I want a job building computers

[Aaralli]

I don't know where or how, but I would love to get a job somewhere building computers of any sort for anyone. I love it so much, I've built over a hundred for people in the last three or four years. I don't know where to look or what companies are even near me, though. Small places aren't hiring though. If ANYONE knows anything, can you give some tips? I am in the area around San Diego, California

[IanKava]

You could probably start building and taking requests on Facebook  marketplace, or if your local microcenter is hiring you could find a job there. 

[Aaralli]

10 minutes ago, IanKava said:

You could probably start building and taking requests on Facebook  marketplace, or if your local microcenter is hiring you could find a job there. 

That's a good idea, although I will say that my closest micro center is about two and a half hours away and living in Los Angeles is extremely expensive and difficult. I was also thinking about companies like Maingear, iBuyPower, Origin PC, and others like that but I have no idea how to find jobs at those places or even if any of those are in or near where I am.

[aDoomGuy]

5 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

That's a good idea, although I will say that my closest micro center is about two and a half hours away and living in Los Angeles is extremely expensive and difficult. I was also thinking about companies like Maingear, iBuyPower, Origin PC, and others like that but I have no idea how to find jobs at those places or even if any of those are in or near where I am.

If I was you I would just start on my own. I thought about this myself actually. You just take orders however you like, from Facebook or friends or friends of friends etc. You agree with the buyer on parts and a fee and either he orders the parts or he pays you up front and you order the parts. If there is no PC store near you that's to your advantage.

[Aaralli]

29 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

If I was you I would just start on my own. I thought about this myself actually. You just take orders however you like, from Facebook or friends or friends of friends etc. You agree with the buyer on parts and a fee and either he orders the parts or he pays you up front and you order the parts. If there is no PC store near you that's to your advantage.

Have you had success in finding customers? I will definitely consider putting up some sort of ad on Facebook and Instagram, although I don't have many pictures of the PCs I've built...

[aDoomGuy]

2 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

Have you had success in finding customers? I will definitely consider putting up some sort of ad on Facebook and Instagram, although I don't have many pictures of the PCs I've built...

Well, I haven't. I've rather helped several of my friends get good computers pre-built with no charge for me. But have thought about this. Also thought about flipping my PC after I built it and buy new parts but then covid came and we all know how that turned out. But yeah, I could definitly get the odd customer just from word of mouth if I wanted to. Not enough to work myself to death but that wouldn't be my plan anyway lol. Words of mouth from friends can get you a long in this world by itself.

[Lurking]

2 hours ago, Aaralli said:

I don't know where or how, but I would love to get a job somewhere building computers of any sort for anyone. I love it so much, I've built over a hundred for people in the last three or four years. I don't know where to look or what companies are even near me, though. Small places aren't hiring though. If ANYONE knows anything, can you give some tips? I am in the area around San Diego, California

If you built 100+ for people and did a good job, you sure have a customer base and can expand it. I imagine being employed at a bestbuy or microcenter is less about building or repairing computers, but more about selling customers $100 virus scans or cleaning up windows for people who know nothing about computers. And it likely is to make people buy new PCs and to sell them the most expensive one with added warranties etc.

 

Another advantage of doing it on your own is, you can standardize, make your own designs (selecting components etc.) and you can start buying parts in some sort of bulk. You also can "recycle" old PCs and build new ones out of those. All things that require research, creativity etc. I'm pretty sure if you are employed, creativity is the last thing you get to use. There it is just a "job".

 

They say if you make your hobby your job, you never work a day in your life. But reality is, if you make your hobby a job, you lose to love the hobby. 

[tkitch]

I'm going to be a debbie downer:

 

It's not a field you get into to make money.

 

Lets say you make 250$ on a PC build.  (Which is very optimistic) you'd have to build and sell 6 or 7 a week to make a halfway decent salary.  (Don't forget, since you're your own boss, health insurance, etc.  is on your own shoulders, so factor that in.)

 

Not to say it can't be done, but with the market right now, it's extra hard, since you can't even get GPUs.

