the business while leaving the day-to-day servicing of computers to your employees? That’s a good goal to pursue, but if you’re just starting out, that’s probably not the case.
Let’s focus on someone who wants to do the work initially and then branch out as he or she grows. With this in mind, what qualifies someone to repair computers? Unlike some industries that have rigid certification requirements, there are no rules for becoming a great computer technician. Over the years, I have hired (and fired) many technicians. I have found great technicians who were teenagers that only started working on computers a few years earlier as well as experienced veterans with decades of time in the field. I have also seen people who have worked as computer techs for years (usually at some big-box stores) that couldn’t pass our initial screening exam. So, what does it take to be a great computer repair technician?
• Patience: First and foremost you must be patient. Not all computer problems are solved quickly and not all customers are wonderful. However, if you have patience, you can get through just about anything.
• Problem-solving skills: About 95 percent of the problems you will see are the same (e.g., if the hard drive clicks, well, the hard drive is probably bad). However, 5 percent of the time, it’s something that’s not obvious and you need to be able to figure out what the issue is. That means troubleshooting, swapping components, trying different solutions, and persevering until you figure out what’s wrong.
• Positive attitude: People will forgive a lot if you have a good attitude so be upbeat, happy, and positive. When you run into a problem, as frequently happens, make sure you give the customer solutions, not facts. Telling a customer that viruses have destroyed the Master Boot Record is just giving them information. Instead, tell the customer that while the virus screwed up his or her software, you have the tools to recover the data but it will take some time. The better your attitude, the better your customer’s attitude! You drive his or her perceptions. If the customer sees you as angry and irritated, he or she will react accordingly.
• Love of computers: If you don’t love them, you will hate them. Maybe not at first, but eventually. Computer repair is about problem solving, research, and results. The tough part is the repetition. Sure, you’ll get a fun problem where the computer randomly shuts off although all the hardware tests perfect and it only happens after 9:00 p.m., but this is the exception to the rule. Most of the time you’ll get machines with bad hard drives, bad power supplies, or ones riddled with viruses. Those three problems comprise the vast majority of the problems you’ll encounter so you better get used to fixing them. With that said, you’ll learn something new every single day. You can’t help it. There are too many ways for computers to get screwed up and a seemingly infinite number of people to break them. So when you’re working on the easy ones, let your brain focus on the tough ones. That leads nicely into the next point — multitasking.
• Multitasking: The most profitable technicians are the ones that can work on more than one system at a time. This is because many repairs require scans that will take hours; software installations that can take 15 to 20 minutes and downloads that can take hours, depending on the speed at which you’re downloading. While the computer is working on that task, you want to shift and work on another. A common problem we run into is Windows shutting down unexpectedly or even briefly displaying the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). While there are many reasons this can happen, a common cause is a failing hard drive. To test for this, we boot the computer into a special disk that automatically tests the entire system, including the hard drive. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours. Can you imagine if you only worked on one computer at a time? You’d sit there staring at the computer and nothing would be accomplished. Instead, move to the next computer, diagnose a third, start scans on a fourth, and get as much work out the door as possible. Time is money and you must use your time wisely.
• Experience: Yes, this is last, mainly because experience will be gained. The more you work on computers, the more you will learn. My wife actually worked in our stores for a few months. Although she wasn’t a big fan of hardware repairs (her background was programming) after a month or so, she was completing hardware and software repairs for customers. Experience can be gained quickly and easily, but it takes concentration and determination. There are untold numbers of books on how to fix a computer. For that matter, following a simple troubleshooting chart can take you through most of the problems you’ll see. There’s a good example of a Boot Failure Troubleshooting Flowchart you can follow at www.fonerbooks.com/poster.pdf. The more computers you repair and the more accustomed you become to them, the more confident you’ll be and the faster you’ll solve problems. It has come to the point where I have solved a problem without even seeing a computer. When a customer walks in and says that his or her computer doesn’t turn on even when he or she presses the button, my first instinct is that the power supply has died. It’s common to see many dead power supplies in places where the power fluctuates. While it may seem like magic to know what’s wrong with a PC before I even start to diagnose it, it’s just because I’ve seen it so many times before. The same will happen to you and you’ll be seen as a wizard!
If you think that these points describe you, then you may be on your way to owning a successful computer business!
6. Why You Don’t “Need” Technology Certifications
For the purpose of actually fixing computers, certifications provide very little value. You can teach someone to troubleshoot a computer and in a few weeks he or she will be amazing, but he or she can have all the certifications in the world and not know how to open a computer case. There are some certifications that are commonly required to work at many of the big-box stores but I’ve interviewed hundreds of people with those qualifications and they rarely display any actual knowledge.
The exception to the rule is certifications from Microsoft: They still don’t replace experience but they indicate a degree of knowledge that can be useful when determining whether to hire one candidate over another.
Honestly, a certification is mostly just for show. Despite the buzz value placed on them by some, they’re generally only good when you’re doing advertising. “All our technicians are ABC Certified so you know you can trust us!” So are we to believe that someone with ten years of experience and no certification is less valuable than someone with a nice piece of paper?
Certifications are nice to have and they show someone was interested enough in working on computers to get them, but that’s probably it. We have seen plenty of certified technicians that are not half as competent as self-taught technicians. The difference is always experience. Sure, wiping a computer and reloading the operating system is easy 95 percent of the time. However, it is that 5 percent of the time where the operating system doesn’t load, the updates won’t run, or the drivers can’t be found that makes the difference between a qualified technician and a “certified idiot.” With that said, if you employ people who do have certifications, by all means, display the certificates everywhere you can.
7. There Are Easy Ways to Solve New Problems
No matter how many years of IT experience you have, there will be problems you have never faced before. New products and services appear daily and it just isn’t possible to keep current with all of them. With these new products come new problems. Solving them quickly and profitably is what being a computer tech is about. Don’t forget, the longer a problem takes to solve, the less you earn to solve it. In a perfect world, every problem could be solved in less than a minute but that’s just not the way it works.
Those of us who have been doing computer repair for years know there is nothing better than Google to troubleshoot an issue. Is there a random beep code? Google it. Does the customer have a virus you haven’t seen before? Chances are someone else has already solved it. Whatever the problem, don’t be afraid to leverage Google to find the answer. Chat rooms and discussion forums are full of technical problems and solutions. Fortunately for us, Google makes it easy to navigate the Web. Just type in the error code, computer type, or whatever makes the issue unique and you are bound to get tons of results.
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