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The Problem with the Computer Repair Industry
We’ve all heard of of the dodgy car mechanic that will say all sorts of things are wrong even though you only brought your car in for a simple oil change. People are beginning to fear a new type of tradesman, the dodgy computer repair technician.
So whats wrong with the computer repair industry?
The problem with this industry is there is a low barrier of entry. Simply register a business and off you go. Most other important professional jobs have some sort of a standard qualification they need to have, like a dentist, doctor or a vet. All of these jobs also have a governing body that enforces its standards of competency and ethics on those who are self employed.
In this day and age you cannot deny that the job of a computer technician is less important than any of these high end jobs. All of these businesses would store their most important information on a computer such as their list of clients, accounting information or bookings. Without these they would be in big trouble.
Sure, there are many qualifications out there such as A+, MSCE, MCP and Cisco to ensure some competency, but most clients don’t even know what they stand for let alone what they entail. In my six years as a professional computer technician, I have only been asked about my certifications six times, and most of those where in my early days. The A+ certification is a sign of basic computer technician competence but there is nothing to stop you from starting a business without it; and having it doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to actually do business ethically.
On the other hand, I find in the world of being a self employed computer technician, certification doesn’t really mean anything. I have seen certified technicians who don’t know a thing, and un-certified technicians who are absolutely amazing at what they do.
Unfortunately for these amazing, yet un-certified technicians in the world of working for someone else, job recruiters use certifications to thin out the list for the potential employees so the un-certified technicians are less likely to get a job.
Something else that is wrong with the computer repair industry is the level of business ethics that are being used. Just yesterday I came across a computer that had a CPU and Motherboard failure. The client took it to the local repair shop and they installed a new CPU and motherboard. However as most experienced technicians already know, Windows rarely works after a Motherboard and CPU change so the shop did a repair install and gave it back to them.
In my experience, I have never seen a repair install work 100%, there are always weird bugs afterwards and this incident was no different. Internet Explorer wouldn’t accept any URL’s entered into its address bar, the Windows license key that the system was currently using wasn’t the same as the clients legitimate copy stuck to their case. There were many other small bugs caused by registry problems and if the repair shop only did a few clicks around the desktop they would have spotted it.
They called me to come fix it which is when the client was telling me what they did with the other repair shop. Let me just say they weren’t happy paying $800 for a non functional computer. Even though that $800 was for the parts only, one would expect the computer is working properly after they pay it. Its businesses like these that give the whole industry a bad name.
If they had asked me to replace the parts, I would have replaced the parts and charged a little more to format and patch the system. Although it would cost more, they would be getting back what they expect, a usable computer.
Now we come to the price problem. People seem to not view computer technicians as a professional occupation and try haggle us on price. Would you haggle with your dentist? would you haggle with your doctor? no! because its a professional occupation and you have to expect a fee.
I believe part of the reason why we arent viewed as a professional occupation is because most families have a cousin/nephew/colleague who “can fix computers”. This leads to a “why should I pay you $60 per hour when my cousin will do it for $20?” kind of attitude. When they decide not to pay your $60 per hour fee they often look on sites like Craigslist and call out a $25 per hour technician. When this inexperienced technician does a bad job, suddenly the client thinks that all the people in the computer repair industry are scammers!
Sure, there are also expensive technicians who don’t do a good job because these stores hire inexperienced teenage boys to work on the clients computers which gives the high cost computer repair shops a bad name.
So we have cheap technicians and big expensive ones giving the industry a bad name. Our services are undervalued because their cousin thinks he “can fix computers”. Competent and experienced technicians often have trouble getting jobs because the employment agencies use certifications as a filter and instead hire certified but inexperienced technicians. Many of these technicians take low paying jobs in the corporate world so they can get their foot in their door, which further devalues the our services in the eyes of employers… that’s whats wrong with the computer repair industry.
What do you guys think?
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The guy who fixes my car has a five year journeyman education system where at the end of each level he/she must pass a test and in between test there is a one or two year hands on experience and each level of testing is certified by the government but the schooling is done by local collages
This is the same for all tradesmen in the modern world carpenters plumbers electricians etc.