[Sithon1]

Create a web page. Blue sky some builds with available parts . Set prices, then tack on a build fee for your time. Rinse and repeat 

[wseaton]

19 minutes ago, tkitch said:

I'm going to be a debbie downer:

 

It's not a field you get into to make money.

 

Lets say you make 250$ on a PC build.  (Which is very optimistic) you'd have to build and sell 6 or 7 a week to make a halfway decent salary.  (Don't forget, since you're your own boss, health insurance, etc.  is on your own shoulders, so factor that in.)

 

Not to say it can't be done, but with the market right now, it's extra hard, since you can't even get GPUs.

 

Yeah....this. The only people building computers are gamers. Gamers have so-so budgets and the majority are tech savy enough to do it themselves. Then there's support. Anything that goes wrong you will be getting the phone calls for. Anybody not tech savy enough to build their own PC is likely not tech savy enough to know that Ransomware abd other software issues aren't your problem.

 

Business's and offices won't touch you. They learned a log time ago to avoid white box PC's like the plague. You might get some business building custom workstations since Dell and HP tend to lag getting the latest and greatest CPU's, but that's iffy at best. 

[harryk]

If all you want to do is build computers your best bet may be schools, universities, large companies etc. Basically anywhere that is large enough to have it's own IT staff. These organizations typically buy Dells or similar by the crate so there may not be much building per se, but someone still has to wrench on them when they break or need upgrades.  Data centers or server houses likely have similar needs, albeit rack mounted boxes. 

 

You may also look for a computer shop which specifically supplies to large businesses. It won't be fancy work but someone still needs to put the boring boxes together.

[Alan G]

First of all you need a business plan.  Who are your target buyers?  Can you source parts in sufficient quantity?  What guarantee and type of support will you offer?  Are you going to be local to San Diego or will you plan on shipping?  If you are targeting business users (and you can forget about medium to large size organizations as they are already standardized on a set platform)?  What size staff do you need (you certainly cannot make this into a business by yourself as you need to worry about accounting, service calls, and some other legal stuff to insure yourself against possible liability).

 

If you cannot come up with a solid business plan, you won't have a chance.  It might be instructive for you to look at Puget Systems in Seattle who have carved out a niche for themselves.by offering specific solutions for certain sectors.  Trying to just build PCs for standard office and Internet browsing is a loser as that type user would typically go to a big box store and get a plain vanilla laptop or small desktop (and remember you cannot compete in the laptop space at all).  

 

I grew up in San Diego (a long time ago) and there is a vibrant arts community.  You might look into building and supporting custom PCs for photographers and graphic artists.  A lot of them tend to buy Apple products for which they pay a hefty premium.  You could provide an equivalent PC in terms of specs for a lower price.  It's also worth looking around town to see if there are any custom PC builders all ready as these will be your competitors.  You might be surprised to find that there are a fair number of them out there.

[BuckGup]

Building computers all day gets extremely boring by the 5th week. It'll ruin your passion and awe you may have from building them. Something more boutique and custom would be much more exciting like maingear

[Arika]

You and 1000 other people in your general area. You're going to have to do some research to see if there is any space left for you and if so what is missing in the market, what will you do that is better than the people already doing it.

why would someone come to you instead of a boutique builder that can offer a warranty, replacements and post sales support.

 

these are all things you need to ask yourself

 

You're better off getting a job at a pc store.

[Zusafek]

21 hours ago, Aaralli said:

That's a good idea, although I will say that my closest micro center is about two and a half hours away and living in Los Angeles is extremely expensive and difficult. I was also thinking about companies like Maingear, iBuyPower, Origin PC, and others like that but I have no idea how to find jobs at those places or even if any of those are in or near where I am.

Origin PC is based on Miami FL.  It's right down the road from where I live.

[COAGULOPATH]

It's like anything: find product/market fit.

 

Figure out what you're good at, figure out a market area that's being underserved, and lean into it. Whether it's unique/modded PCs, cable management, RGB, performance, or whatever. You need to have a niche that you own.

[Imbadatnames]

Working as an electronics technician I will say it will get boring FAST. You’re not building your own system you’re building with the same parts in a standard configuration over and over again. Variety is the spice of life there are better tech jobs out there. 

