Discussion on:

1. IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up (Slideshow: 10 dirty little secrets about working in IT)

There isn't enough money to make me help someone at work with their home computer. Whatever happens, it's your fault 6 months later. And the home user believes that there's some kind of "make it go faster" button that only an IT pro can push, which will make their 5-year old computer as fast as a new one.

Especially accounting managers. They think that you can put in a new hard drive and the 7 year old pc is going to run better than a new one. You can't run Win 7 on a 386 with 256 mb of memory.

Have you tried taking the valves out and putting them back in?

Funny AND true. But 256MB in a 386? I needed an AMD rampage board to add 8MB on my "CAD Workstation" and that was over $1000. A large HDD for a 386 was 130MB.

Those were the days!

I often get asked about fixing someone's personal machine. First I ask what it is or isn't doing, and if it is something not likely to require an OS reload, I tell them my rate is $45.00 per hour unless it's a network issue and then it is $65.00 per hour. This has worked for most people. The ones serious enough about the problem will bring me the machine and pay when it's fixed. I also get a lot of referrals to their friends and family and make good money on the side when I choose to do so. Some people don't want to deal with it at all, and I have heard them simply say that they don't do any work on the side and that usually stops the conversation then and there. The key to that is to not inject the words "normally" or "usually" because that tells the person that you might be willing to make an exception and you will keep getting hounded.

That's a very good idea, I used to get a lot of questions regarding personal PCs and networks people had at home in my last job. I stopped just helping them and telling them that my hourly rate for out-of-office work was $45/hr--the result was that I got to build a wireless network for one of the managers at his home, making a few bucks in the process and that the freeloaders who just wanted free advice stopped pestering me. Always a good idea to establish at the beggining of the conversation that you consider helping them a professional service provided by you, and like all professional services it must be paid.

tell them answering that falls under consulting... which starts at $95 an hour

$45-65 is more than fair and about half of what a tech support company would charge to come to the house. Our carry in rate is $59 and come to you rate is $99-120.

We are pretty good at warning people up front that this (job) is going to take and telling this is a 2-3 hr job (or whatever it is) and offering to take it back to the shop for the lower rate.

If the customer approves we are good to go with an emotional contract and no hard feelings.

If you know these people from work and they cry "I can't afford that, what can you do." you have a problem. Now you have to ask yourself do I want to take less money than I quoted for my day off? If I discount it then how much? IF I discount to them will word get around at work and I get hamstrung for future home projects. And if I don't discount it they might bad mouth me at work or hold a grudge that comes backt byte me.

We are seeing that everyone, even those with good employment are flinching about the prices due to the economy and economic worries.

I had a LONG run with home user support - to make extra money on the side. I was constantly plagued by all the factors mentioned. Eventually, I got a better job, and didn't need "extra money" - well, not THAT badly ! If people asked for help, I'd tell them my price, and only "fully paying" customers came back to me. This definitly filters out those "poor end users" who can't tell Office suites from OS's ! Perfect !

Cost of old PC components that is.

I just bought an 8GB flash drive for $22. The first HD I bought was 20MB at almost $400. So, it's 400 times bigger and costs about 5% as much. That always amazes me!

64K was the standard memory for early PCs.

mcb

You can't run Win 7 on a 386 with 256 mb of memory.

You can't?? D'oh! No wonder it kept failing!

Because thier sisters, brother-in-law's, high school son is a computer whiz and he does it all the time. By the way, Are you sure you know what you're doing? Would you like to talk to the kid? Maybe he can show you.

Drives me absolutely crazy!! Why are you wasting my time if you know someone who apparently has access to the mystical "Go Faster" button, and the "RunAnything" app??

#0 - If you fixed something in the past, you OWN that device.

If you have fixed a server, switch, PC or gotten any other thing working when it wasn't, for whatever reason, the next person to blame/call will be YOU.

That's why I have spent tons of time honing my skills over the phone, so that people can take responsibility for "fixing" their own stuff. Also chances are that if they fix something once, they will not be as fearful of them in the future.

It's owned by IT. Phones, Fax machines etc.

Don't forget cell phones, Blackberries, and anything which is the wireless successor of something which used to plug into the wall. Those also belong to IT, or at least the managers will come and ask you to fix it after they delete their contacts list.

If it has buttons it belongs to IT. At one place I worked they even expected us to fix the soda machine when it gave the wrong flavor.

In one office, they tasked my IT team with the repair of an electric pencil sharpener. We set to work and used repair procedure number one (hit/drop it). We then declared it broken beyond repair and returned it with the suggestion to buy a new one.

At $100 per hour service rate it doesn't make sense for us to work on cheap printers, which most of our customers have.

and I have, indeed, fixed the soda machine. Several times.

