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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. :)
It'll probably work.. until everyone's doing it.. I guess the real question is, "Is there enough idiots out there to support all the 'geeks'?"
I'm not the devil.. just his advocate.
I'd rather lay bricks in oklahoma in august, it's less frustrating, more consistant and pays just as well.
judging by the quick slashdotting, there must be a lot of unemployed geeks out there.
"I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines." - Mr. Furious, Mystery Men
It's too much of a liability. Trust me, I know. I almost got sued because some ladies drive physically crashed after I worked on her Windowz problems (spyware locking up PC). So even if you have them sign a before and after contract, just the rigamaroll of having to go through all that is a pain in the ass. No thank you, I would have to be incorporated with a few other people. This is NOT something you want to do by yourself.
Life is not for the lazy.
That market is saturated pretty bad if you ask me.
deserve's got nothing to do with it...
While overall this is a pretty well drawn-out argument for striking out on your own, there are of course extra difficulties along the way, like:
1) Health Insurance
2) Liability
3) Accounting
Not that these factors can't be dealt with, but they are, amongst other things, stuff you normally don't have to worry about as an employee of a company.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
and after 6 months, i was on the brink of insanity and would take my anger out on friends and family. mom: why isnt sound coming out? me: you stupid cunt, you have the sound muted, dont you see the red circle with the slash going through it on the speaker icon? jesus you are so stupid..
$5 an hour with free cookies and milk to boot.
That's how I got my current job ~2 years ago. Configuring 2 Cisco PIX firewalls on a contract basis. Now I'm full time and love it.
Trolling is a art,
I mean, heck, just take a page from AT&T... (actual call!)
...
Me: Yeah, hi, I have a cable modem through you and...
Drone: You have a what?
Me: I have a cable modem, its not
Drone: You have a what?
Me: I. Have. A. Cable. Modem. High. Speed. Internet. You. Know? Its out, flashing lights...
Drone: Oh, you have broadband. Unplug your modem for 5 seconds, and then plug the network cable directly into your computer if you have a hub/router (obvious they have no clue what either is, its probably just in their script as such).
Me: I've already done that, and no, its not the hub, the hub works fine.
Drone: Let me send out a technician.
Me: ARGH!!!!
God I hate them. Thank you Speakeasy! At least they laugh when I tell them how much I hate the cable companies!
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
What a great opportunity to meet bored and lonely housewives.
IT is done, toast in this country. The best way to make money is to open a firm in india and have an IT sweatshop. You would be better off opening a typewriter repair shop, at least its a noble way to starve yourself to death.
I would see signs/ads, everywhere (literally), begging to have people hire them at prices that reached into the hundreds per hour. I'm a simple guy, without too many expenses, I buy a ton of games, and for me, $20 dollars an hour was great. I got to choose my own hours, and make myself profitable.
As for the "idiots to techs" ratio question, some people obviously haven't worked in the tech field [long enough]. Until the day they make a computer completely crash/idiot-proof, there will always be a need for a technician.
My two cents...
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.
With so many thousands of fellow geeks out of work already for the last couple of years, this market is already saturated.
Besides, people aren't willing to pay the amount of money it takes to take care of stoopid Windoze problems- a reload on an average system can take 4-6 hours (with backups, new drivers, etc.)
Hard to get more than a couple systems a day through, then you've got to figure on all the time and energy spent on trying to get clients.
I'm making more money (sadly enough) as a convenience store manager than as a geek nowadays.
And now, as well, with even programming jobs being shopped overseas, the market for geek skills is even tougher.
Changing careers may be a better option than chasing after elusive (and non-existant) tech money.
peace,
r.
Aiieee! Death from above!
um... what is insightful about this? No one makes shitload of money doing this, but I know people doing freelance tech support/small company system administration at $50-$70 an hour which in my book is called making money.
I passed the Turing test.
[Knock Knock Knock]
Customer: Who is it?
Techie: Tech support.
Customer: I didn't call for any tech support!
Techie: Yes sir, I know. I am in the door to door tech support business. Can I interest you in some high quality tech support? My rates are very reasonable!
Customer: No, thanks. Goodb...
Techie: Are you sure you don't have bugs to troubleshoot?