So why don’t we have the same arrangement ?
I agree 100% with you Cate. Government regulations and government certifications are worthless.(IMHO about everything the government puts their hands on is worthless)If you do a good job, word of mouth will build you a reputation that is worth many certifications.
I couldn’t agree with you more…”We” as a professional trade, need to collectively find a solution to this growing problem. Though this also is a problem within itself…
You are spot on Bryce. Pretty much everything you talk about I have seen. I still think some techies price themselves out of a job. I agree that some jobs call for a true tech. but some the cousin can do just fine and not charge an arm an leg to do it.
I would agree. You can go to a shop with an ASE certified mechanic and expect the service to be performed correctly, but it will cost more than a backyard bob mechanic. The aspect of “my cousin can fix my PC” has been thrown at us as well, but we respond with a polite comment similar to, “well when he is finished and you need a little more help, we will still be here.” Our best advertisement is our happy customers. Often times we will offer a free evaluation of their problem if they feel every shop is out to take advantage of them. Much like I feel there should be an internet drivers license, why not have a technician’s license as well.
I am not in favor of creating some sort of government/quasi-government regulated set of qualifications in order to work on computers. I fall into the category of people who don’t have lots of letters they can write after their names, but who do an amazing job of servicing customers’ computers.
We don’t need more regulations; regulations don’t work. If people want their nephews to fix their cars, they can have their nephews fix their cars, too.
People who want to do business with someone who has lots of degrees, certificates, etc. will find the technicians who have those qualifications. People who want to do business with someone who has a business license, who has a good reputation, who has no BBB complaints against them — they’ll find us.
Because someone has “qualifications” and a business license doesn’t guarantee that they don’t have the ethics of a snake. If it did, we wouldn’t be subjected to countless “exposes” about big box stores that simply install Windows on top of itself and call it a fix, or see people hardware they don’t need while surfing pr0n on the client’s machine.
It’s up to everyone who runs a business to do the right thing, including a business that fixes computers. The bad technicians don’t get repeat business and they don’t get word of mouth recommendations, and that’s what keeps the good technicians in business. That’s certainly not unique to computer work. Do you keep taking your car back to the same mechanic who did you down?
oops!
or see people hardware they don’t need…
that should be SELL.
I don’t need a spell checker as much as I need a stupid mistake checker.
Just with respect to the repair install comment. I’m sorry that you don’t have much confidence in it. It is used reasonably often with good success by us. It once again resolves the issue of a clean install “looking different and not like it was before” etc.
I agree absolutely. All very valid points.
Having no formal education myself in the field, I have often been approached by friends and family to fix hardware/software issues.
I have been building systems since the p75 days.
There is a lack of ownership in this industry that leaves a bitter taste in peoples mouths. They get gouged for outrageous prices from independent vendors. Local Mon n Pop stores who will tell them anything to make a sale. They generally don’t find out till months later they purchased something they don’t really need and the only reason they bought it was because of a silver tongued salesman. There is no governing body in the industry and no responsibility for actions or bad advice. As stated in the article “I have seen certified technicians who don’t know a thing, and un-certified technicians who are absolutely amazing at what they do.” So no amount of degrees or certification’s or education can make a good tech. In the end its up to the consumer to decide for themselves. Would you walk into the garage with the mechanic with perfectly manicured nails and ask him to change you head gasket? Probably not. You would go with the dirty tobacco chewing mechanic. It is all about presentation and interpretation folks. Government will never give credibility to the p.c repair industry, it is flooded with way too many avg. Joe’s who have managed to create a partition or dump windows and manage to get past the format stage. All of a sudden they think they know it all. Government will/can never regulate this industry because it doesn’t profit government. They can regulate aviation as well as the automotive industry. A bsod or messed up Mbr is hardly what I would classify as mission critical. So imho will will never see regulation. Just my 2 cents.