[Aaralli]

On 1/27/2022 at 11:33 AM, wseaton said:

 

Yeah....this. The only people building computers are gamers. Gamers have so-so budgets and the majority are tech savy enough to do it themselves. Then there's support. Anything that goes wrong you will be getting the phone calls for. Anybody not tech savy enough to build their own PC is likely not tech savy enough to know that Ransomware abd other software issues aren't your problem.

 

Business's and offices won't touch you. They learned a log time ago to avoid white box PC's like the plague. You might get some business building custom workstations since Dell and HP tend to lag getting the latest and greatest CPU's, but that's iffy at best. 

I could potentially charge for tech support on my builds. I have plenty of experience repairing software mistakes friends and family have made. Windows is no issue unless I need to get into registry editing, and I can deal with malware and such. I work in a medical office now and I advise my boss on new tech to buy and set it up for him with all the necessary encryption and security that medical records need. I could propose those services to other medical offices?

[Aaralli]

On 1/27/2022 at 1:30 PM, Alan G said:

First of all you need a business plan.  Who are your target buyers?  Can you source parts in sufficient quantity?  What guarantee and type of support will you offer?  Are you going to be local to San Diego or will you plan on shipping?  If you are targeting business users (and you can forget about medium to large size organizations as they are already standardized on a set platform)?  What size staff do you need (you certainly cannot make this into a business by yourself as you need to worry about accounting, service calls, and some other legal stuff to insure yourself against possible liability).

 

If you cannot come up with a solid business plan, you won't have a chance.  It might be instructive for you to look at Puget Systems in Seattle who have carved out a niche for themselves.by offering specific solutions for certain sectors.  Trying to just build PCs for standard office and Internet browsing is a loser as that type user would typically go to a big box store and get a plain vanilla laptop or small desktop (and remember you cannot compete in the laptop space at all).  

 

I grew up in San Diego (a long time ago) and there is a vibrant arts community.  You might look into building and supporting custom PCs for photographers and graphic artists.  A lot of them tend to buy Apple products for which they pay a hefty premium.  You could provide an equivalent PC in terms of specs for a lower price.  It's also worth looking around town to see if there are any custom PC builders all ready as these will be your competitors.  You might be surprised to find that there are a fair number of them out there.

Another thing I thought to offer is work from home/home office setup advice, whether it's new tech setups, computer and peripheral purchases, laptop advice (performance and budgeting) and more... And making it all look good. I'd charge by the hour for discussion of the project, and then for parts and setup one simple price. Or maybe eliminate one or the other of those.

[Aaralli]

On 1/27/2022 at 1:41 PM, Arika S said:

You and 1000 other people in your general area. You're going to have to do some research to see if there is any space left for you and if so what is missing in the market, what will you do that is better than the people already doing it.

why would someone come to you instead of a boutique builder that can offer a warranty, replacements and post sales support.

 

these are all things you need to ask yourself

 

You're better off getting a job at a pc store.

I currently work in a medical office full of osteopathic specialists. These physicians can treat literally anything, from autism to Alzheimer's to people dying of cancer to pre and post surgery prep and healing, to broken bones. They are RIDICULOUSLY expensive for what they do. Around $350 per appointment, and insurance isn't guaranteed to reimburse patients. It's based on their plan. But we have nearly a 100% patient return rate for weekly, bimonthly, monthly, or annual appointments, because our doctors, our staff, are all so kind and friendly, and we will do ANYTHING for the patient. Help watch your daughter during your appointment? Sure! Can't figure out why your tax forms day that weird thing? Okay let's look at it together. Oh you have to cancel because your dog just died and you have to take care of that? That's fine, no late cancellation or no show fee. 

Seeing how happy our patients are with the quality of care in our office, both from the physicians and the staff, has taught me that if I can offer the right services, and get them to like me enough, they'll keep coming back. I've helped more elderly patients at my medical job with tech, and visited their homes to help set up computers or fix problems, than I ever thought I would. It's all about establishing good relationships, I think.

[dimforest]

Disclaimer: I didn't read every post in this topic because I'm lazy and can't be bothered. That said....