Customer: No, really, thanks for coming, but....
Techie: Perhaps I could install some peripherals for you?
Customer: No!
Techie: Maybe I could run anti-virus software and defrag your hard drive. That's the special of the day!
Customer: No!
Techie: Any mysterious crashes I can diagnose, and then tell you you need to put in some more RAM and reinstall your operating system?
Customer: Well... wait, NO!
Techie: Maybe I could just open and close all your windows. I offer that service for only a dollar!
Customer: Go away or I'm calling the cops!
-- I Am Not A Terrorist.
Don't know about the US, but in the uk the way to go is just to retrain as a plumber or electrician. Average pay in the uk for support has dropped to well under 20 pounds an hour with a lot of basic support jobs paying just over minimum wage. Bear in mind that a freelance plumber or sparky can probably make 30-50 ukp an hour... I know what I do if I lose this job....
Working for the (other) man
Well anyway, how much does an idiot charge me for some help tweaking some shell scripts, or a little bit of perl programming?
They don't charge you anything, you charge them, ideally by the hour.
Im sure the majority of /. readers have done something like this, but the difference is that my spare wanderings supply the *majority* of my income. Simply by bringing up computers, or speaking to people at bars of cool technologies, ive found myself doing work for a reasonably large crowd. Once you've done work for someone, they almost ALWAYS have a friend that needs something, and that friend has a friend, and so forth. While its not the most stable work in the world, i always seem to do alright. (I would put it on par with waiting tables, the numbers always seem to end up partially in your favor). The best part? You can charge $50/hour showing some nitwit how to install kazaa, and hes all the happier. And they love you :)
I do technical support as a full-time job, making a living. Maybe there is some spin in this article (that I can't read, because their servers are on fire), but I don't see how throwing out the things that I get by working for a real company will make me rich. I'm certainly not rich now.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
Suppose I want to be a freelance tech support / Windows Superman who can swoop into peoples homes and repair their neglected boxes. By the letter of the MS law...errr...license....what can I actually do?
/i386 stuff, cabs and infs.
Will the typical user be able to produce any OS media whatsoever? Full version (ha!) Upgrade? (possibly)... recovery cd?
If not what am I left with? Windows Update? perhaps. The admins in my office carry a pack labeled "CDs to Fix Most Anything" and these include our corporate ver of various MS products.
If I went to Staples and purchased a full ver of XP Pro, could I use it to repair existing broken installations. I do not mean a complete reinstallation, rather, I suppose it would be the
If you're out of work and know how to use a computer, you can make a killing doing freelance technical support.
In addition to making a decent wage and setting your own hours, you can decide how to respond to each customer without having to worry about what The Boss thinks of your approach:
Caller 1: "Hello? My computer won't work anymore!"
You: "When did you first notice the problem?"
Caller: "Oh right after I took it apart and washed all the components with warmy, soapy water. It was getting really dirty."
You: "You fuckin, fuckin, moron. No help for you!"
Caller 2: "Hello? I'm having trouble getting the floor pedal to work. How hard am I supposed to be stepping on it?"
You: "Floor pedal? What the fuck?"
Caller: "You know. That hand-shaped device with the rubber ball imbedded in it!"
You: *click*
Caller 3: "Hello? I can't get Microsoft Outlook Express to work with my AOL account."
You: "Well, Dude, it sucks to be you. If you were using pine on a Linux box I might be inclined to help you. But nooooo, you wanted to help Microshaft and AOHell strengthen their monopoly. Well, have fun with their tech support lines 'cause I sure as hell ain't gonna help your monopoly-strengthening lazy ass!" *click*
Yeah, I can see the freedom to provide the appropriate response a real bonus to this job!
GMD
watch this
"Oh, hello, Jim. How're things at World New York? ...oh...I see...hmm...well, let's see what we can do.
"First off, what do you see on the screen? ...Nothing? Is the server plugged in? Mmm-hmm...it is? Okay, that's good. And the power is on? ... you press the little button, but nothing happens. OK. And are any lights on? No. Hmm.
"It sounds like you may have a hardware--what's that? Really? Well, that's not good...yes, it does smell rather bad when that happens. *laugh* Yes, I can see how having the extinguisher right there came in handy...
