FAQs
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
One day, 20 years ago, during a bout with insomnia at 3:00am, I was taking the trash out to my apartment complex dumpster. I saw a computer on the ground next to the bin with a sign on the screen that said, "Take me!" so I did. I had never owned a computer in my life and was totally illiterate in its operation or what it had to offer me. I carried it back to my apartment in a couple of trips and proceeded to clean it up, inside and out to make it a shiny as possible. I plugged it all in and turned it on at my kitchen table and the screen said, "Operating System Not Found". So wide awake I went to the 24 Hour Wallmart and went to the Electronics Department and bought a version of Windows XP Home Edition after asking an associate what an Operating System was and if they had one for sale. I went back home and I followed the package directions for installation and Wa La!!! my first computer for free. I called Comcast that day and had an internet connection installed and I was on my way. I read roughly 6,000 pages of information on computers and how they work, online in 90 days or so and BOOM I opened my first Computer Repair business which I had for 12 years until the Global Economy fell. It really helped with the stress of my other job being Vice President of Installations for one of the largest Custom Stair Manufacturers in the World. Years later I attended the Advanced Technology College for my formal education finding out that what I had taught myself far surpassed what any education had to offer.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
The advice I have for a customer is to be prepared. Most people are so use to I.T. Professionals showing up, attempting to fix or actually fixing the problem correctly then leaving after the job is done. I.T. Professionals rarely give the client an education about what there problem was, how it occurred and how to keep it from happening again. I require all of my customers to set aside some time, if they have it available, to get educated on their system as well as the potential pitfalls they may have in the future. Customers who continue to practice bad habits and or create security issues for themselves and their systems, see me often. Now don't get me wrong, I like to pay my bills on time but I'd rather be providing a better system for my clients or building them a new one, not consistently repairing the same problem over and over again taking their money for the same redundant issue because they will not make the time to get educated. So in short, "Would you pay for and hour that helps you for a life time and saves you a ton of money? or Would you rather pay someone every month to keep fixing your system and have an empty wallet?" The choice is yours make a good one.
- What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
I wish they knew Information Technology Specialists are not usually very special. I have seen so many people attend college, like I have, to get the certifications and degrees and not be able to do the job. I'm not saying the education doesn't give you a plethora of knowledge but at the end of the day those of us who have put in the time out in the field and have dealt with the complex issues of I.T. hands on, very rarely get any credit for what we are capable of. This usually happens after several unequipped, so called I.T. Professionals, have shown up, over charged and never fixed the issue properly. Now the client is so bent at this point and financially strapped due to the others that they are just glad its fixed and over with. They never recognize someone like me has to figure out what the initial problem was then figure out what the others did and then make it all right in the end.