Are you the "gadget guy" in your family? How much time do you spend doing it?

[Nowooski]

I assume a lot of us are the go to gadget person in our families. How much time per year do you spend answer relative's product recommendation questions or playing tech support? Do you like it, or wish there was an alternative? 

Personally, I liked it when I was in my teens. It was something to talk with the aunts and uncles about. But now it is a bit tiresome. 

[IgniVellex]

I am lucky enough to have an uncle who is also rather tech savvy. this does not seem to stop my family from coming to me with all of their issues though

[bmx6454]

i don't mind it, usually i make some side money doing repairs on tv's, phones, pc's, consoles/controllers, ect..(always offer for cost of parts for family, but most of them insist). the only person that can get annoying at times is my mother(great person otherwise), but when it comes to tech, talking her through basic things over face time can be quite the tall order these days haha.

 

as far as time, maybe a few hours a month on weekends, not too much these days, as throwing things out and replacing seems to be the new "meta".

[SignatureSigner]

Always had an interest in tech, Got an internship with IT last summer. I genuinely enjoy working with tech and figuring things out.

 

Time wise? not a ton but some things can take longer than other things.

[Agall]

28 minutes ago, Nowooski said:

I assume a lot of us are the go to gadget person in our families. How much time per year do you spend answer relative's product recommendation questions or playing tech support? Do you like it, or wish there was an alternative? 

Personally, I liked it when I was in my teens. It was something to talk with the aunts and uncles about. But now it is a bit tiresome. 

When it comes to immediate family, a decent amount of time. That's for almost anything tech related and I don't mind, it's a way I can help the family out and be useful to society. The only time I've run into 'conflict' is with my sister-in-law's extended family who I had no problem giving advice to, but what they were requesting was unreasonable.

 

I have no problems doing basic stuff, 1-2 hours of work for in-law extended family, but doing a full suite of in-depth OS repair on an old machine that you should replace instead isn't, it was mostly a case of someone ignoring good advice and wanting me to do 4-5 hours of manual OS cleanup/repair that wouldn't be worth it in the first place. I just didn't have the software tools as an individual that I would need to properly do what they were requesting within reason, so I gave them my two recommendations towards either a new device or an organization like Geek Squad who has those software tools.

[FloRolf]

I am the tech guy too but I usually buy and recommend high end stuff so people don't ask me anymore because they are afraid it will be expensive

[Ordinarily_Greater]

3 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

I am the tech guy too but I usually buy and recommend high end stuff so people don't ask me anymore because they are afraid it will be expensive

Read this and initially expected before reaching the first half you would be aware of recommending tech that aren't expensive for its class but you absolutely stayed in character of being in the high class of tech products be it for yourself respectively or to others

 

Well that definitely would make recommending networking setups a la your style a chore to follow 

[FloRolf]

24 minutes ago, Ordinarily_Greater said:

Read this and initially expected before reaching the first half you would be aware of recommending tech that aren't expensive for its class but you absolutely stayed in character of being in the high class of tech products be it for yourself respectively or to others

 

Well that definitely would make recommending networking setups a la your style a chore to follow 

Yes exactly. I mean i also recommend cheaper but still high quality products. For example I was into headphones for a while and when people ask for recommendation they usually expect to spend $20 and think that would be decent. My recommendation start at like $100 which for many is expensive but for me it was on the cheaper end but the earliest I could actually recommend. The problem is that if shit doesn't work you'll be the one having to justify and/or fix that. If they buy high quality right away there's less of a chance you are in trouble. And if they end up not taking your advice you can just say 'told you so' and run