"Well, I'm afraid...huh? Your backup just went, too? That's odd. That only ever happens when--hang on. *clickity tappity clackety CLACK*
Oh.
"Jim, have you ever heard of a website called 'Slashdot'?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
I have done a little bit of work on the side doing this, usually when the normal guy is on vacation or something. I hate these jobs. Why? Because I'm always cleaning up messes left by the normal guy. Have you ever seen a network of 50 workstations, all without any centralized user/workstation management (ie: no domain or anything)? I have. It's scary. How do you make a printer avail on the network? Duh, printer sharing... the thought never occures to anyone to get a stand-alone print server. How do you deploy software? Over sneakernet. We won't even go into the horrible network security, the rampant viruses, or the spyware installed on every workstation (but hey, Outlook has color now!). Since i'm always just the fill-in guy, whatever I recommend falls on deaf ears. The icing on the cake? The usual guy makes $60/hour doing this. Before anyone says it, no, these shoddy networks are not the result of lack of funding... these companies have plasma screens on the walls, and very nice chairs.... it's not lack of funding, it's a lack of will on the part of the IT guy to improve the situation, and perhaps a lack of skill/knowledge. For someone who knows better, it's a very frustrating experience.
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.
Freelance tech support is like opening your door and inviting all the world's idiots in. Everyone and their Grandma has a computer these days, and nobody (speaking of general population non-geeks) understands them.
From a business perspective, who do you think your customer base will be? Straight up, candidly speaking (I can't understate this), your customer base will be people who are FUCKING DUMB. =) You're going to get the poor ghetto trash with 8th grade educations that SOMEHOW managed to buy an incredibly outdated computer that won't run anything, and expect you to fix it for them. Like talking to brick walls? Maybe you should try that, instead of trying to fix a PC for a dumb irate redneck egomaniac know-it-all ignoramus who can't even figure out how to click his mouse or scroll the screen from left to right, and expect him to understand a word of non-urban slang gramatically correct English.
However, if you've got a masochistic craving for suffering at the hands of total idiots, this would be the perfect field for you. Personally, I'd rather be a janitor, because cleaning shit up would be preferable to this. =)
Here's an alternate link:
http://homepage.mac.com/monickels/techjob.html
And the full text:
By Grant Barrett @ World New York
This article by the New York Times suggests that people are becoming technically adept by necessity, and that, as happened with radios and automobiles, eventually all technology will take care of itself and be as mindless to operate as toasters are today.
I see that day as decades off. Computers are still complex to make, complex to learn, complex to integrate with other gadgets. More importantly, they still have more than one knob or lever. Until that day of machine self-reliance, I see a golden opportunity: an under-served market waiting for the ambitious to step in.
The following is a small excerpt of a manuscript, modified to suit this topic.
Technical Self-Employment Is A Fat Paycheck Waiting to Be PocketedBy Grant Barrett @ World New York
This article by the New York Times suggests that people are becoming technically adept by necessity, and that, as happened with radios and automobiles, eventually all technology will take care of itself and be as mindless to operate as toasters are today.
I see that day as decades off. Computers are still complex to make, complex to learn, complex to integrate with other gadgets. More importantly, they still have more than one knob or lever. Until that day of machine self-reliance, I see a golden opportunity: an under-served market waiting for the ambitious to step in.
The following is a small excerpt of a manuscript, modified to suit this topic.
Technical Self-Employment Is A Fat Paycheck Waiting to Be Pocketed
Last year, at a Christmas party held by a client of mine at a very nice restaurant in Manhattan, I ran into a friend of a friend. I don't know him well, but we've socialized once or twice, and have had solid geek conversations in the past. He does Active Directory management for big corporations.
I should say, he used to do that. He's been unemployed now for more than a year.
After we shook hands I could see his face change from a friendly howdy-do. He dropped down into commiseration mode: the corners of his mouth drooped, his head ducked, he took a Hapsburg stance--his feet angled, his left foot perpendicular to his right, heel against arch, his torso yawed a few degrees off center, his hands lightly on his hips--and waited expectantly.