I started an onsite computer business in 2005 and have a 1600 customer base. I’ve got an MCSE/MCDBA cert both of whic are fairly worthless. You know what matters? I care about my customers. Sometimes I screw up. I admit it to my custmers and return their money if warranted. Most of the time I do a great job not becaues I have certifications but because I’m a businessman in a service industry that survice by natural selection. The big box stores pay their people crap. Their employees could care less and it shows. I DO care about my customers. I sell service that happens to be computer based but is service first just like any other successful service business.
Stick your certifications and regulation where the bytes don’t shine. Go back and read some Ann Rand. I really disagree with a lot of what she says but damn if I don’t feel the capitalist fever when someone talks about how businesses should be run.
Power to natural capitalist selection!!
there are always going to be bad techs out there just like there are always going to be con-artists out there
what we have to do is give the people a reason to use a certified technician and not there 10.00 an hour cousin
what we should be doing is disassociating our selves as technician from computer sales because the difference between your 10.00 per hour cousin and the mom and pop store or even the big block stores is computer sales.
Do you think that any employed technician is going to risk his job for anybody if the boss says we have to push sales of new computers
But if you don’t have sales or huge amounts of overhead IE a boss collecting thousands for supervision and doing very little or a big shop that stands empty most of the time the prices you need to charge drop a whole lot to the el-cheap O’ range up to the modest range and then you can explain to the customer that the difference between you 10.00 per hour cousin and me is that I am a professional technician with “X” amount of years of experience, training certifications from Microsoft, from Cisco etc.and I also have a written customer service policy does your cousin have that
I couldn’t agree more there are bad Techs out there that just don’t give a damm about their customers..
When a customer say’s to me her nephew can do it for
Makes sense to me!
Wow! What a can of worms you opened Bryce! That said, Excellent Article, if it does nothing more than to take the “less than honorable” tech and make him/her honorable, it was worth it.
Personally, I agree with Bill Schubert, certs don’t really matter to the customer, and you should take care of your customers just as you would yourself! Think, “how would I like to be treated”.
On a last note…UNION…Anyone ever thought of a Union for computer techs? I’d love to hear thoughts on that one!?!
Chuck -> What exactly are you saying besides having a Pissing contest and flaming others on this thread?
Another consideration in this discussion is the practice of over charging customers for basic work. It’s been well documented that a hospital will gladly charge you $10 for an aspirin or $30 for a kleenex, and they won’t tell you this before hand. And I’m sure no one believes that is justified. I’ve done contract work for some popular online businesses that charge way too much for something as simple as data migration, or installing anti-spyware apps. Different tiers of expertise are needed depending on complexity of the problem. Just because you have 30 years experience isn’t justification for charging $75 an hour for work that somebodies cousin can fix. Unlike being a doctor or lawyer, the average computer tech can be virtually self taught with little or no formal education and still be a successful professional. The reality is that there are a lot of technicians in the marketplace with various degrees experience who can do the work, and a lot of cousins that can do the work too. The market controls what a computer tech is worth and as long as there are people willing to work for next to nothing that is how we will e valued.
Well unfortunately, I am not fluent in broken English :)
when a person can go from knowing almost nothing about computers to having all there certs in a matter of about 2 years of schooling and a few hours of exams plus about 50,000 dollars in student loans over there head
and where the industry asks for all that and 2 to 5 years experience just to get an entry level job at minimum wage what the hell do you expect most of us to do.
We are expected after the schooling is out to be an Engineer a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) but this is a made up degree by microsoft itself in the real world this means nothing because its a self regulating industry
no other controlling industry in the world is self regulating
carpenter, electrician, plumber, auto mechanic taxi driver,airline pilot etc are are controlled and regulated by outside sources such as federal government
And if you don’t think that a computer Tech controls the world just look at what controls the financial industry today and most of the other industries around the world its not the big wigs with all there money its a lonely little black box stuck in a corner of a building quietly doing all the things its told to do with a fat little guy in short sleeve shirt typing away at the keyboard and staring at the monitor at the amazing blinking cursor.
