I need an tech tip

[Norbi1233]

Spoiler

Hello, I am a 19 years old boy from Romania, and having a big passion on building and troubleshooting PC's, and I want to ask you guys if I really need to have a college based on this or just only a course or should I get a job in this domain ? 

 

[LienusLateTips]

To be honest to start a shop you don't need any experience

 

If you want to work in industry yes you need college most of the time

[Enderman]

Just get a job at a local computer store for job experience, they rarely ask you for any kind of degree as long as you can show you know how to build and troubleshoot PCs already.

[Windows7ge]

If you're passionate about it it's a great field to make a living in. College is kind of application specific. Where I live my local college offers no classes for general computer maintenance/repair. If you just want to have your hands inside computers though a repair shop would probably be a better suit than college.

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, Norbi1233 said:

Hello, I am a 19 years old boy from Romania, and having a big passion on building and troubleshooting PC's, and I want to ask you guys if I really need to have a college based on this or just only a course or should I get a job in this domain ? 

It depends on scope of work. If you're dealing with consumer level PCs, then that doesn't really require much in terms of job or education needs. Best Buy here in the US will basically hire secondary educated people (might explain a few things though...)

 

If you're going to work at an enterprise level, or at least for companies and other professional grade stuff, you'll at least need qualifications if not some form of college education, depending on what your employer is looking for.

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

(might explain a few things though...)

I walked into a Best Buy a few years ago and went up to the geek squad counter. I asked the girl if they had thumb screws. The look on the girls face said it all. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. It wasn't until she looked it up on the computer that she told me no that they didn't have them.

 

Haven't asked geek squad for anything ever since. Have barely been inside a Best Buy ever since.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Windows7ge said:

I walked into a Best Buy a few years ago and went up to the geek squad counter. I asked the girl if they had thumb screws. The look on the girls face said it all. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. It wasn't until she looked it up on the computer that she told me no that they didn't have them.

 

Haven't asked geek squad for anything ever since. Have barely been inside a Best Buy ever since.

I'm 99% sure they either have a book of what to do or someone behind the counter who's more "experienced" tells them what to do/say.

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I'm 99% sure they either have a book of what to do or someone behind the counter who's more "experienced" tells them what to do/say.

Mh, employee handbook and a puppeteer. My cousin worked there in the early 2000's he's passionate about computers and knows his stuff. He quit his job there because he couldn't stand how dim his coworkers were. Not to mention what he was told to charge the customer. Lucrative business.

[Norbi1233]

Thank you guys, so much appreciation for this tips, I knew that I can find great people on the LTT community. 

[NovaNightmare]

On 3/18/2018 at 2:17 PM, Norbi1233 said:

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Hello, I am a 19 years old boy from Romania, and having a big passion on building and troubleshooting PC's, and I want to ask you guys if I really need to have a college based on this or just only a course or should I get a job in this domain ? 

 

So I will give you a perspective from someone who makes that kind of decision. 

 

If you are going for a job, I want college, with some experience during that time (intern / work study). 

 

The answer is simple - there are schools which teach nothing but passing an exam to get a certification. While I look at college as something akin to job experience. You started, you did your work, you passed, you completed a degree. Bottom line is that you followed through. 

 

If I hired someone who had no demonstrable experience, and they screwed up badly, then I would look very bad. 

 

My view in the USA won't be the same that exists in Romania, but that's just what it is. 

[AncientNerd]

So from a few generations back...I started in college, did just over a year and it wasn't working for me. So I got a job in a computer shop (back at the beginning of the PC era) building what were then called "grey market" PCs - basically IBM PC clones that were built from reverse engineered parts by under the table (and fairly shady) companies in China, Taiwan and Korea. Installing these computers, software and networks into offices - I did this for about 3 years and worked up to writing some custom applications for clients as part of the service our company did. Then I went back to college, mostly because I saw the folks that actually had degrees (even in non computer fields) getting paid 3x what I was.

 

So, my advice work and get a degree at the same time. Or mix the two. After I started working in that shop I have always worked in the field even if it was side projects for people I knew or internships for professors or college departments.