I knew what he wanted. I make my living with private computer consulting: client-site tech support, mostly, but pretty much any of the little computer-related tasks small businesses have. I knew he wanted to talk about the tech business. And he wanted me to start, so I complied. "How's business?" I asked.
He jumped in according to the script. "Oh, it's not been going well at all. Awful. I've been out of work. I can't find anything. How're you doing?" He anticipated a long bitch session of headhunter mistreatment, interview mishaps, finicky clients, resume failure. He relished the chance.
"It's great," I said. "I've got more business than I can handle. I'm giving it away. I've probably handed off or turned down enough business in the last six months to employ another person full-time. In fact, I've just turned over a second $30,000-a-year piece of business to another tech so I could concentrate on other clients."
He looked at me in amazement. His eyes bugged out. I saw doubt, then self-doubt, there, and eventually he just walked away.
My theory: If you are reasonably adept at using or setting up a computer, there's no good reason to be unemployed.
Forget the boom-time Nineties. They're gone. I'm sorry.
Wordnik, a dictionary project which aims to collect
naked freelance support. and yes it is a new meaning of HARD drive.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
What make you think that "computer people" and "idiots" are mutually exclusive?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Don't forget to bring your video camera along and come up with a great come on using the words:
LARGE HARD DRIVE
Maybe this is the road to riches they are thinking about.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
I know someone above noted the liability benefits of incorporating. Also know that Health Insurance rules have changed in recent years to accommodate self-employed individuals.
See some basic information here. An article I read a while back discussed how a loophole allowed 70% deduction of a spouse's insurance if they could be shown to be an employee. So bring your wife on as a partner and reap the benefits.
You don't need geeks to provide tech support. Actually geeks are just about the worst type of people to provide this service.
... why don't you just do x and leave me the alone". It's sufficient if you can understand what a customer is trying to ask and then read the correct answer from your screen.
What you need are people that have people-skills: they must be capable to talk to people, calm them down and get them to understand stuff. That's not going to work if your attitude is going to be along the lines of "you stupid
Don't misunderstand me and read that I'm saying that no geeks are capable of doing this. It's just that your average geek didn't become a geek by being big on people skills.
I have a photographic memory for numbers. I know almost a hundred of them.
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
Mod me down as off-topic, but I think this post is relevant to the nature of this thread. These forums are all doom and gloom these days. Is all of /.'s reader base unemployed? I guess this is what I get for reading in the middle of the work day, of course the only posters would be people who are out of work, or in school. ALL IT IS GOING OVERSEAS! NO GEEKS CAN MAKE MONEY! I'm not buying any of it. The numbers of returns for tech job searches on the likes of monster.com in the tech sector have never been higher than they are now. And I'm seeing jr. level programming positions advertising 60-70k/year. I'm in school and my programming internships (with 2 large companies) have paid better than what a lot of people are saying the average full-time salary is these days. Both companies have asked me to return after I graduate for full time positions starting at nice comfortable salaries. I'm no super genius either, I'm a good programmer who works hard. And it's not location, because I've worked in 3 states already. I dunno, maybe I'm young and stupid and not seeing the big picture.
Okay, time for an anecdote.
Picture this, four or five small companies all targetting the same small area. There's enough for all of them to get slim pickings - enough to keep the geeks in hardware and everybody paid on time.
Now, add a few freelancers. They come in, promise the earth, delivery is usually substandard and comeback is absolutely nil. There are a few of them, lone rangers, about but they're not doing terribly well. It's great for a slump in the day job, a period of redundancy or a bit of extra pocket money, but for long term, it bites because customers want culpability, they want guarantees and they want someone who can come in at the drop of a hat.
I don't mind though. The freelancers end up giving us more work. They're like a sales team. They do so well at their job that people are phoning us to help them recover. Most freelancers have no concept of "tax" or "insurance" because a lot of them were working for big dot-boom companies and they had a legion of pen-pushers handling that for them.