This was an excellent article and commentary. I could not agree with you more. Recently had a very similar scenario in which the “repair company” not only corrupted the image restores, but when I had to reload the server, and opened the case, the SCSI card was hanging outside the pci slot by 8 pins! Could not utilize the raid array and the ‘client’ already ‘invested’ 2-3k in repairs through this company!
It took 36 hours and more to get them back up and running and another bill of course to with another COMPETENT tech to get this small network up and running with better than before proficiency…
I don’t know what the answer is, other than those of us who have integrity, need to keep plugging on and serving our customers and minimizing the ‘rock throwing’ and just serve.
my 2cents…
I’d agree with most of the content of the article. Our industry is really backwards and we have to find a way to show technicians are competent and able to troubleshoot.
I suggest performance based certification exams – that is you have to actually go through the process of troubleshooting a problem instead of memorizing a bunch of facts and information. That’s why they have clinicals for nurses…
Businesses and home users have relied on gurus, nerds, geeks and techies since the beginning of computers. These specialist were not always the most socialized or civilized or orthodox people. Take these self made folks plus the DIY atmosphere and you do not have an clean avenue for transferable skills let alone business ethics.
I just graduated from a business college, got an associates in PC support, A+ and Network+ certifications. Ethics and career development were part of the coursework. Some people don’t have ethical bones in their bodies. Some have screw people tendencies. Anyway, I agree that what is missing is troubleshooting and problem solving practice. But schools are strapped for time to cover so much material and it’s so general.
Job recruiters ask for specific task oriented experience making it hard for a new guy to get into the tech field. In the old days, businesses groomed you for the job, these days you are expected to be pre-trained and experienced. Certs without experience means nothing as I am constantly reminded. How do you get the experience? I am looking for work.
I belive a guild could hold the proper structure for the computer indusrty. It would allow people to enter the field with little or no experience, be guided by knowlegeable and experienced teachers, and promoted and educated in a structured environment. I have also considered, evolving into a teaching company, where students are borught in, pay to get some lessons, then are put to work at a “minimum” wage, as they are guided through the drugery of industry, then educated some more, and then back to hands on experience. This would help weed people out who do not really want to have job in the computer field. It would also allow people to find which role they would be best suited for. Phone support (levels 1-developer) hands on debugging and repair of hardware problems, spyware & virus removal, teaching, scripting, etc
— Tim
What a great article!! Looking at all of the opinions and attitudes, it’s clear that we good technicians are tired of being categorized with the not-so-ethical-ones. Most of my repair work is done fixing something again that some other “technician” fixed before. Good and ethical technicians stick out and will always be in demand because of the smucks. Let your professionalism, good attituede, technical skills, and IT knowlege speak for you.
Shannon:
I agree, Thats why I said I believe some techies are pricing themselves right out of work. Its pretty simple business really, It works like this: If I have a restaurant and its buffet style, I charge $20 for two people to eat. Then another restaurant opens up right down the road from me serving the same foods but charge only $15 for two, I have to drop my price some or I’m no longer competitive. I might not like it but thats the way it works.
On some things like data recovery I can understand wanting the high dollar tech with expensive software and tools. But if its as simple as installing software and basic clean up, or installing a DVD drive, Why pay someone $75 to $125 an hour when someone else can do the exact same job for $20-$30? I don’t care what your certs are that’s a rip off. As more people learn how to work on computers and the price of new systems goes down techies will have to drop their prices or find something that pays more.
The article hits the problem on the head. I have been a technician for about 20 years. Finding a job becomes a pain because I don’t have the certs. My tactic now when asked about certs is to state that I have actually been working in the field doing the job and not taking time off to get a cert for something I already know. Every company I have ever worked for will, after about 2 to 3 weeks state to my face “are we ever happy we found you”. My broad knowledge base and years in the industry mean that I can tackle equipment that was around before the junior tech was out of diapers.
A guild set up of some type might be cool but it smacks of unions. There have been a number of forums on line talking about tech unions, there are good points and bad. A new person couldn’t go wrong guided by a knowledgeable and experienced group of people but would that set up create a loss of control situation also?
