Just saying hi... Hi

[HoodedMountainGoat]

Hiya all,

 

Before I post on the forum I felt that it would be proper of me the say hi and Introduce myself. I'm Goat, I'm from the UK and I have built and maintained both mine and my wife's gaming PCs for a good while now. After my rig become seven years old this year, it's now showing its age. Modded minecraft is a struggle now. I've already maxed out my hardware now, so I'm working out my next build.  Also for last few months I haven't been happy at work and I'm being encouraged by my wife and other people in my life to take up building computers for a living. So I'm looking into it. I'm looking at Open University courses at the moment to learn everything I can. while I'm learn and a year or so from now. I will start looking at the idea of finding a job work for someone in the field to begin with, then eventually with the idea of starting my own business.

 

I suppose then thats my first question I have to the forum. What qualifications should I be looking at for this line of work and how did others already in the job get started?

 

Anyway, this is me saying hi and I look forward to read and joining discussions on the forum.

[FezBoy]

iH

[Suppersupport]

eybdoog

[dizmo]

Hello!
I'm going to guess your name isn't actually Goat, but if so I'm sorry for your loss! I kid. Get it. Baby goat?

 

Honestly, as much fun as it would be to build computers for a living, there's little to no money in it. I'd highly suggest looking into other fields of work.

If you want to do it on the side for a hobby, sure, that's reasonable. Hell, I do something PC related on the side, but kind of the opposite of what you do; I buy systems that I find cheap, part them out, and profit that way. Have a bunch of parts that just aren't selling? Assemble them into a PC, and try and get rid of it that way.

 

One thing I highly, highly suggest doing before even thinking about either one of those revenue streams; check out your local competition, and demand. I can only do what I do because despite being in a city with over a million people, there's a very small used market. So I can get more for the items I'm selling than you'd generally think.

 

What courses are you taking? I can't think of any that really pertain to building computers.

 

Regardless, welcome to the forum!

There's lots of knowledge to be had here, but do keep in mind, most of the users are under 18.

[HoodedMountainGoat]

Yes this is what I'm seeing in my research since writing my original post. Sorry its taken me awhile to reply. September is always busy for me. 

 

So I got in touch with the NCA (National Careers Advisor) and he suggested the closest thing to some who builds computers for a living is a computer service and repair technician. Which actually doesn't need any qualifications, but any qualification in the right direction only works in my favour. You know what, I can see myself doing well in a repair shop or something like that. So I've looked up a basic job description. Looked at what is expected of one, what it involves and what training would help. What I found is that anything in computer science is good. So I've started by enrolling in a course with the OU (Open University) for a higher certificate in computing and It. That will start in April. For now I'm going to stick with the day job and keep researching. I'm actually starting to see a possible end game based on what I've already found as a computer enthusiast in the UK. And with Brexit around the corner. I don't want to make a rash change yet. Just incase thing in the UK goes tits up.