Really I prefer that people just keep on repeating what their parents told them growing up, as it keeps fewer people out there to compete with my self-owned business. Sure it gets frustrating sometimes, but it's my business and I call the shots, so if I need a break, I take one. I would much rather run my own show, then sit around complaining about working for "the Man". No matter where you are, you run into frustrating idiots, I just price myself out of their range, or don't go back if they drive me nuts - it's my call. If I deal with any idiots, it's beacuse they pay good money for me to deal with their crap, and they tend to keep breaking things on a regular basis(can you say, "repeat business"?). My favorite thing is to go in to fix a computer "problem" only to have it be a cord uplugged or printer out of toner. 10 minute fix equals one hour billed - fine by me! It's not for everybody (as seen in the other posts), but for me, there is nothing like the freedom of being your own boss. To those who prefer to work for someone else, they are just going to have to wait for the economy to pick up.
As a disclaimer, IT consulting is not my only source of income. I'm also a musician, but it boils down to the same thing. It still involves running your own business, and working with idiots sometimes - it just happens to involve beer more often.
Wine, music and cinema are the three great creations of humanity. -T'Ian Han
And I'm on the verge of exceeding my income from the Help Desk job I lost a year ago. No one's blamed me for anything that's gone bad; in fact the word of mouth business I've generated has been outstanding. Yes, there are times when I'm called back to the same house umpteen times and I don't charge. Yes, there are times when people are sticker-shocked and haggle me down. But by and large I love being totally independent, not having a boss or partner (save myself and the government, respectively), and being able to make my own hours. Why have things worked out so well for me? I wonder about that, and I think there are several answers: 1. I have a very professional, yet friendly and approchable attitude. 2. I'm polite in people's homes and I don't fit the stereotypical "geek" profile people are expecting. 3. The clientele I serve are in a densely populated, tightly knit and affluent part of the country. Word of mouth spreads quickly, and these people are willing to pay. They have multiple computers, so they want DSL/cable hooked up and shared. And even when their Dells need fixing and are within warranty, they are so frustrated by hold times and first-level overseas tech that aren't trained - just reading from a troubleshooting script - that they're willing to pay someone to make a housecall 4. I'm willing to come over as early or as late as they want me, weekends included. Too many people think of their freelance business as a nine to five job, instead of a business. All in all, it's been a great development in my life, but I hope not too many people read that article in my area and get the same idea!
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."
Because when your computer crashes, it doesn't flood your bathroom with shit.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Having complete control of your work life is a great thing compared to being a cog in a larger company. It is also fraught with perils. If you are a technical wizard with little people skills, stay out of this business. In freelance technical support the 'technical' part is rarely challenging and is often a minor part of your job. You will act as an explainer, camp counselor, big brother, hand holder, accountant, and buck stopper as much as a propeller head.
Customers won't be calling you with blue skies and singing birdies. They will call you at the last minute when some problem has their entire business on the line. They have come to depend on you, so that often means they will piss and shit on you and blame you for the problems of the world. Don't take it personally. They are just trying to transfer the stress. That is partly what they are paying you for, even if they don't know it.
If you can deal with this social stuff, freelance technical support can provide a long and fruitful career where people treat you like a hero when the problem gets solved. If you are not the people type, this career will seem an endless hell.
The upside was that I could make a bunch of tax deductions for running a home business and get some of my money back from the government.
The downside was that it was a money-losing vebture from the start. A small ad in the weekly paper ran me about $90/month.. unless I got 5 calls in a month (which was rare) I was already in the hole.
Friends would ask me "man why arent you charging way more money?"... the simple explanation was that no one would ever pay it. When everyone has "a friend who knows lots about computers" why would they pay someone $75+/hr to come over when they could get it for free? I gave it up when the costs kept rising and the calls got scarce, even raising my price to $25/hr wasnt enough to pay any bills. I guess the population base isnt high enough to provide enough computer-idiots to make a living on. Now I see at least 3 other people around here trying to do the same thing.
I've been unemployed for almost 7 months now and I've enrolled in the military to get a steady job. Granted I'm in Canada but it's gotta be pretty similar in the US. Dont you just love IT?
Step 3... 11 inches.
That is all.
Redwoodtree: Thanks for the note of understanding and encouragement. I'll also add that in a lot of cases, my more affluent clients will simply give me working hardware they don't need anymore (ie - recently got a 19" monitor and a Brother HL-1440 laser printer) - if the stuff's good enough I'll use it, and therefore save on a purchase - or I'll turn around or sell it to a less well-off client that's willing to buy used hardware. What also helps is living in a area with a fairly aged population - I notice older folks need more help with computers, are less quick to upgrade, and are very loyal to people who give them good service.