To you older guys and to businesses I say how does the torch get passed on to the next generation who didn’t cut their teeth on burning circuit boards? Folks are too busy these days to take someone under their wing and school them. Computers today don’t have the attraction they had when they were new technology. Still someone is going to have to maintain them and replace them after all you knowledgeable and experienced folks go off line. Maybe your knowledge and experience will fuel new consulting businesses leading an pack of techies. That would be better than the present recruiter scenario.
i’m pretty new to this site, but I appreciate articles like this and the discussion it generates.
to gunslinger, I’d like to say that the reason to pay someone the $75-$125 hour for the tasks you mention (from a small business perspective) is because often those simple tasks are not the only ones an SMB will have. At some point it is more cost effective to have a sole source provider for your technology needs and if that means I pay $75/hr for a simple task to a proven technician who I can also bring in for the more complex tasks, then so be it. The cost of finding the $20-$30 technician, plus the cost of setting up the accounting for a new vendor, plus the risk beta of an unknown resource makes the $75 look like not such a bad thing.
The point of all that is to say, make yourself a known trusted resource to a business and they’ll pay the higher dollar for the easy work. Make the business case for your $75-$125 rate and you won’t have to chase the simple work and try to match the dirt cheap pricing of others. Just my 2 cents.
The problem is you guys confuse computer repair with other things that require advanced knowledge. A computer tech is at best an entry level person who’s main purpose is to follow instructions of techs and engineers at higher levels. The average pay is only $8-$12 an hr for these positions.
I fit into your overpriced tech category. But I can walk into any situation and actually fix it. I don’t even have to Google the problem!!! (gasp). We do forensics work so finding an unknown malware or zero day exploit is no problem, and we do security so when we leave your medical office you know you are still HIPAA compliant. We can fix linux, Windows, Netware and any type of network problem
The biggest problem is techs nowadays really shouldn’t even be called techs. Running software to clean a virus doesn’t make you a tech. Googling a BSOD error doesn’t make you a tech. Swapping a MB doesn’t make you a tech.
The ability to solve a problem on your own without help makes you a tech. Not swapping parts until a problem is fixed makes you a tech. Fixing dll conflicts without formatting and reinstalling makes you a tech.
Fortunately most businesses don’t just grab anyone off the street. thats why our customers are loyal to us, even though daily some little googletech comes along offering them superior service for half the rates..
Dinosaur,
Outside of being very arrogant and God-like, what does your comment have to do with relating to the article? The rest of us will never claim to know everything like you do. When was the last time you bumped into a problem, and you didn’t know the answer. Sounds like you never have. Which either makes either you very fortunate or very limited in experience.
And here I thought google (internet) was an excellent source of information and swapping hardware with known good hardware isn’t a easiest way sniff out hardware problems? So when I fix my customers computer problems in a timely manner at price they can afford, I am going about it all wrong? One more thing I have yet to find a computer problem I couldn’t fix
i am computer enginer but now i am webdesigner….i know this industry you will not get good service engineers….
I definitely agree with you. I’m not a computer technician but have had a few problems with a past repair company and found out that they weren’t really qualified. I didn’t know what to ask them and still don’t – the industry could use some entrance barriers but if their too harsh it could keep a few good men out.
