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Growth Job Sector: Freelance Technical Support
An anonymous reader wrotes: "Over at World New York, they've posted excellent advice to the geek masses: If you're out of work and know how to use a computer, you can make a killing doing freelance technical support." Update: 07/25 20:00 GMT by M : The author has asked that we link to the article on homepage.mac.com due to server overload. :)
If there's one thing we'll never run out of, it's idiots.
The whole "the Universe or human stupidity" thing.
But would you fix air conditioners in Phoenix in July?
Why yes I would. I can't even stand to give technical support to my family and I love them.
Taking angry calls from people who think ie is the internet and trying to fix some computer completely loaded with spyware over the phone sounds like a 40 hour a week root cannel to me.
ThunderBird. Nuff said.
You couldn't pay me enough to deal with that crap. I used to do freelance tech work, and you know, it was quite possibly the worse job I've ever done. There were far too many miles put on my car, and having to do your own customer service calls really sucks. I don't think I was ever at a point of higher stress. Its not that it didn't pay, but trying to fix and teach the common person how to deal with everyday computer problems gets repetitive and grueling. I think if I'm ever in a situation where I was when I did freelance work, Ill sell sperm instead... at least Id get some sense of satisfaction out of it.
This is why you do one of, or both of two things...
1) get a million dollars worth of liability insurance. Cheap enough really.
2) Form your service as a Limited Liability Corporation that has no assets.
So, if you do get sued, and they do gain ownership of your LLC; they get nothing. And, you can happily go off, form another LLC and continue business.
Remember, your dealing with idiots, and when dealing with idiots you can't do enough CYA.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
The reason that I hate doing any type of tech support for friends, co-workers, family, or anyone one else I know, is the golden rule of fixing computers. Which reads, if you fix it for them once, the next time anything goes wrong, they blame you, or want you to immediately come and fix it. Then somehow think a fixed computer comes with a 5 year repair warranty. They will call you all the time to "ask a quick question", as if your time means nothing. After this happened a couple of times, I won't touch anyone's computer.
Recently read a book saying that any sort of repair-related career does fine during a recession. Reason should be obvious: people can't afford to buy a "new" whatever, or are scared to put out that kind of money, so they spend money keeping up to speed whatever they already have.
Also, think about the huge demographic of baby-boomers retiring or about to retire. All those parents, grandmas and grandpas about to have a huge chunk of free time on their hands. Maybe they're not so mobile anymore and hanging out at home a great deat. Most likely they're going to be buying a computer and getting on-line, for email, to do their amateur photography, etc. A huge target market. Plus they may be sitting on a nice pile of retirement money.
So I'd propose starting a up a consultant type business where you repair people's computers, do tech support, maybe even help people pick out computers to purchase, and target older retirees. Focus on house calls, and of course, super friendly customer support (say "yes sir, no ma'am"). Oldsters eat that stuff up.
Just as long as I'm the boss and you do all the house calls...
Ok, i worked as a senior Technical Support, i had a team of 4 engineers, all well well trained and stuff.. I was well paid....I supported very complex multiple platform/database client server and web applications (i.e knowledge scope of our employees was quite amusing)...thats one part of the story
A friend of mine, was a freelancer support geek, he supported ppl with no idea of computers , install windows here, reconfigure a driver there, fix the Internet connection over here, stuff like that...
AND HE MADE TWICE AS MUCH MONEY AS I DID....
Move your guns away from my face,i am not complaining here, my point here, is that it is irrelevant...you can be doing really complex things in a very large firm and another guy with half the work load you have gets paid twice as much just because of his connections and ofcorse (his spare time being unemployed)..
The lunatic is in my head
One way this could be really beneficial to people is to consider it an alternative and temporary source of income between job hunts. It doesn't take a -lot- of effort to put together a decent looking flyer, and a waiver form to limit or eliminate liability. A couple weeks ago I noticed such a flyer at a convenience store near where I work. Here are some things I noticed that were major signs to stay away.
1: 'Certified' was in italics on the lower left hand corner. All by itself. Alone. One word. Certified in WHAT? If you have applicable certifications, explain them genuinely. If you don't, describe your actual knowledge instead.