I was asked to fix the Air conditioning, the coffee machine, the surveillance cameras. I was asked to find deleted contacts. But the best of all was and still when one time our CEO asked me to come open a set of books tied together with a string. I actually took a Scissors and entered her office searching for these books to finally find out that she meant a zip file.

I just received a help desk ticket to fill the liquid soap in the soap dispenser on the second floor men's room more often. It has a button so it must be IT's responsibility.

I hope that request got treated with the respect it deserved. It's unbelievable how broad and deep the amount of things that users think come under I.T's remit

How many times have you heard "My (insert electrical appliance here) was ok before you made me (insert utterly un-related comment here)"

They get offended when they find out you charge for this service because they expect you to do it immediately after work and for free. From then on, no matter what happens to that system it will be your fault whenever anything goes wrong with it. No matter how long ago that was. I refuse to work on co-workers systems and I don't work on too many friends either as I've had them call me at my PAYING job to demand I fix thier system right now because they can't get online. Although they were told 10,000 times to update thier AV, it wasn't important to them until now.

I have two rates for those that want me to help out with their home technology. I decide who I offer the first option to.
1) My "friends and family" rate - flat rate of one dinner for me and my family (including two teenage boys) WITH their family (gift card for eating out doesn't count) for one evening of work.
2) My rate I charge lawyers and doctors - $80/hr.

If they don't want to spend the time with us, I charge them real money. Besides, the social aspect keeps my wife from feeling neglected.

I do help close friends and family for free, as a last ditch before they take it in or junk it - nothing to lose. No one else. The problem is that from then on if something ever goes wrong with that computer, its your fault.

If you have trouble asking for money from friends, and many of us do, then ask them to bring a pizza and dvd next time along with their pc. You can eat and watch the movie as you work on their pc at your home. Later you can ask for other things.

What too charge? Many have problems with it. Should I charge my labor rate of $18 per hour? Should I charge time and a half over time rate i would be paid if working late? Personally I think you discount your own value, perception and respect by charging less than $60 per hour.
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What is Charlie worth? well he charges $110 per hour so he must be pretty good. But he will help me for only $65 per hour so I better hold on to his business card.

For over 12 years I had dropped by and fixed my friends computer after work averaging about once a month for 12 years. I cabbaged parts together from work to build him old computer systems that were really pretty good so that he never had to buy a computer in that time. I taught his wife how to use Quickbooks for his business.

That is ok as he always said when you build your new home or remodel your old home I will do it for you for my cost. He is a general contractor and he said I can just pay the sub contractors directly, saving his 10-12% contractors commission.

I got into financial trouble and needed my rental house fixed quickly to rent it out and he made me wait 3 1/2 months before I called him on it. We are no longer friends as he placed a much different value on our friend ship than I did.

are dependent on what kind of car the person drives.
If they drive a junker, it's about $40/hr
a new mid priced car $60/hr
an expensive car $100/hr.

That is funny.

I just feel that if they have more money, they should be willing and able to pay more.

I know what it's like to be broke, and need a service. Making them affordable, though it may be socialist, helps me sleep at night, knowing that I have done the most good for the most people.

Before I implemented these "socialist" rates, it was often the case that those with the most money were not willing to pay anything, and those with the least were willing to pay more. You know, if your having plumbing problems, and call a plumber, you are going to have to pay the going rate, why shouldn't it be the same with computers?

Actually I like your reasoning so I was kiddin you.

The biggest problem I see is with most company employed techs who don't value their skills and give them away. A reasonable but good valuation for your labor rate is about 4X your hourly pay. So if you work for $13 per hour then between $60-65 per hour rate to charge to and end user is fair to both of you.

Just be careful you don't get so busy you have to give up your day job.

I like your thinking Rock Riz. I was a programmer for 10 years before losing my job. I now teach Computing for Beginners at a Community Centre. Most of my students are retired people who's "grandson gave them his old machine" or some such story.
The ones that can afford it don't want to pay for help and the ones who really have no where else to turn are so pitifully grateful for the help they push extra money or food or something else they can afford onto me to show their appreciation.
I don't charge immediate family anything. If they want me to help their brother/inlaws/best friend etc I give out my card and tell them to pass it along. If the brother/inlaws/best friend wants to pay my $25/h - good, if not they can ring Dr PC and pay the $65 call out fee before they find out what it will cost to do the job.
If I get any complaints (and there's always the odd one who feels they should get help for free) I remind them I'm not actually a techo and I'm now in a much less paying job and I can't afford to help them for free. If they are still pushy about it I'll take a look and then say it's outside my range of expertise (after all I'm a PROGRAMMER, not a TECHO) whether or not it is.
PS: no offence meant to techos in the above statement. Most non-IT people assume if you can do the one you must be able to do the other and while I am proud of the technical skills I have developed over the years I am aware of my own limitations.

