Career choices

Thanks for the help but I still want to address the issue of education: Do I need one? Is there an online course I can take? Things like that.
 

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You always need education (for yourself first) even to edit the fees/bills/contracts/quotes to your future customers and to be able to organize the shop storage, employers, talk to people that came visit the shop, chat with you waiting the time it got fix. Education to read the manuals, edit on your computers Excel tabs, and so on. In some part of the country manies are a little skilled to a lot are not and will call a repair shop because they can't bother handle repairing themselves (just not image the big city town guy unable to survive facing a grizzly and the country man that does need no one to survive). That's a fact too, so don't despair having no clients. As some told you, you will have to think around you the need of a repair shop and if they are many around too.

Its like a car mechanic that does repair old cars too, not only brand new electronics full set up cars. You can find the appropriate customers between modern technology and technology of the past. The choice is quite large between those two extremes.

Either you play it simple, or complicated that means more education and skills and longer studies
 
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I am going to college in a few years and wanted to do pc repairs and/or open my own place. I had a question for you guys who own your own tech repair places/owned your own tech repair places: what education did you have if any?

Any comments or info would be helpful.

p.s not sure if I should have put this in chat room.
pp.s any admin who want to move it to the correct location...


I just read your post for the first time. Sorry if I'm late to the party.


The first thing you MUST have is an aptitude for mechanics and electronics. That might be at least 90% of the pre-requisites. Electronics was my hobby even as a schoolboy. So as technology progressed, so did I.
My first personal computer was the Commodore 64. I didn't like the OS because it was so loaded with "Safe Defaults" it could hardly run. So I re-wrote the OS to make it faster, and that launched me into the Computer business.
I never did take a course in Mechanics, Electronics, Computer logic, or any of that stuff.
I opened my own Computer business in ~1980 and at 76 I'm still taking service calls.


But also, know this, , , the personal computer, either desktop or laptop is just about a thing of the past.
Smart phones are pretty much taking over the industry. So I would not suggest that any young man would go into the Computer repair business today, with the idea of making that a career. Jus sayin'.


Good Luck to you,
TechnoMage :cool:
 

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"...professional baccalaureate in technical college with option school of management..."
Very likely, a Bachelor of Science or Arts in either Business Management or Accounting, with courses covering enough electronics and mechanicals to ground you solidly into someday running your own business. While many many are experts in their respective fields, many businesses fail because "running the business" was not done very well.
You might consider working for a successful company, large or small, learning how successful folks run their business as well as gaining practice and knowledge doing whatever builds and repairs come by. Legally speaking, be aware of "Do Not Locally Compete" contracts signed earlier in the hiring phase, you might have to move to another locale, eventually, before you start and run your own business. Along with replace/repair, you can have a small inventory of related things for sale. Last, once you launch, get an equivalent of a Dun & Bradstreet collection agency on a retainer or per case basis, because you will have clients that are slow pay and no pay.
 

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I get what you're saying and partially agree
 

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While you're in "Getting Information" mode, you might want to visit any PC shops in your area, and ask them about their own ideas about their own future.

Here in Central Florida, there are maybe 10% of the shops that were here just ten years ago. And nobody builds their own Computers anymore. That's just too "Old School".
And the shops that still exist, have had to go more to repairing Tablets and Phones.

Last fall, an old friend wanted me to build him a really FAST PC. So I went to my old reliable Computer Wholesale house to buy the parts I wanted. They didn't have most of what I wanted, so I had to go ON-LINE.

Thirty years ago, there were a dozen or more shops in Orlando (for instance) where I could go to buy parts to build a new PC. Today, there is just one left, and they have cut way back on what they carry. It's sad! I don't see them even being in business ten years from now.

Like the old Radio and TV repair shops, (and the vacuum tube) the Computer Repair shop will likewise disappear, into oblivion, probably sooner than later. It's not a career I'd recommend for a young man today.

Working with Electric cars would be a better career, looking forward into the future. If I were younger, I would do that myself.

Good luck Mate!
:cool:
 

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Since you talk about 'customization" and "repair" it could be good to find a way aside those, to advice customers your able to install an OS system and do servicing and secure install. Many here does that service aside there repair/detailer shop. It's part of diversity. BTW i love 'Old School'.. but that's just me...
 

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Re: education ... "I guess here (europe) it can be a professional baccalaureate in technical college with option school of management if you really plan to open a repair shop."

I know Europe is different, but I took that to mean the US equivalent of a degree from a trade school (like Heald, DeVry, et al) with maybe a community college degree in Business or Management. You're not trying to work for Microsoft or get a corporate gig, so you don't really need to impress anyone with a MBA or bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

TBH, I doubt most customers know or care about the credentials of the guy in their repair shop, they only care that the guy seems to know what he's doing. So what you need is enough education or background experience that you actually do know what you're doing.

FWIW, I would suggest *not* opening a repair shop until you've built a reputation or following. The overhead will kill you before you can get yourself established. Michael Dell started in a dorm room, building computers for his fellow students before creating his own company.

I would likewise shy away from sales because maintaining inventory is fraught with problems. Take hard drives, for example. You'd have to maintain an inventory because if a customer can't walk in and pick it up, he'll just get it from Amazon. And if you do maintain an inventory, prices will have dropped before you can sell your inventory at the price you paid for it, so you'll have to sell at a loss.

My recommendation would be to "back into it". Volunteer at a local senior center or the like, helping with tutoring, virus cleanup, simple repairs and upgrades, etc. If you're any good, you'll build a reputation, and you'll gain valuable education in learning how to deal with "customers" to keep them coming back. You'll also gain a perspective of what kind of need there is for your talents in your area. Is it repairs? Upgrades? Basic tutoring? Email/web help? Tablets? Cell phones? Don't try to monetize every minute of your time right away, but you should be able to begin building a side business of for-pay gigs outside of the senior center.

Seniors are also invaluable to word-of-mouth advertising. Unlike millenials, who change allegiances like they change their underwear, seniors will be fiercely loyal if you do a good job for them, and spread your name to everyone they meet. I can't tell you how many of them ask for extra business cards so they can pass them out to their friends. Eventually you'll start getting calls from people you don't know for, "I'm getting popups, do you clean computers?" "My computer is slow, do you do upgrades?" "Can you make me a website?" "Can you upgrade my computer to Windows 10?" "My computer says I need to upgrade Quicken."

If you really want to open a storefront, you might be able to parlay those side gigs into a brick-and-mortar existence. But there's also a niche for free-lance computer techs who work out of the house and market themselves to small businesses. Small businesses aren't big enough to hire and maintain their own IT staffs, but still need regular IT help and can be a steadier source of income than relying solely on home users.
 

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My recommendation would be to "back into it". Volunteer at a local senior center or the like, helping with tutoring, virus cleanup, simple repairs and upgrades, etc. If you're any good, you'll build a reputation, and you'll gain valuable education in learning how to deal with "customers" to keep them coming back. You'll also gain a perspective of what kind of need there is for your talents in your area. Is it repairs? Upgrades? Basic tutoring? Email/web help? Tablets? Cell phones? Don't try to monetize every minute of your time right away, but you should be able to begin building a side business of for-pay gigs outside of the senior center.


:ditto:
 

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