Studying IT Repairing?

Mustafa

Mustafa

Mustafa

Associate
Joined
6 Feb 2013
Posts
24
hey guys, I need a little a bit of help..

Im going back to study IT next year and i need help if someone can guide me right way. Ive already know what i want to do but maybe others know better ways?

I've studied in college from 2009-2012 and completed

- BTEC Level 1 Certificate IT (?)
- BTEC Level 2 Diploma for IT
- BTEC Level 3 Certificate for IT (Have Cisco Networking Certification)

I volunteered after my class for 3 years repairing and getting better understanding of computers (so fun!)

Now for 2014 im planning going back to college to study Computer Maintenance CompTIA A+. Im hoping this will help me find a job in IT industry maybe go to Uni as well. on my spare time i shall be going back to volunteer repairing computers in college or actually ring John lewis and ask i could volunteer for them.

Could anyone give me a insight if i'm doing the right thing?

Thank you..
 
Go to Uni.

I made the mistake of not going to College / Uni, now I'm stuck going for an IT Apprenticeship on a £100/week wage to gain real "work" experience that so many entry-level IT positions require.
 
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YarwoodUK said:
Go to Uni.

I made the mistake of not going to College / Uni, now I'm stuck going for an IT Apprenticeship on a £100/week wage to gain real "work" experience that so many entry-level IT positions require.
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I don't have GCSES to go uni yet but im planning on doing english and maths for uni.
 
YarwoodUK said:
Go to Uni.

I made the mistake of not going to College / Uni, now I'm stuck going for an IT Apprenticeship on a £100/week wage to gain real "work" experience that so many entry-level IT positions require.
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To balance this view out, I don't at all regret, from a career perspective, not going to uni. Although my aspirations didn't include repairing PCs.
 
Fixing PCs is a minimum wage job. As is 1st,2nd line support in some places. There's now millions of people with these skills.

Need to be in security, development, a DBA or something like that if you're going to make more than min wage.
 
Mustafa said:
I don't have GCSES to go uni yet but im planning on doing english and maths for uni.
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Do your BTEC certificates not get you into some courses? If you've somehow managed to miss out on GCSEs then perhaps in terms of uni you should look at some sort of vocational IT course at a former poly/new university... ideally a course with an industrial placement.
 
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Trifid said:
To balance this view out, I don't at all regret, from a career perspective, not going to uni. Although my aspirations didn't include repairing PCs.
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Same for me. No degree but just made my own progress and happy that way.
 
What is everyone's appeal to repairing computers? I like computers, I know how to get them well - better than the standard person.

Would I want to support them though...? No. Half the time I imagine its just user error. I can see there being the same problem time after time after time again - not learning nothing new.

I work in networking and part of my job is server support using virtual machines... I encounter engineers who are 'experts' in what they do and they ask some stupid questions "How do I copy files from this server to my laptop" ... uhh your remote desktoped to it so just copy and paste... Luckily its a small part of the job and as a whole there aren't that many idiots ;)

Find an interest in IT where you can progress to :) software development, networking, web design etc etc..
 
Fix your friends of friends computer for free or a pay what you will service. You'd be surprised with what you learn, different systems and setups etc and make a nice bit of money on the side, I did this while at Uni and it helped a ton.
I got given 50 quid for doing a file recovery, most of what I did was simple, just finding an external big enough for the transfer was the hardest.
 
You can, if you are willing to stick to your guns make a reasonable amount fixing friends, family etc PCs but you need to make it clear BEFORE you to it what your rates are. I did it for a few years, you can learn quite a bit but every so often you'll need to do it free or even at your own cost if you screw it up. Don't get involved in company owned computers though.. not worth the hassle and potential law suits.

There is not job just purely fixing PCs, perhaps someone at OCUK does just that but I'd be surprised they didn't have other duties like building, specing etc. It's generally part of a general IT persons role, most usually 2nd line support.
 
If you have a Cisco cert I would continue down those lines instead of 'IT repairing' There's big money in Cisco tech and general comms
 
Hi Mustafa.

I used to work self-employed repairing PCs and laptops in 2008, shortly before the advent of 'decent' £400 laptops. These days kit is so cheap and more than adequate for doing a bit of browsing and typing it makes sense to just chuck it in the bin and get a new one (for the most part). However there is still a market offering training / backup / advisory services to consumers and SMBs (sole traders and companies with 2 / 3 staff). This kind of wok is fairly seasonal and will come in stops and starts.

I would strongly recommend going down the professional qualifications route as jobs in general are becoming harder to acquire with outsourcing and increased component integration. If this extends to going to uni, that wouldn't be a bad idea - especially if it involves maths!
 
Guest2 said:
If you have a Cisco cert I would continue down those lines instead of 'IT repairing' There's big money in Cisco tech and general comms
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Exactly this.

Building and repairing PCs is great fun for a while, but you'll either eventually get sick of it, or realise there's little to no money in it. As you've already got the starters needed for Cisco, I'd definitely recommend pursuing that route. Cisco technology and knowledge is a very sought-after thing in the industry, so having that on a CV will look good in any application.

Good luck!
 
bJN said:
Exactly this.

Building and repairing PCs is great fun for a while, but you'll either eventually get sick of it, or realise there's little to no money in it. As you've already got the starters needed for Cisco, I'd definitely recommend pursuing that route. Cisco technology and knowledge is a very sought-after thing in the industry, so having that on a CV will look good in any application.

Good luck!
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Thank you for your imput, what cisco should i be looking at?
 
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