What qualifications are required

edscdk said:
Half the people in our office would NOT be able to build a PC and most have beein in IT for years..

It IS something that is worth putting on a CV for low level positions, it also shows an interest in IT which a lot of people in IT dont have (and so give you a better chance of getting a job)
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When I was working for Viglen, 90% of the PCs were made by unskilled female Polish workers. The other 10% were servers built by server engineers.
 
phoenix IT and some other large companies do a lot of hardware repairs/testing to EPOS, desktops, laptops, ups, servers, macs etc

You wont get a career overclocking, but you can either go with a company like the above or a small independant Computer repair shop
 
Spunkey said:
OcUK aside, there are no* companies who will employ someone to overclock machines.

Even if you do get a job a system builder it's not the best paid job in the world as it's just going to be taking parts from a box and plugging them in to a motherboard, production line style.



*I'm rounding down
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if we pretend we live in the forum world where no competitors exist sure.

you cant honeslty believe ocuk are the only company in england to sell overclocked bundles..

the market for it is obviously tiny though and more people will want to do it than there are places
 
arknor said:
if we pretend we live in the forum world where no competitors exist sure.

you cant honeslty believe ocuk are the only company in england to sell overclocked bundles..

the market for it is obviously tiny though and more people will want to do it than there are places
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I think the point is it'll take 1 guy about 1 hour to determine how much a chip can be overclocked and remain stable.

Even if a new chip comes out weekly, that's 1 person, 1 hour a week required for this part of the job .. what does he do the rest of the time? Build the same thing time and time again .. So the rest of the time (98%) its an unskilled factory construction job - just bunging every single 4ghtz processor up to 4.4 (or whatever). So minimum wage forever then :(
 
britboy4321 said:
What to do? Learn C++ off your own back (its easy and off t'net you can learn it for free in 2 months to become good) then get a 'starter job' as a programmer somewhere on 20K - move up from there ... Long term being a decent programmer will give you a fairly average/happy middle class life forever. Nothing mental good, but nothing mental bad. A nice semi-detached in Suburbia, a nice family car, 2.4 kids and a dog, never really struggling to pay the bills or buy anything you really want with a bit of saving ..
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I wouldn't describe C++ as easy nor can someone become "good" in 2 months.

If you actually did become "good" with C++ (you'd be talking years not months of experience though) then you'll be able to earn a fair bit more than your average semi-detached living middle class office worker. Banks and technology firms will pay very hefty sums for "good" C++ people.
 
dowie said:
I wouldn't describe C++ as easy nor can someone become "good" in 2 months.

If you actually did become "good" with C++ (you'd be talking years not months of experience though) then you'll be able to earn a fair bit more than your average semi-detached living middle class office worker. Banks and technology firms will pay very hefty sums for "good" C++ people.
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OK correction I said it wrong .. 'good enough to land a 20K role doing it then improve on the job for a few years to a level where people will pay quite nicely for what you can do'.

By very hefty sums paid by banks I think about > £1000 per day. I've never seen that offered for a C++ man (barely ever seen half that) where I have seen it for *many* other parts of IT.
 
britboy4321 said:
I think the point is it'll take 1 guy about 1 hour to determine how much a chip can be overclocked and remain stable.

Even if a new chip comes out weekly, that's 1 person, 1 hour a week required for this part of the job .. what does he do the rest of the time? Build the same thing time and time again .. So the rest of the time (98%) its an unskilled factory construction job - just bunging every single 4ghtz processor up to 4.4 (or whatever). So minimum wage forever then :(
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more than 1 hour a week look at the amount of problems people often have with overclocked bundles from here.

still i agree its not really a job thats going to be highly paid or take you anywhere.

in the past people who overclocked systems by crazy amounts to get high scores on 3dmark have been hired by the likes of AMD but so many people can overclock these days its almost a worthless skill
 
topshot said:
small independant Computer repair shop
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This is probably your best bet and you won't need any qualifications for it. If they build and sell their own systems you could offer overclocking as a side line buts its a niche market so I would concentrate on the repair side of things. Also consider the recycling market - few computer recycling companies now popping up.

Maybe look at doing CCNA cert as well as your A+ instead as networking has better job potential.
 