As I said before a lot of new guys grew up with using the technology but not while the technology was being formed. Some of you folks seem to resent new guys coming into the field as if we are supposed to have the knowledge imprinted in our brains at birth. I can’t ever recall that having a photographic memory with total recall was a prerequisite for being considered a tech. Solving problems could take any resource that is at our disposal be it the internet, asking for help or figuring it out on our own or tools someone invented to do the job. You older guys with years of uncertified experience will probably never admit you were at one time “wet behind the ears” too. Maybe it’s just a natural ability to see faults and fix stuff and you don’t want some young “googling” upstart mushing in on your market share. What is wrong with the computer repair industry is that some older guys want to keep the knowledge and thus the business to themselves. We new folk are being discouraged from getting involved unless we’re a prodigy or technical wizard or something (geek, nerd, techie or guru). I went to interview for a job at a call center. The head guy ask me during the questioning if I knew how to get into the MS Windows registry to fix a particular problem. That kind of problem was not the kind of thing a new tech is supposed to be expected to know. That was his way of saying you are inexperienced and I can’t pay you much. I know that those problems are recorded in the company database along with their solutions and maybe the few techs who dealt with that problem even remember how to do it. I told him where to stick that job. Old guy attitude is what is wrong in the industry. Unless I have carnal knowledge of a computer, I will never be a Tech. What I see is a career track from a avid computer enthusiast to a don’t bother me kid I know all the tech stuff and you don’t, situation. Sort of like the Rolling Stones, still rocking in their 60’s. Maybe while doing technical miracles for clients who can afford your pedigree you could stoop to consult for the next in line want-to-be technicians who would do the things that are beneath your dignity (like installs, running software and swapping MB’s). You could over time drop enough pearls of wisdom to ensure the annals of technical history will not forget you. You see, want-to-be techs have attitudes too.
@Dinosaur
Thats got to be the most arrogant, stupid thing I have ever seen on Technibble or any other forum.You have never come across a problem that you did not know the answer to? Bull shit.The $8-$12 an hour guy you are speaking of works at the local computer shop on weekends and the local burger joint during the week. I resent being compared to that.Do you think because you do forensics thats makes you the tech god?
You say “The ability to solve a problem on your own without help makes you a tech.” where exactly did you learn how to solve these problem in the first place? You already knew how to fix them the very first time you seen them? Again, much bullshit. I know a few “real” computer techs. Guys that have been into fixing computers as a profession sense the late 70’s and they all learned either by trail and error or by talking with others that have had the same problem. These days that means google, or forums. Does looking up a problem that I have never seen before make me less of a tech than you? NO, It means that I’m not arrogant enough to think I already know it all. Me thinks all the certs have gone to your head and you have started to believe your own hype.
I suppose there’s much to be said about this issue, but everyone above have already mentioned everything that I was going to say, so I’ll just add one thing which I’ve had to tell more than one customer in the past, when I worked as a PC engineer, which shows that it is not always the engineer’s fault that a customer gets a bad view of the industry.
Every so often, I would be called out to a customer’s house to repair a PC that appeared (to the customer) as being beyond all repair. Of course, what looks to the customer as “beyond all repair” is not necessarily so to us. More often than not, all that needed to be done was just some basic maintenance, starting/stopping a service or just plugging the power lead back in…
Obviously, the customer then gets a bit offish, saying things like “Why should I pay you $70 (just an example) for just pressing a couple of keys? I could have done it myself!”.
My answer:
“You pay me $1 for pressing the keys, and you pay me $69 for knowing which keys to press.”
BTW, If it ever takes you less than 20 minutes to fix a problem for a paying customer, do some other stuff (i.e., general maintenance), make it look impressive – try not to get into a position where the customer will feel “cheated”.
Edan
I agree that if someone has a very high dollar rig or they’re in a corporate environment and data recovery is an issue. Then maybe the $70-$125 per hour technician could be justified. What I’m talking about is the home PC user who has a desktop or laptop system. That’s maybe two to five years old, and they just need it to work properly. Generally these people don’t seem to mind paying $30-$50 per hour for labor, any more than that and they balk. Why would they want to pay $125 per hour for lets say two hours of work and that would be hard-pressed to sell this computer it in proper working condition For $300. It would simply make more sense to go to the local Wal-Mart and buy a completely new system.