2: Let the prospective customer know you stand behind your work - but at the same time, don't put yourself in a bad position to be liable for anything. Say that your liabilty is limited to one free hour of additional service, should you determine that an oversight on the initial visit wasn't sufficient.
3: Offer what you know. This sign I saw in the store said they offered -computer detailing- service, anti-virus and OS installation... and that was about it. If this person knew more, they'd have said it.
4: If you have a logo... don't use stock clip-art. This sign used the lined-pyramid default image on every default MS Publisher template as his logo. Depressing.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
Once you touch an idiot's computer, you are seen by them as responsible for everything/anything that happens to them afterwards.
Also, from this point on, they won't consider for a second to investigate their problems for themselves, but insist that you fix them.
For example, I had a friend that I helped out by upgrading his computer. 2-3 weeks later he calls me with problems. Since I'm a nice guy, I go check it out.
Turns out it's nothing I did, but a trojan that infected his computer. When I got there, I already knew how to fix it, as a result of a 5sec. search I did on Google from the symptoms he gave me.
The main problem of outsourced IT is that I've rarely seen two different consultants agree on anything!
...repeat as necessary with *every* piece of software/hardware in the environment, each time a new consultant comes by.
Consultant one: Well, you have a small shop and don't want a dedicated IT guy, so I'll set up Microsoft SBS (Small Business Server) so you'll have any function you can possibly need.
Consultant two: I don't know what that other guy was thinking, but it's pointless! You could have just bought (insert single application here) and saved a TON of money!
Something broken? Obviously the guy who worked on it last/set it up was a moron. Needless to say that this gets much worse depending on how many different guys you use. And not having a company-to-company relationship can really hurt when the e-mail server is down and John won't return phone calls.
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
I can't RTFA (since it's /.ed) but I am doing freelance tech support. I setup home wirless and wired LANs, setup NAT/Firewall boxes for cable/DSL subscribers, apply patches, re-installs, and some general security tweaks and basic security training with each customer. I also help with any problem my customer's has (yes any, I get some dumb emails) for free, if they can handle it through email. If I have to go to their house (or call them), they get charged. I charge a reasonable rate (depending on the job up to $15 an hour plus gas, and travel time). I am not getting rich by any means, but I make a decent living and can schedule work around time for my kids, and being a single parent, that is very important to me.
Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better job, sure it has it's headaches, and some weeks the work is sparse, but I wouldn't trade the flexability it gives me with my kids for anything.
I'm a pretty smart guy, and for most problems, sure I can fix those. But every once in a while, you run into something that's been obfuscated by black-box-engineering. You can't figure out what the problem is, without seeing inside. In some cases, it's as simple as spending your money on an incredibly overpriced "xxx Unleashed" book. In other cases, you have to swap out bad hardware, and it could be one of a couple of dozen possible components.
Do you stock your own supply of spare parts? Can you purchase them at cost, or do you have to pay retail for them?
Finally - you'll always eventually hit some problem that you simply can't find answers for, either in expensive documentation - or PAID (cha-ching$$$) support calls to a vendor. Where you get endlessly jerked around. Personally, I could do every facet of this job, except this one, and love it. When I get stumped - and I know the answer's in there, but for a lack of good documentation, you're just plain stuck - as a freelancer.
Hell, even when I've worked for Big Software Company Dot Com, and we had clout with Microsoft - I would hit problems that even Microsoft developer support could not explain. That's a crappy position to be in, and exactly why I am a believer in Open Source. If you can't find someone who understands their own f0cking source code, then you can at least go in and look yourself.
I'm just saying - as a standalone freelance technical consultant, you don't have clout with the vendors, and you can't get the truly nasty problems fixed. Period.
On the other hand, getting $100/hr taking apart iMacs to get CD's out of froze-up slot-loading CD drives ain't a bad way to make a living.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
I think thist quote is absolute bullshit. TONS of people have lost money underestimating the intelligence of great masses, especially in the last few years...i'm thinking of America Online, but there are others, especially in the tech sector and double especially in the dot com dreams of Silly Con Valley.
"So easy to use, no wonder it's #1!" Yes. Easy is good when something is cheap, it becomes automatic. But when the price goes up, people are willing to do more work to save a few bucks.
I think the adage should be "A fool and his money are soon parted...but fools don't get that much money to begin with." Managers excepted.
Hey freaks: now you're ju