Hi Roc - I have a pretty similar policy, varying my charges between ?25 - ?50 per hour depending on how well off I think the customer is

The car they drive can be a good indicator, but what about the miser who is too mean to spend out for a car newer than 20 years old?

More important to me is how they ask - Do they simply expect you to do it or do they ask nicely?

Luckily I now have a day job where I don't need to push my private IT business so I can afford to be selective about my clients and charges

John

I know, I get that, "Can you work on my computer" a lot, also. But it's not so bad, I do help a lot of people. I charge what I think they can pay, sometimes it's a jar of homemade pickles or an I.O.U. for a ride. But now I just take the data off, reformat, and put the data back on. I tell them how it'll be just the way it was when it was new and they are usually very happy with it. I figure it's partly the placebo effect of telling them how fast it will be. But really a 5, heck even 7 year old computer is plenty fast enough for almost every consumer.

Not always. Often people who have their computer for 5 years bought the cheapest Emachine they could find so it was already a celeron 4 years old technology at that point.

just delete it and move on.

Depends on if its good porn or not.

From my three retail computer stores I can tell you about 60% of the computers have some soft to hard core porn on them.

Funny thing now it seems like the single girls have the most porn these days. Used to think it was gender specific to males.

If it ain't illegal then we back it up like any other photos for them. We use tools so as not to be too invasive of their privacy but time to time we see things we shouldn't see.

One day I came in and found 500 mb folder on the server turns out our techs were saving copys of the best stuff. I told them to burn a dvd for themselves if they wanted it and erase it from the server. My techs were all 18-20 year old's.

I suppose I could put it on a DVD for him.

The old sterio types are fading away. Today we see more women computers with porn than men and they are not usually ashamed of it if you bring it up. Guys still deny it "what you talking about willis."

Very little of what I have seen on people's computers surprises me anymore.

As they said in the Ikea commercial, " I don't judge..."

Visit a Old Peoples Home and ask the women there what they use their computers for.

It's an Eye opener but I personally find the Vivid Descriptions that these Women give more funny than anything else.

Col

I agree...

You're on the hook for family until someone else touches the thing, then future problems become theirs!

mcb

I do home tech support professionally and I can tell you that I feel sorry for some of the in house tech guys who venture into someones home - particularly new young guys trying to help someone else out.

One case a tech's reputation was destroyed at work because he couldn't speed up a home machine or find files that have been lost when the owner failed to tell him he had already performed a distructive OS reinstallation. The user didn't understand why the jr tech couldn't fix it so he retailiated by bad mouthing him to the IT manager at work-"hey that guyd doesn't know his arst from a hole in the ground". The IT manager was a friend of mine and he knew the real scoop but he said that the employees reputation when right into the dumper as this story got repeated to everyone (non techincal) in the compay, so when he did make one professional mistake at work he was summarily terminated.

The owner couldn't figure out why no one in tech would go to his house to help him after that.

Another tech with a bit more skills went to help out but didn't arrive with backup devices or OS CD's to do a good reinstallation so the job went past Friday to Monday and the user was stuck over the weekend. Eventhough it was a for free help the owner retaliated secretly by saying "hey, don't use John if you really need it fixed." to other managers at work.

People are extremely petty.

A 3rd tech was bad mouthed because he asked for $25 (he spent 3 hours of his saturnday afternoon) for getting three computers connected wirelessly and he had to restore one of them.

I know this will sound pretty sleazy, but I'll do "free" side work for the bosses and anyone else who may be in a position to help my career. (They almost always offer to pay me anyway), and the rest of my "co-workers" I give them a f/f rate. I normally charge $50-$65 an hour, but will often quote a flat rate for employees that trumps the hourly. Another nifty thing that I'll do is offer a trade. I got my motorcycle in trade, and got it painted in another, and got the paint in yet another trade. Sometimes, if a laptop just isn't worth repairing, I'll tell em to buy a new one and if they'll give me the broken one for parts, I'll set up their new LT and transfer data in exchange.

In a previous position, I had this coworker who would CONSTANTLY pester me to come to her home and fix her PC. Just as many times I would tell her I just don't have the time to do so, I'm in school full time, work full time, just don't have the spare time to be fixing home computers. Just wouldn't stop, until I started to talk money. I quoted her starting $100 for onsite service, and VOILA!! The pestering stopped. I just don't want the liability NOR the hassle of fixing people's home computers. Ten years ago, I did a side job contract work thru a place called SCSI computer services. All home repair. Some of the homes I would have to go to were in horrible neighborhoods and nasty dirty homes. Never again!

I won't even help family with their computers.

Or so it seems. I can't turn down helping out the top people where I work with their home PCs. Its all about keeping my job. I don't have a silver bullet and I tell them that. If they have a 5 year old computer with problems, I recommend replacement or lower expectations.

AV