Thinking of going it alone

[Tracer]

Computer building has been a hobby, I'm thinking of phasing it into a full time business., I really wanna work for myself. Does anyone do this and recommend yea or nea? I know I would need a business plan and all. I'm good with accounting andall that. This has been a dream of mine for a while!
Also would A+ certification be recommended? Or any others? I got that a couple years ago but its expired, along with my network certs.

I would be working out of my finished out garage at first if I did this. LOL

[egarrard]

Go for it! :thumb

[wazman]

If you do, be prepared for grief, and lots of it.

The average computer user isn't like us in here. When their computers break, it will be their fault, but they will blame you. Repeatedly.

I wouldn't do it. If I had the chance to go back and change something in my life, I never would have taken this job at the store I work at. Being fed a pint of diarrhea every hour for the rest of my life would be preferable to this.

[Tracer]

er....that bad huh!?

[wazman]

er....that bad huh!?

Where I am it is. Maybe if you get the right people working for you, or with you, it's better. But you asked for yay or nay, and all I can tell you is my experience after two years of doing this. I love computers, but I wouldn't ever make them my work again after this.

My only advice is to make sure you really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY like working on computers all day, day in and day out. Otherwise, you'll fall victim to burnout, and suffer from these symptoms -

1. chronic fatigue - exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of being physically run down
2. anger at those making demands
3. self-criticism for putting up with the demands
4. cynicism, negativity, and irritability
5. a sense of being besieged
6. exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things
7. frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances
8. weight loss or gain
9. sleeplessness and depression
10. shortness of breath
11. suspiciousness
12. feelings of helplessness
13. increased degree of risk taking

- Like I am.

If you're the kind of person that can do it, you'll love it. But if you're not, you'll feel it.

[Tracer]

well...right now I'm a network engineer-slash- IT helper at a Seminary College here. I get all that daily from professors . And I was raised in the restaurant business all my life...talk about dealing with emotional people LOL So I think I might have the temperament. ....I hope!? LOL

[wazman]

well...right now I'm a network engineer-slash- IT helper at a Seminary College here. I get all that daily from professors . And I was raised in the restaurant business all my life...talk about dealing with emotional people LOL So I think I might have the temperament. ....I hope!? LOL

Sounds like it. If you can deal with the public and remain calm, you should be OK. Me, I can't. But then, I'm not a people person anyway. :)

[egarrard]

Any job sucks if you do it long enough to get burned out. Computer folks are more inquisitive than most and tend to get into a rut a lot easier. Maybe do it part time and do something completely different for the other bit.

[wazman]

Any job sucks if you do it long enough to get burned out. Computer folks are more inquisitive than most and tend to get into a rut a lot easier. Maybe do it part time and do something completely different for the other bit.

There's good advice. Don't let it become your life, or you will hate it. Make sure you have something that doesn't involve computers at all, and use that to counterpoint the burnout.

I still wouldn't do it, though. I'm just that fed up with people as a whole.

[Tracer]

Well..I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you have your reasons. I remember back in college and I was cooking and waiting tables at my Dad's restaurant I would get to feeling like that.
Someone taught me a frame of mind to deal with it. Out of every 100 people you meet....2 or 3 might be jerks and make life tough on you, but theres 97 or 98 that are great. So set yourself up to appreciate the 98%....and pity the 2%....they live in perpetual hell LOL
That actually worked for me!
Well I'm putting together a business plan and seeing what my startup capital would need to be. it might not be worth it. But I'll never know until I try will I :)

[bass_machine]

Well, i'm in college, build/repair them on the side, and have a lot of people coming to me for help... and have been doing so for years now. I'm not A+ certified, but plan on it very soon. Although I have taken Cisco networking and Cisco computer hardware/A+ prep type cources in the past and got certificates to show for it, they mean nothing really. A+ is the standard, unfortunatly we should all have it if were considering opening shop. Consider repairing a classic p2, you're currently familure with the latest and greatest from Intel and AMD, and when you have problems with the ancient box, you'll need some lessons which A+ can possibly teach ya. I know, I know... google has all the answers, but if you have a business, you'll wanna know off hand, won't you?

Just my thought... :)

[wazman]

One thing I can't stress enough: if you don't know any DOS commands, learn them. You will need them. Just because Windows XP doesn't use them, you will still find lots of reasons to. I can't count the number of times I've had to boot off a DOS floppy and work from there.

[rush2218]

I would honestly have to recommend a nea to your plan. While you have good intentions on working with computers, dealing with customers and building systems gets tedious after a while and you might get burnt out quick.

I worked with a local computer sales and repair shop for 2 years. I built 20-30 systems per week and i was burnt out within 6 months, playing with computers was not as fun as before. It was family run business so lots of corruption inside the company, and employee morale was low. Plus pay is not great for a technician. It's different if you start on your own i suppose, but that's all up to you.

As for the A+ certification, theres not much use to it, except for computer technicians. I would recommend getting any if not all Microsoft certifications, Cicso, and even Oracle. I thought at first A+ would be great for finding a job, but it's really not what employers are looking for. I would just stay with your Engineering slash IT helper guy job and then find something that pays better... lol Good luck to you :)

[rush2218]

Ohh yeah, and definatly listen to wazman, learn all those DOS commands, learn all operating systems, keep every type of bootable floppy disk on hand. I would always use Norton Ghost for backup of customer hard drives (just incase), and also for disk images (speed up install time). Learn how to recover passwords on NT machines, if some silly customer forgot their password. And of course having a univeral key finder for OS and office suites always helps, if the customer lost their original media case. Just arm yourself with as many resources as possible. Yep... lol

Although the sympons wazman listen below are very intense, I encountered all of those while working a computer repair shop... lol