I would have to agree with the author of this article. It is an argument that I have made to several of my collegues. Thoses that do not possess certifications or degrees are often quick to flame those who have invested the time and money to earn them. The author’s point is very simple. Would you allow a doctor who did not pass his boards to operate on you. Well no because he wouldn’t even get that far. They are respected because they “passed a test” yet when a computer technician who is new to the field passes a test they are frowned upon. While believe that every role in the computer industry would have a certification attached to it. While vendor certs are important their should be a bare minimum level of competency exam. Exam serve as a measure of performance and while it is perfect indication of job performance, studies have shown that certified technicians save companies money. Microsoft and Cisco stand behind their certs by offering companies discounts to those who use certified professionals. One person stated that you don’t need a sledgehammer to swat a fly. That’s why tiered level certifications is so important in this industry. It would allow users to pick the right professional for the job. Also allow technicians to specialize in fields that they have a passion instead of being a jack of all trades, master of none.
i have a few quibs here. First while the article does reveal a few problems (wow what an understatement), it does nothing but misdirect on solutions. my first computer was a sinclair, my first computer with a GUI was a commadore 64 running westwood OS, My first BBS was on a commi 128. I’ve been fixing, repairing ect for a quite a while. Before my spinal surgery, my business was quite sucesseful. But i charged a simple 20 bucks an hour (this was in the early 90’s) and it stayed there till almost 2000 when i raised it to 35 bucks. certs?? what certs?? i just do my job well. I remember having a company (which will remain nameless) contact me to “service” one of their customers (i lived out in the boondocks). first thing i did was boot her machine and then call the company back and give the service manager an earful. They were trying to sell her a cpu when all she needed was a PSU. i explained how the voltage rail wored and how her computer wasn’t producing enough to keep things going (KISS always works) and all she really needed was to upgrade her power supply (she already added another HD and GPU hence the drain), but wait the good news isn’t over, they wanted me to install the CPU anyway. I hung up on the company told her to send it back and get the parts she needs (also gave her a biz card) then got online and made sure the BBB knew what was going on with that service company. My customers are all repeat customers (i ask) i get new customer by word of mouth. So as you can see, regulating, certification, guilds, ect won’t help. It’s the customer who needs educating. Well some techs do too but i’m not going into that rant, i’ve repaired way to many machines that have had “professional techs” working on them to even be remotly objective about it.
This was an excellent article and commentary.
Thanks
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“Just because you have 30 years experience isn’t justification for charging $75 an hour for work that somebodies cousin can fix.”
I disagree with that, as I am someone who has 30 years experience and does charge $75.00 an hour. Yes, it may be as simple as installing a piece of software that their cousin can do, but I doubt there cousin knows that even a simple software installation can wreck havoc on a PC because DLLs are replaced/modifed, other software is installed adjunct to the initial software installation, and that possible conflicts can result from these things, etc.
You aren’t paying me to install your software… anyone can do that. You are paying me for my knowledge and my time so that IF something does go wrong,I can fix it vs your cousin who just installs it and then when the PC is messed up says “uhh I dunno man. It installed ok. uhhhhhh…” Go ahead. Use the cousin, then call me to clean up his mess – OR – call me (or someone else equally qualified) in the first place and save both time and headache.
“On some things like data recovery I can understand wanting the high dollar tech with expensive software and tools. But if its as simple as installing software and basic clean up, or installing a DVD drive, Why pay someone $75 to $125 an hour when someone else can do the exact same job for $20-$30? I don’t care what your certs are that’s a rip off.”
Read above.
I also don’t have certs and if something thinks that certs alone qualifies them for that kind of pay, that are being mis-lead by whoever told them that giant lie.
@Dinosaur: “The ability to solve a problem on your own without help makes you a tech.”
WOW. All I can say is WOW. The sheer arrogance astounds me. To quote Emerson, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear the words coming out of your mouth.” I think others on here have made some points I would have made as well.
You sir are a pompus and arrogant a**.
Reading what you said about your 30 years of experience made sense. But what about the regular relatively new tech, business owner like myself with less than a decade of PC repair experience who also knows that software installs can cause problems. Am I worth $75 an hour when my FT Hospital Support tech job pays significantly less than that? Or even better is this, should I feel comfortable charging a customer $75 an hour, when someone else equally skilled can also do it for $50 an hour. All of us are constantly learning, Vista, OS X, even Linux. your 30 years of experience starts over so to speak when new platforms and technologies come out. So I guess the point I am making is for those who charge people $75 – $100+ an hour for something the customer could do if they just pressed yes, OK, and I Agree, seems in itself unethical to me. Thats just my opinion though and I know people will disagree, but that’s my opinion. I guess the next issue I would have with spending that kind of money would be the finished product. If I charged that I better not make a mistake EVER. Since I’m not perfect, and neither is anyone else, I could not see charging that for home consumer services.
