a bit of their time and test your ideas against theirs, if possible. That way, you might get some useful hints, or an opposing view which might help you get the job done an alternative way. You might be there for the job, but if they’ve dealt or heard of something similar, an insight would definitely help.
The second biggest nuisance you can encounter is the SoHo network – whether wireless or wired, you have to consider the effect of disconnecting the computer on the overall network. If you’re performing maintenance on a terminal, you should have no trouble provided nobody is using data off it, or using its parallel or USB printer over the network – always enquire about that before shutting down, restarting or disconnecting the computer from the power grid. The same applies to using programs and utilities off the network – if you have to pull an installation package off the server or another computer, ask the manager for permission and share the resource temporarily. That way you’ll be able to avoid any odd cases of missing data or unprinted documents. You might get under fire by other employees for disrupting their work, whether or not you actually deserve it – after all, you’re a temporary employee and shouldn’t get in their way.

When performing software backups and reinstalls, be sure to make the reinstall a last resort option. First exhaust your whole stockpile of ideas and empty your sleeves of all tricks – use your whole utility toolkit if it’ll yield a result. If it doesn’t (and you’ve gone slowly and wisely so you didn’t do any damage to either the data or the OS), have a backup plan ready, literally. If the machine has a CDRW or DVDRW drive, after getting permission for it, use either an OS-integrated burning utility or a freeware program to burn the backup. If it’s not, and the machine’s actively on the network, elect another machine as its temporary backup host and start hauling files to the safe zone. In any case, start writing down all the settings you’d note for home computers, plus those like the workgroup name, TCP/IP settings for the network client (whether it’s a static network IP or a DHCP one) and previous locations of user files – office workers don’t like their file order disrupted, believe you me. Once you’ve taken those precautions, written down all the information and backed all the data up, proceed to format and reinstall.

Finally, if you’re dealing with a hardware issue, the most you can usually do is diagnose the error and inform the employer which component is faulty. Hardware issues are the biggest obstacle in any SoHo computer, mainly because you have to be absolutely certain which component is faulty. If you’ve pinpointed the component (and eliminated any obvious causes such as faulty cabling), inform the employer and let them know which component is the troublemaker, how much a replacement would cost, how long it would take you to repair it and whether or not work will be able to continue normally. If the hard drive’s dead, recommend a disk recovery company and bug out – recovering sensitive data can be done, but if you haven’t dealt with disk repair (with a reasonable success percentage), forward the work to the experts in the field.

Privacy, ethics and the codex of SoHo

One of the most important aspects of actually working on a SoHo repair job is your sense of morality and ethics. For instance, while creating a backup of a user terminal, you will have to deal with copying important work data as well as occasional personal files. While you might have someone looking over your shoulder to insure you don’t touch anything you shouldn’t, do not even attempt to read or copy any of the data for your own uses. This cannot be stressed enough. While at any workplace, you should be morally if not legally bound not to touch any data that’s not directly related to the work you’re there for. A professional technician would never, in the back of their head, even consider using any information that doesn’t directly concern them. In fact, especially when it comes to backups, you should consult with the main user of the computer you’re working so you can differentiate the personal from the professional data and know what’s important and what isn’t. Whatever you’re allowed to touch, only contact long enough to backup.

Personal data is a special category of its own. While most companies keep a firm policy on keeping any private files on their computers, the decision to back some of the employee’s own files is best left to agreement between you and the employee themselves. Unless you suspect something illegal, including the users’ benign files (such as their wallpaper, favorites and bookmarks, or funny images collected from the internet), it won’t do any harm to include them in the backup and later restore them. While not work-critical, they’re a part of the user’s computer, and unless they’re illegal or infected, there’s generally no harm in backing it up as well. While this might seem as a lenient or unprofessional behavior, remember that you’re the neutral component here. You’re not paid to oversee the employees here, you’re paid to perform your repair job, which does include user files if neccessary.

Paychecks and recurring employment

Provided you’ve done your job well and in a reasonable time, it’s time to go collect your paycheck. Before announcing that you’ve done your work, break out your calculator and start adding up to the bill. Since you’ve gotten to the point of SoHo repairs you should already have a prepared price list – calculate how much hours you’ve put into the task, what extra services you had to do – say, updating one computer while performing backup on another – and how much the final bill is. If your estimation of how much you’d need to perform your job was accurate enough, your employer most likely won’t complain about the final bill and you’ll be paid in full. Don’t let yourself get tracked off the final number on the bill – both you and the manager agreed to the price and it has to be followed to the letter. Should the employer refuse payment… that’s a case we won’t discuss here. Depending on your country and status (i.e. a student), certain laws might have you do extra paperwork and even include tax forms, however, some countries allow you to freely conduct repairs such as there so long as your yearly income doesn’t exceed a specific amount – consult a law expert or student advisor if you’re in doubt.

Finally, if all had gone well, you’ll be a proud owner of a SoHo-funded paycheck, and you’ve gained a certain amount of reputation which is higher than that you’d gain repairing only home computers. Since SoHos are minor businesses, they have funds at hand that permit them to call for your services more often than home users, and you might find yourself a monthly, semi-monthly or even weekly employee, depending on the amount of tune-up and repairs neccessary.

 
Written by Boris M