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.
Definition of "To Live Decently in NYC on 52K a year"
1. You don't live in NYC. Your cardboard box on 131st & 5th doesn't count
2. You can't work more than 20 hours a week because your eating frugally (ie out of garbage cans and meals on wheels leftovers, and your customers refiges) and have prefected the art of chimping change from the "take a penny, leave a penny" jar.
3. You've mastered the art of "wow, this is a major problem, it's going to take ALLL night to fix" and convienently crash on the customers couch until morining.
Maybe I missed the key point in this quote and your "sharp tax advisor" means something I'm unfamiliar with and is the real key to your success.
Quote: "Do the math for a minute: Let's say you work 20 hours a week and charge $50 an hour. That's a $1000 a week. That's $52,000 a year. Now, you'll pay taxes out of that, perhaps up to 40% depending upon where you live, and your own insurance, and other costs, but it's still a respectable income. If you itemize your deductions and hire a sharp tax advisor, you can avoid an unnecessary tax burden. Even in New York City, one of the most expensive towns on the planet, you can live decently on that money."
They have an image and attitude. Their company cars bear a "Geek Squad" logo. Their people wear white shirts and ties and pocket protectors. They even have a black SWAT van for major problems.
It's too bad they're still a small company. They should be everywhere, like Roto-Rooter(tm).
They're hiring.
A customer called and said:
The software doesn't work. All I keep getting is the options: Repair or Remove, when I click on it.
Turns out he was executing setup.exe again and again rather then the software itself.
After talking him very slowly (9 mins. in all on our 800 no) through Start->Programs etc. he said:
That's the first time I'm seeing the program!
I'm a 20 year old computer geek and I'm great at computer troubleshooting, but this isn't as easy as they make it seem. Its hard to find clients. I handed out numbers of cards,flyers and put ads in the paper. I got about two calls.
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.
Although in this case if they don't know what they're doing, they're not stupid, just ignorant. And there's nothing wrong with that, so long as there are people there to step in and counter their ignorance.
However the only thing worse than ignorance is a misguided individual that thinks they know what they're talking about. And somehow these individuals end up in management.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
Too late now, everyones going to be doing it now that they read about it.
Is this the first time an entire job market has been slashdotted?
On a small dish satellite receiver (DirectTV or Dish Network) there's a bit in the antenna (the LNB) that's switched between even and odd transponders by feeding a DC (one of tw voltage levels) signal from the reciever back to the antenna. The signal switches the LNB between clockwise and counterclockwise circular polarization. Even transponders use one polarization, and odd transponders use the other.
When you ran the switch test, you caused control signals to be sent to the relays that switch between two LNBs in your antenna (these are usually low frequency tone controls). The test repeatedly cycled the relays, which tends to clean the contacts. This then allowed the differetn DC signal levels to reach the antenna to switch the LNB to get odd transponders.
Odds are pretty good that you have one or more connectors in the coax running to the antenna that are not sealed and have a little corrosion in them, weakening the DC control signal. Less likely but possible causes include a marginal switch, or a long run of lower quality cable such as RG/59.
Maybe they should hire someone for tech support. Seems their server's not doing so well.
Arround here, people sort their recyclables and take stuff like oil and paint to a reclamation center.
Blar.
I have been doing tech support for 3.5 years now and counting. I still have all my marbles, just not always sure where they may be located. I understand people's frustration when dealing with a tier one support level. Where I work we started out with some very good selection of people with all kinds of qualifications and smarts. The hard part was our hands were tied, policy preventing us from doing the job in a way that we would prefer or go as far as we would like. Over time with turn over the quality of the people being brought in has declined significantly with more emphasis being placed on customer service skills than actually fixing the problem. That combined with working for an outsourced company which gets paid by the phone call, you can see that the emphasis is never about fixing the problem, it's all about answering as many calls as possible.
I thought this article is very depressing until I realized that this guy is NOT qualified for anything else.