I run an IT services business in the UK.
I think “Dodgy car mechanics” A very appropriate analogy!!
I know several businesses that quite literally run like a dodgy garage, ripping off customers, doing bad repairs, selling unnecessary parts, installing illegal copies of Windows and more.
The reputation of us genuine IT professionals is being tarnished by dodgy traders. But these dodgy traders are full of bullshit and sales talk, it works and people continue to flock to them leaving genuine businesses struggling for work.
We globally need to stand up and get these dodgy businesses shut down! There needs to be some sort of regular “anonymous customer” standards honesty testing in order to stay in business.
I find it amazing that so many in IT support continuously shortchange themselves. Charge $30/hr if you like, but if you spend even 15 minutes each way to and from the 1 hour job, 20 minutes talking to the customer (15 minutes beforehand, 5 min extra being “friendly”), a few minutes to set up and pay invoices, you already have over 2 hours invested.
Do you have an accountant? Do any advertising? Maintain a business website? Still more indirect costs. Have any of you called a pumber recently? An electrician? Carpenter? Let me know when you find one for $20-30/hr.
It has been my experience that most people who charge such low rates are in the “well I make $20/hr at work, so if I charge $30 on my own I’ll make good money” category. Maybe others just don’t like to make much money, who knows?
Personally, I charge $85, though I always combine and package services to give people a break, and my customers appreciate the level of service.
Right on! Why give away the knowledge you worked for?
No other successful professional does that!!!
In 6 years as a “certified” IT Professional, I have heard it all. “What do you mean $65 for you to drive 45 miles round trip and take care of what I know is a simple problem my cousin could fix if he lived in this town.” “I know you have not made a single cent on me but I need you to walk me through setting up my network server and 4 workstations over the phone! I have a business to run.(for free)” And on and on… Bottom line is there are some of us that do in fact know what we are doing. And others that don’t know their ass from their elbows. (IE That jack of all trades cousin in another state) If there is a problem with the price quoted to you, seek another.(wonderful thing about this world) There is no need to talk down to (Have heard “I have a real job, I spent 2 weeks in a strip mall learning real estate so I can sell homes worth 100k for 350k and completely screw up the American economy, what you do is worth nothing my cousin can do it.” or insult or claim its easy I could do it myself but… Well then sir/mam, you don’t need me or my expertise, and I don’t need to sit on the phone for who knows how long giving you what I spent time in school for, for free. Conclusion is human being are generally just full of shit mammals. Yes be polite be courteous, but never let some jack ass price your work for you, or undermine what you have spent time money and effort to learn.
100% agree with this article. I haven’t been in the field all that long, maybe 6 or 7 years, but even I am sometimes surprised by the incompetence of these so-called ‘tech guys’. My parents recently had a computer fixed at a local shop, and they also had them upgrade it from 2GB to 4GB RAM (4x1GB). They had the computer for 2 more days after repairing it, saying they were having problems with the MB/RAM etc. I went in and told them i would take the system home as-is. Turned out the MB just didn’t really like 4 DIMMs, and i had to up the voltage. Started right up.
Some of these folks deserve their good reputation, and some need to be driven out of business.
I repair all the brand of computers. i salve the all the errors of hardware of all computers.
Along with this and the other article involving regulation of the industry has anybody considered forming a tech union? Then we as technicians could regulate the industry ourselves, if we have a technician that is doing a poor job or scamming etc, they lose credit, as well as giving the people that would want to hire a technician an assessment of the technicians before they hire them by knowing that the “union” only works with quality techs. It would be a way to regulate without being intrusive as well as it being formed by like minded techs so rules and regulations are fair and understandable across the board.