 

...I hope you don't like money. Building PC's for a living isn't super common and usually is just a sub-task of another job rather than an entire job by itself. If you like building computers though, you likely enjoy computer-based tech and would find some interest in more traditional IT type work. You can get into a Desktop Support type role with zero experience if you interview well enough and with your history of building computers you likely would have an edge up on other candidates that didn't already go to school for computer sciences or have previous IT experience. You would be valuable to a company though for their service desk/ help desk role because you don't have any IT experience so they could pay you slightly less than what they'd pay somebody with years of experience. Companies and IT departments love building entry level techs into their flavor of IT as well. You have less learned mistakes from other places so you'd be a sponge, in their eyes. 

 

Then after a few years you hopefully will have played your cards right and spent a lot of time learning and could make a jump to administration of some type. From there, the sky is the limit.

[Aaralli]

20 hours ago, dimforest said:

Disclaimer: I didn't read every post in this topic because I'm lazy and can't be bothered. That said....

 

...I hope you don't like money. Building PC's for a living isn't super common and usually is just a sub-task of another job rather than an entire job by itself. If you like building computers though, you likely enjoy computer-based tech and would find some interest in more traditional IT type work. You can get into a Desktop Support type role with zero experience if you interview well enough and with your history of building computers you likely would have an edge up on other candidates that didn't already go to school for computer sciences or have previous IT experience. You would be valuable to a company though for their service desk/ help desk role because you don't have any IT experience so they could pay you slightly less than what they'd pay somebody with years of experience. Companies and IT departments love building entry level techs into their flavor of IT as well. You have less learned mistakes from other places so you'd be a sponge, in their eyes. 

 

Then after a few years you hopefully will have played your cards right and spent a lot of time learning and could make a jump to administration of some type. From there, the sky is the limit.

I'm also taking a Google IT support certificate course, that I think is basically the entry level certificate required for a lot of jobs. Would that get me some better options?

[wasab]

 

On 1/27/2022 at 12:49 PM, Lurking said:

If you built 100+ for people and did a good job, you sure have a customer base and can expand it. I imagine being employed at a bestbuy or microcenter is less about building or repairing computers, but more about selling customers $100 virus scans or cleaning up windows for people who know nothing about computers. And it likely is to make people buy new PCs and to sell them the most expensive one with added warranties etc.

Very true. They are less train on computers and more on sales tactics. When you ask them about one particular laptop, they will try to upsell you a more expensive models. Best buy same thing. One customer rep I encountered will straight up tell you to get an iPhone, even an older model when a customer asks for a Samsung. 

 

Virus softwares is very stupid btw. Most do not even work, especially since they do very little to actually prevent the user from downloading and clicking on malwares infested files or fall for phishing scams. 

[dimforest]

2 hours ago, Aaralli said:

I'm also taking a Google IT support certificate course, that I think is basically the entry level certificate required for a lot of jobs. Would that get me some better options?

Meh... yes and no. For the positions you'd be interviewing for, certs don't mean a whole lot if you don't have the experience to justify them. There is a term in the industry: "Paper chasers" for folks who go out and get all sorts of certs hoping it'll land them a job. 

 

Certs definitely don't HURT things... but I wouldn't look at them (especially the Google IT Support) as being a huge resume builder. If you're looking for certs though, I would highly suggest you look at other ones and not the Google IT Support one. Get your A+, N+ and start studying for a CCNA and those 3 will be basically all you need for the time being. Once you get in somewhere and figure out your environment, you may want to look at getting additional certs geared towards what you're supporting.

[Alan G]

13 hours ago, Aaralli said:

I'm also taking a Google IT support certificate course, that I think is basically the entry level certificate required for a lot of jobs. Would that get me some better options?

It depends on what you want to do.  Prior to retirement I worked at a moderate size business of 150 employees.  Everyone was linked on a Microsoft network and there were two employees on staff to handle all the technical issues that might arise.  Some of this was user training and some was trouble shooting.  We were standardized on Dell PCs and everything was basic Microsoft Office stuff.  PCs were used for 3-5 years before upgrading to newer hardware.  The tech support staff had Microsoft certification.  IIRC the salary range for these people was pretty good and likely much better than working building or repairing PCs.