I'd like to make a point that "household tech support" is a bearable job for someone who knows no more than how to fix a printing problem, because it is "slightly" challenging for him.
I'm not trying to be snobby, but I know for sure that good talents are still high in demand. But there's not a lot of ways to distinguish those from clueless people. Microsoft tries hard to do that in thier job interview, but people still have a database of thier questions. This, my friend, is the biggest problem I see in the industry.
There are too many clueless people with a "tech" title whinning about not getting a job. (HTML programmers, anyone? The writer does not have any credentials.) They should do freeland tech support. I also know really skilled people without a job, but it will be a waste of talent to do this.
One more thing: please don't vote for Bush next time. For one, the corporate tax break did nothing more than sending tech jobs overseas.
I have been doing freelance support, teaching old ladies how to email, setting up home networks, and installing drives and adapters into pc's for a couple years now. If you bust your ass and spend a lot of time and a reasonable amount of money advertising (flyers, newspaper ads, a radio commercial etc. then you can make a fair living at this. You can easily charge $60-$120 for an hours work and you charge even more when small businesses call and need emergency service. I charge 80 an hour at this point and for emergencies at night I have charged as much as 200 an hour. It definitely keeps me in the lunch money while I go to college full time.
I started freelancing a couple of years ago, and it has grown into a profitable little business. $45.00 an hour, flat rate. IT outsourcing, home users, etc.
I just started making money at it, and I was ready to give up until I got my first real paycheck in the mail last week ($3900.00 for 10 days of work).
I tried advertising in the paper, to no avail. It is a complete waste of money.
I joined the Chamber of Commerce, got some calls from that.
Had my business info pasted on the back of my truck, no calls from that.
I even tried having pens made up with my info, and business cards.
I got some calls from my website http://www.onsite-services.net, but the most work I get is from chasing it down. I have found that to be the best way, since work rarely bangs on my door.
Hope this helps anyone that is looking to get into this line of "work".
PS. It took me 2 years to finally make some decent money.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't believe what I write, and neither should you.
Actualy Canada (Toronto specificaly) export garbage to the United States. I waiting for some pissed off Customs Agent to ask "Any Fruits or Vegitable back there?" and making the driver open it up for inspection.
Heheh... I hadn't thought of that.
Here's something about that whole situation which strikes me as very stupid:
Now, you can't honestly tell me that a fleet of at least 20, if not 40, trucks doing endless day-night runs to Michigan is cheaper or more efficient than using rail?
Have the unions really blown the cost of rail transportation so high that it's not even suitable for bulk overland anymore? Why is a train operator (I refuse to call them engineers unless they know the pain of 4 years of differential equations) paid more than a truck driver, when the truck drivers have the added responsibility of steering?
Why is it that the most staunch pro-union activists are also the most militant environmentalists, and don't they see the folly of this situation?
I'm a common sense environmentalist (ie. low-flush toilets are a false economy because you have to flush them 6 times to dispose of the ...dark matter), and this just burns me up.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
He dropped down into commiseration mode: the corners of his mouth drooped, his head ducked, he took a Hapsburg stance--his feet angled, his left foot perpendicular to his right, heel against arch, his torso yawed a few degrees off center, his hands lightly on his hips--
...A crowd gathered around him. The music starts. He starts dancing his infamous Geek Ramba. The crowd goes wild. In mid stride, he slings off his leather Lord of the Rings jacket revealing a homemade Bittorrent t-shirt, a fresh nametag from the latest Star Trek convention, and a platinum necklace with a giant emblem in the shape of a penguin...
Considering probably 4 of 5 computers has spyware dribbling out of every orifice, I'd say there's plenty of business.
In fact, as long as MS is the market leader in OS and desktop "productivity" software, tech support should thrive.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
The problem with idiots is that if you touch their machine once then the next time something *unrelated* goes wrong they will blame you. I've seen it happen too many times.
You're absolutely right. My Dad did "freelance" car repair. He used to be a full time mechanic. He recently changed the oil in a lady's VW Passat(?). She came back to him the next week wanting to know what he did to her car b/c she had problems with the electrical systems which would cost lots of $$$ to straighten out. WTF?!!? After that, my Dad said "Never again!"
-Scott