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Ask HN: Is tech support becoming a bad long-term career choice?

8 pointswishiknew11y ago10 comments

So I'm looking for a job and I've had a new idea today. I live in a peripheral area and I have been doing maintenance on Windows machines for quite a while to make some side money. Ideally, I'd like to not leave the area I live in to get a job. So, what if despite having a developer diploma, I extended my activity to include tech support and marketed myself as "the all-around IT tech guy" from said area? This place is quite touristic and I speak English so I'm confident I could achieve such a position.

But then I thought to myself: with the desktop declining and being replaced by smartphones or tablets, isn't tech support becoming a dying skill? What can you tweak on an iPad? Besides setting up email accounts – which people won't be doing while on vacation here. The younger generations are more tech-savvy, too; the two-click "repairs" I could do in 2004 are not going to make me look like a "genius" anymore. So I'm thinking I should forget about this idea but perhaps somebody has something I haven't thought of to add?

10 comments

10 comments · 7 top-level

petecooper11y ago· 1 in thread

No.

I started in tech support in '98. I worked my way from a trainee associate in Sophos's UK support team to managing a department of 30 in 5 years. I left Sophos in '06 to start my own business.

I am in a similar position to you in some respects. I started my own locally-focussed business as the tech guy. I placed an ad in the local parish newsletter for 25GBP (~40USD) for the year. That ad has paid for itself 400+ times over since then.

B2C support is tough. My demographic is adults, typically 40+. People are sometimes reticent to ask for help, especially with cheap laptops. Be approachable. Be a nice guy. Be professional. Be honest.

You'll learn about your area pretty quickly. I started out with an external hard drive and a screwdriver set. It's 90% laptops and tablets, and the repair side of my business is slow to catch on. The low purchase cost of laptops and tablets makes people less ready to commit to fixing things, instead choosing brand new. Sad, really. Apple device users tend to be more keen to get things fixed up.

Poke around on /r/computertechs[1] and start thinking about a software toolkit. Get a basic website and sign up with iFixit Pro[2]. Familiarise yourself with their store; they do good parts at fair prices. My website[3] isn't anything special (and isn't finished, either), but gives you an idea for what works around where I live.

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/computertechs

[2] https://www.ifixit.com/Pro

[3] http://ex23.com

wishiknewOP11y ago

Thanks for your feedback and some good links! Hope I get rejected by the companies I'm in touch with so that I have a few months to get into this freelance repair thing. I do feel like a freelancer and it sounds like I would be much happier if I were able to become one.

dpeck11y ago· 1 in thread

I wouldn't bank so much on younger generations being more tech-savvy. They might interact with it a lot, but they're also more used to it working as expected.

I find younger people I interact with to be more comfortable with technology, but on the whole more disinterested and frustrated with troubleshooting. Getting paid by them might be another story, but you'll see plenty of < 25 year olds waiting for hours at the Apple store to get their phone restored.

throwaway118411y ago

Good point. Furthermore, the devices that are becoming more and more popular recently (tablets, phones, etc.) do a really good job of insulating you from the nitty-gritty of your computer. Even if something DOES goes wrong, how are you supposed to even start figuring out what it is? I have no idea how to pop open the Terminal on my iPhone. I assume there's a UNIX way down there, but how to see it...?

Related example: We've had electric lights for years and use them constantly, but how many people actually understand electricity either? It's because electricity, like the iPhone, is set up in a really "opaque" way to outsiders. Not only are we used to it "just working", like the parent said, we have no idea how we'd even BEGIN to address a problem if one came up. Go inside the wall? Do something with wires? I don't know.

I'm really good at figuring out why my computer is broken, I program for a living, but when my "smart phone" doesn't work right I'm helpless. So even if there's a will, there sometimes doesn't seem to be a way.

debacle11y ago· 1 in thread

Younger generations are more text-adapted but they still have no idea how the machines they use work.

wishiknewOP11y ago

You're right. Can't believe I already forgot I helped a 20-something girl get rid of Windows software ads about a week ago.

HeyLaughingBoy11y ago

younger generations are more tech-savvy, too

Then they aren't your target market, but perhaps older people are.

As the world gets more technologically advanced, the result is that fewer people know what to do when their devices don't work. If anything, the number of people who need your services might be increasing, not going away.

JohnLen11y ago

Users are getting more tech savvy and usage for tech gadgets is growing but it doesn't mean that using it you know how the machine works. Example, one might have problem in getting to switch on the smartphone but might not know what is the cause.

So, i believed tech support is still an important role. :)

cmdrfred11y ago

I'm 25 and a sysadmin myself and I feel like a sometimes old timer, most of the kids growing up today have never seen a command prompt, let alone ssh. They are used to consumer devices that you plug in and they just work. Those two click repairs are 80 percent of my day.

PaulHoule11y ago

I see a lot of people making money fixing phones and tablets. Many (but not all) mobile devices are easy to repair (enough that I don't mind it if I wear out the left stick on my PS vita every eight months or so)

With less than $50 of tools you can be in business.

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