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Need advice on getting a job

M

Mike

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi

I'm 21 years old, with only a high school education. I can't afford to
go to college and I have sleep disorders which will interfere with
whatever career path I choose. I decided that I think I might like to
try working at a computer repair store or something like that. Kind of
like Best Buy, Circuit City, or a small independent store for example.
I don't know too much about the "insides" of a computer but I do know
how to fix a lot of software/technical problems. What I don't know, I
can pick up fairly quick.

How do I go about getting a job at a repair place? What kind of
training is needed and what exactly do they do other than fix hardware
related issues? I'd call a local store and ask but I'm really shy and
would prefer to ask here first. I've never had a job before so I don't
know the correct way of getting one. Any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks.
 
S

Scott

Jan 1, 1970
0
One approach you could take would be to go apply at Best Buy, Circuit City,
or Comp-USA and start at the cash register. While you are doing this and
generating income, get some books and read them. Also, get magazines like
Computer Shopper and get up to speed on the latest technology. Once you are
working in the store offer to stay after your shift and watch the service
people and learn as much as you can. Avoid taking any kind of "It's not my
job attitude" and do what ever you can. There are also training CD's and
Video's available to teach you how to fix computers. Check with your local
library and see if they have anything. Again, read as much as you can.

You should also set up a meeting with your local community college and see
what your options are. Just because you don't have money in your pocket does
not mean you cannot go to college. Some times these colleges also run
classes on resume writing and job hunting, look for those as well and get
signed up.

If you want to get right to work, go to the store and fill out an
application. When you get an interview be honest and don't be afraid to say
I don't know. If you are really nervous about the interview apply at some
places you don't want to work to get some interviewing experience or get
some friends/family to run through interview sessions.

In short, take a pro-active approach and don't sit back and wait for
something to land in your lap.
Scott
 
Mike said:
Hi

I'm 21 years old, with only a high school education. I can't afford to
go to college and I have sleep disorders which will interfere with
whatever career path I choose. I decided that I think I might like to
try working at a computer repair store or something like that. Kind of
like Best Buy, Circuit City, or a small independent store for example.
I don't know too much about the "insides" of a computer but I do know
how to fix a lot of software/technical problems. What I don't know, I
can pick up fairly quick.

How do I go about getting a job at a repair place? What kind of
training is needed and what exactly do they do other than fix hardware
related issues? I'd call a local store and ask but I'm really shy and
would prefer to ask here first. I've never had a job before so I don't
know the correct way of getting one. Any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks.
It is good that you have identified a job that you think you would
enjoy. All too often there are people who NEVER do this and work all
their lives in a job they dislike. Unfortunately in today's work
environment, it is very difficult to get an opportunity to learn a
technical job with "On the job training." If I were you I would find an
affordable course in electronics that you can do in your free time.
Often there are night classes one can enroll in that allow the holding
of a job while leaning new skills. Once you have some education in the
field, it is considerably easier to get additional education provided by
your employer.

Now it is true that you would need to invest a lot of your time as well
as some of your funds. But I think you will find years from now that it
was the best investment you ever made. I found myself in a similar
situation almost 40 years ago, and studying and pursuing a field in
electronics proved to be both an intellectual and financially rewarding
choice. Good luck.
 
J

James Sweet

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike said:
Hi

I'm 21 years old, with only a high school education. I can't afford to
go to college and I have sleep disorders which will interfere with
whatever career path I choose. I decided that I think I might like to
try working at a computer repair store or something like that. Kind of
like Best Buy, Circuit City, or a small independent store for example.
I don't know too much about the "insides" of a computer but I do know
how to fix a lot of software/technical problems. What I don't know, I
can pick up fairly quick.

How do I go about getting a job at a repair place? What kind of
training is needed and what exactly do they do other than fix hardware
related issues? I'd call a local store and ask but I'm really shy and
would prefer to ask here first. I've never had a job before so I don't
know the correct way of getting one. Any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks.

Best Buy and such probably won't be very interesting places to work, their
"technicians" are mostly just half wit computer nerds who do basic computer
repair. For anything component level you'll have to try an actual TV and
electronics repair shop, for which the best training is practicing fixing
stuff at home. Become proficient at soldering and using DMM's and
oscilloscopes.
 