Perhaps I can offer a real world example to add to the array of opinions here.

I left the Army in 2002, they paid me to go for 6 weeks training to "get a civvy job" I decided IT was where it's at .. (Oh christ on a bike did I really ... :( ) so I did A+ N+ MCP MCSE and started on CISCO CCNA

I thought I was the dogs banana's !

so I left the army after that and came up to the big smoke (Manchester) and started calling firms looking for the same start you are.

I made 50+ telephone calls a day to companies and agencies until someone took pity on me and said I have the perfect job for you ..

IT SALES.. so I went to work selling them to the big companies you want to work for ... they buy cheap ****e ( like Viglen :p) and HP and Lenovo
to replace the 10 year old PC's they have to run OFFICE programs
That's it

I even took a job as a manager in PC WORLD ( don't ask) .. you know those technicians that are supposed to be wonderful and the fount of all knowledge ?? apologies but they are just shaved monkies in grey shirts.
and the company charges a fortune for fat fingered freddy to go rooting thru your PC for porn on his llunch break.

Anyway, I digress ... a lot... I'm with the rest of these guys .. there is no, nil nein, nix nuffink in the way of Demand for the service you want to give..

I applaud you for looking for a niche market .. but the people that want that service .. mostly go learn to do it themselves as teenagers and that's it ... "big companies" buy cheap ****e then never replace it.

go do some server courses or get into CISCO

be aware .. you can be CCNA, CCNP, or the CEO of Cisco on paper... but with out the experience to back it up... no one will employ you.

Sorry dude... move on.
 
Se7ven said:
helpful



unhelpful


thank you.
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You're not really in a position to judge what is or isn't helpful advice, nor should you dismiss something just because someone posted advice that was contrary to your preconceived ideas.

The sort of job you're thinking of, if it exists at all, basically exists only in a few fairly small businesses such as perhaps the one hosting these forums and its competitors. You don't require any qualifications to do what you're proposing and you're unlikely to gain much from it either. You're better off sticking with college etc.. and aiming a bit higher.
 
Se7ven said:
I am looking for be a PC builder or technician (i basically want to build PC's, overclock, test etc) for a preferably big firm. but no idea what qualifications are required, i obviously cant go up to them and say "hey i self taught myself to build and intel i7 overclocked to 4ghz, can i hav job plz?"

can someone tell me where I should start? :p thanks
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you dont need any qualifications to be a system builder.

Its largely considered manual labour and is more akin to an unskilled production line job than anything.

As a result it will never pay much more than minimum wage and be a constant grind.

If you fancy doing this to get your foot in the door somewhere, and progress to other things, fine.

But you wont make a long lasting and enjoyable career out of it.
 
OCD-OC said:
be aware .. you can be CCNA, CCNP, or the CEO of Cisco on paper... but with out the experience to back it up... no one will employ you.

Sorry dude... move on.
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Not strictly true, a month or so ago there was a few junior network jobs i noticed, they asked for candidates to either be studying or hold a CCNA/CCNP and have some windows knowledge
 
topshot said:
Not strictly true, a month or so ago there was a few junior network jobs i noticed, they asked for candidates to either be studying or hold a CCNA/CCNP and have some windows knowledge
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wow, cool ! .. shame mine lapsed and I never renewed :p

I'm far too happy being evil sales-monkey anyways :eek:
 
Just ask yourself this - How would a [generic] company benefit from you overclocking their computers, and how would they gain revenue?
 
I'm pretty sure everything has been covered by all the previous posts in this thread, there is no demand for someone who can overclock things.

If it's really what you want to do, how are your English and writing skills? Not sure what the demand for reviewers are for technology sites/magazines but it's one angle to look at which may give you some overclocking taks.
 
Get into programming...... what you are talking about would be a nice side to a full time job but nothing more.

I source and maintain all the PC's in my company and no way would I consider overclocking a work machine (and I am more than capable of doing it). Quite simply by the time I paid you to overclock a dozen machines I could have bought a 2gb stick of ram and still have change.

Secondly, business depreciate their PC's and most aren't interested in extending the life of hardware when their budget allows them to buy new kit and sell off the old stuff to staff and recoup more that way.

Sorry, agree with some of the comments that it is a waste of time with a view to doing this full time.
 
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