D

David

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike said:
Hi

I'm 21 years old, with only a high school education. I can't afford to
go to college and I have sleep disorders which will interfere with
whatever career path I choose. I decided that I think I might like to
try working at a computer repair store or something like that. Kind of
like Best Buy, Circuit City, or a small independent store for example.
I don't know too much about the "insides" of a computer but I do know
how to fix a lot of software/technical problems. What I don't know, I
can pick up fairly quick.

How do I go about getting a job at a repair place? What kind of
training is needed and what exactly do they do other than fix hardware
related issues? I'd call a local store and ask but I'm really shy and
would prefer to ask here first. I've never had a job before so I don't
know the correct way of getting one. Any advice would be wonderful.
Thanks.

Hi Mike,

It's fairly rare for people to know what career they want to choose and
succeed upon. More than often, people are just unhappy on their jobs
and did it because it helps pay the bills. This includes the computer
and electronics field where they are good master technicians and they
are plenty of so so too. When you want to do "on the job" training,
you want to be under a good and capable master technician, where you
will learn good work habits and strong diagnostic skills. You don't
want to be under a lousy technician's wing. Big companies that sell
computers usually do not provide you with any good technical skills
since computers are so cheap these days, the technicians only do board
swapping if at best. This is a far cry from my days where we do board
level repair and the ability to read and understand schematics is a
must. These days, anybody can be a technician -- replacing boards
isn't really requiring any super technical skills either.

So what to do?? If you decide to go into the electronics field, I
would suggest that enroll yourself in a part time electronics course
and learn some basic electronics skills like soldering, parallel series
circuits and etc.. But most important is soldering skills. For on the
job training, a small TV and radio shop who is willing to take you in
as an apprentice would do, but have you thought about becoming a camera
repair technician?? Camera companies like Canon, Nikon and Pentax like
taking in newbies just like you and train you to become a camera
technician. With the popularity of digital cameras, they are always
looking for young and energetic people like yourself that knows a lot
of computer stuff. You will be using logic probes, oscilloscopes and a
SMT solder rework station -- all these skills that I don't think Best
Buy or Circuit City would bother to teach you how to use.
If you know how to use these tools, your skills are easily transferable
to another electronics career.

Hope this helps.
 
K

Ken G.

Jan 1, 1970
0
I want to offer some general input about people and jobs . I am 44 years
old and have had 6 jobs in that time , some of them was being in charge
of other employees .
The biggest problem i find with people of your age is they dont want to
work very hard , dont want to pay full attention and work all day . Its
even worse when their are a few more young people working at the same
place much goofing off and sloppy ``1/2`` work going on .
I see new young employees come & go at my present job and every one of
them & the guys are the worst .. work real hard for about 30 days then
start slowing down & goofing off leaving things laying around and
throwing things into corners .
We have 3 new employees and right on schedule like clockwork after about
30 days they now goof off and dont work very well .
These type people do not last very long or get very far in jobs .
I encourage you to stick with the type of work you like even though it
does not pay a huge wage . If you continue to do work you like it will
lead to good pay eventually as you better yourself .

Best of luck .
 
K

Klm

Jan 1, 1970
0
Having gone through a similar career path I agree with everything
biker780 said. I was lucky that I caught an earlier wave where
companies were glad to get anyone who showed an interest in fixing
equipment. I learned my stuff on the job and didn't go to college
until much later when no "paper" meant no advancement. I started with
office machines such as manual and electric typewriters, calculators
photocopiers and cash register systems. I 'graduated' into the mini
computer era then caught the desktop PCs' rise. Of all of these only
photocopiers and cash registers remain as a viable equipment repair
service areas the others being obsolete or have become so cheap as to
be throwaways. PCs and many consumer electronics equipment are
practically throwaways now because they are cheap enough, have short
technology lives and are too complex to do component repairs anyway.
Suffice to say that there is no money to be made in PCs, radio and TV,
VCRs, DVDs and the list goes on - the consumer electronics stuff.
Note that there is little consumer tolerance for bad designs that fail
often. Therefore although there may be service jobs now for the
glamorous and expensive (therefore worth repairing) large flat panel
TVs, the new exciting multimedia stuff and so on, this demand for
knowledgeable service techs is not likely to last as prices drop and
reliablity improves.

A repair technician's job is more satisfying than a white collar job.
The trick is to find one that has resonable employment opportunities.
Every repair technician's job requires a good knowledge of PCs anyway
since the PC is used as the brains for the other equipment. Therefore
you will still learn about PCs. I had mentioned photocopiers and every
business office still needs a photocopier. Another area is cash
registers. Look for jobs in business or industrial equipment
electronics where their equipment has high usage and cannot be down
for any length of time. When you have gained some experience and
savings go to a two or three year college program. That piece of
paper is everything if you want to remain in the trade.

______________________________________________________
 
D

David

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ken G. said:
I want to offer some general input about people and jobs . I am 44 years
old and have had 6 jobs in that time , some of them was being in charge
of other employees .
The biggest problem i find with people of your age is they dont want to
work very hard , dont want to pay full attention and work all day . Its
even worse when their are a few more young people working at the same
place much goofing off and sloppy ``1/2`` work going on .
I see new young employees come & go at my present job and every one of
them & the guys are the worst .. work real hard for about 30 days then
start slowing down & goofing off leaving things laying around and
throwing things into corners .
We have 3 new employees and right on schedule like clockwork after about
30 days they now goof off and dont work very well .
These type people do not last very long or get very far in jobs .
I encourage you to stick with the type of work you like even though it
does not pay a huge wage . If you continue to do work you like it will
lead to good pay eventually as you better yourself .

Best of luck .

I really agree with Ken G. too. I myself had been in charge of other
employees and was a master service trainer for a very prestigeous
electronics firm and back in the old days, my master technician trained
me boot camp style -- strict discipline and focus, which I hated and at
times wanted to just kill him. But in the end, I realized what he had
passed on to me and that it became extremely useful for my later
advancement and respect among my peers in the industry. These days,
however, most young people (not all) are just not toughing it out. All
they think about is their next paycheck and a good time with their
girlfriends or boyfriends. I had to end up hiring middle age male and
female technician with families, because it seemed that they are more
focussed when there are responsibilities involved -- though they were
not perfect either.

The key to succeed in the electronics repair industry is that you
"MUST" really like it to be good at it. Trust me.. Once you are good
at what you do, people will fall over their toes trying to snatch you
into their team.
 
G

glasnostJDC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Go to the schools we come from, people slack off and still pass, all the
(most anyway) only care about getting a passing grade. Teachers allow slopy
and late work to be handed in and these poor grades and do nothing about and
wounder why (also true though they can't really do much to them). They think
what they have done in school will be the same in the work field. I work at
a local resturant as a dish washer (along with prep work, and misc. stuff)
and do general electronics repair for people (small town no where to get a
job with electronics) I work hard and am always there if someone is sick.
They call me on days they need someone there for a special event because
I'll be there and do my job. It's sad how many kids go out and think they
can progress without effort. Parents are also hafe to blam, the poor, and
middle, and semi rich. They get there kids "nice" (meaning new, or expesive
used) car and allow them to drive on there bill. They pay for everything and
when they do something bad just ignore them. I've got to pay $1200 a year in
insurance (I'm 17 and live in New York), I drive a 89 Cavalier RS wagon I
got from my uncle for a decent price, needs body work, head gasket (summer
project) and some other moderate repairs and replacements. I'm not from a
poor family, but one that knows that paying for something your self helps in
you treating it with more respect. But anyway it's sad to see these kids
driving around not knowing what's coming up. Havn't made up my mind on what
to do carrier wise, defently not a PC repair, it's fun but there's way too
many (at least in my region) centers with enough half wits to fill the
titanic (half wit, dosn't even know what cache is). There's some kids who
work hard and have great parents and there some teachers who really try to
do what they can to help and get kids to work, then there's alot more who
want to go get drunk on a saturday night. I had to rant, that car thing was
pi**ing me off. I'd better goe stick my homework in the corner ;-)

-Jay
 
J

Jer

Jan 1, 1970
0
I hope you're still reading this newsgroup.
I'm 23 and felt the same at the beginning.
I took a college course on electronics repair and then went into computer
sales,
then tech support, and only repair things when i have time.
To be honest, I have not found a job yet that is about to teach me about
repairs,
but tech support is a good place to start if you have a handle on computers
and need some money to get things going.
I warn you now about the stress tolerance level you will need.
 
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