Charge what you are worth (and it's not $20/hr!!)

[tankman1989]

I recently took some time off from the computer field meaning that I didn't even do anything technical with my personal computers. All I did was surf the web, use Office and photoshop or paint once in a while. I did this b/c I was burnt out on computers and I felt that I had very little marketable skills and was wondering what my market rate should be.

I found a number of things very interesting after about 6-8 months of little admin work or technical work.

I found myself becoming very frustrated with little issues like dropped connections, windows updates, acrobat updates, flash plugins and other software issues. I just HATED every aspect of having to install them and run them (oh I also setup my user as a "limited access" user instead of an Admin acct). I was still able to install software as I was the admin but I had to run the software "as administrator" This in itself could generate service calls for help with installation(s).

I became very frustrated with slow internet speeds and times with no connection and I would not take time to trouble shoot as I couldn't stand talking to a "tech support" person at my hated ISP.

In short I got a brief glimpse into how I imagine most non computer savvy people feel on any given day but probably to a lesser degree. Unless they are REALLY interested in finding out WHY & HOW the computer/OS does what it does most people just want it to work and are willing to pay for a machine that does this. They probably feel a lot of anxiety when doing something like a system migration, OS upgrade/repair/reinstall. Virus's, trojans and malware are a real PITA and worth paying someone to clean them up.

Before this little "sabbatical" of mine, I felt that much of the services I had to offer were difficult to guage a market price as I thought that many people could do the work easily themselves. The fact is, all services are this way (auto mechanic - changing oil is SOOOO EASY!!!) and you should treat yourself with the respect you deserve and you are due. I realized that just because a process or procedure is extremely simple for you does not mean others know anything, or want to know anything, about what you are doing. They just want it fixed and not have to worry about it themselves.

I don't know if this makes any sense to anyone but I have seen so many people undercutting themselves with pricing, probably because they either really need business or they feel that what they are doing is very simple.

If you work as a professional then you should charge a professional rate. I like to think about the attorney who charges $3,000 for forming an LLC for their client. This can be done for ~$120 in most states and maybe a $70 fictitious name license as well. It is incredibly simple and do you think they tell people "oh you can do it online and save $2,800!"?

Anyway I just thought I would make this post after doing some thinking about how I felt while acting like a non-techie.

LMK what you think about these "feelings".

 

[vdub12]

The problem is competition.

There are many people in my area totally undercutting themselves. Even the local ISP is offering mobile tech support and removing viruses for $40. I think many people are not only shooting themselves in the foot but also shooting us in the foot.

 

[tankman1989]

The problem is competition.

There are many people in my area totally undercutting themselves. Even the local ISP is offering mobile tech support and removing viruses for $40. I think many people are not only shooting themselves in the foot but also shooting us in the foot.

Yeah I agree with you about things like the local ISP's. THey should stay in their "realm" and offer a better service instead of branching out. My local ISP was just sold to Windstream (which is a NIGHTMARE!!!!) and they reduced the max speed by 50% AFTER installing new "faster" hardware!

I guess I am looking at the customer base of business and middle to upper class residential.

I have a local "tech" charging $20/hr but he says that a virus may take him 10-12 hours to remove so IDK WTF he is doing for that long but I understand your pricing issue. Good luck dealing with those "people"

 

[Lou Horton]

If you are good at what you do and are charging a fair rate you will get plenty of business once the word gets out there how great of a job you do.

You can't get your furnace, dryer, plumbing etc. fixed for $20/hour so why is a computer any different? It isn't different, there are just more people out there that "think" they can fix computers.

There will always be people out there that undercut to the extreme. Scratch your head, have a good chuckle and go about business as usual. There is always a catch to these "bargain" techs. Hopefully the customer won't have to learn the hard way but if they do maybe they will call you next time instead.

I had a customer yesterday price shopping for a jack repair. He called back a second time because some guy had a price about $25 less but wouldn't provide a warranty and told him that 9 out of 10 times replacing the jack didn't fix the problem. I won't be taking a laptop to this guy anytime soon lol.

 

[NWPhotog]

Great posts! There will always be $20 techs out there and most of them last less than 6 months. If a tech aspires to being a Professional they need to charge a price that is at least in the range of what professionals charge.

What does the local electrician, plumber or mechanic charge? That will give you an idea of where you should be. I would guess most techs should be charging $60 an hour or higher but there will be areas where it should be much higher. Are there areas where it should be less? Yes but very few.

It is important to worry less about this weeks competition and instead concentrate on what you are doing. How can you best offer the customer value? What is most important to the customer? Speed? On site service? Parts on hand?

 

[bsd13]

I find a fair number of techs who work full/nearly full time on the corporate IT side and then do after hours and weekend moonlighting for $20 - $35 per hour to bring in a little extra cash to make ends meet.

Simply because someone charges a much lower rate than I would doesn't mean they aren't fully capable and knowledgeable in the field. Granted, the "pizza techs" in the IT industry, particularly in the residential segment far out weighs the pros who just want some pocket change but you can't assume it's everyone.

 

[MasterTech99]

A good rule of thumb I go by is that whenever someone comes into our shop and says they're a "computer tech" I automatically lower my estimation of their intelligence by 20%. Most techs are terrible at what they do and know only a little more than the average customer.

Being a junior admin monkey in an IT department is a different skillset than being a computer tech. Just because someone installed memory a few times and replaced a CD-ROM once doesn't mean that they are qualified to be a tech.

In our area there are plenty of guys that will fix anything for $40 where we might charge $200 for the same fix. Even so, we never have a shortage of business.

 

[SThompson86]

I agree - I talk to alot of Craigslist pizza techs, and they think I charge way too much, for instance they remove a virus for 40 bucks when I charge $75. Well.. I went to school for computers and have my A+ cert and also have an LLC,and I offer a professional rapor with my customers I am going to charge what I am worth, and if I cant get what I am worth then I am just not going to bother with it especially since this is just a side job for me.

Nonetheless, alot has to do with your target audience, if you target nothing but Craigs List customers then expect to get a hold of the bargain shopping tire kicking dollar menu pc repair shop kind of people =)

I do not even bother with the folks that can not pay my prices, for they usually are just going to be troubled customers.

 

[bsd13]

A good rule of thumb I go by is that whenever someone comes into our shop and says they're a "computer tech" I automatically lower my estimation of their intelligence by 20%. Most techs are terrible at what they do and know only a little more than the average customer.

Most techs are terrible at what they do? That's a pretty broad brush. What makes you say and believe that?

Being a junior admin monkey in an IT department is a different skillset than being a computer tech. Just because someone installed memory a few times and replaced a CD-ROM once doesn't mean that they are qualified to be a tech.

I work in both worlds and can say without question my technical abilities are more often taxed, tested and honed doing the corporate IT dance than when I'm simply fixing a residential customers "broken" computer.

I wish the extent of my corporate IT work was throwing in a few sticks of RAM and replacing cdroms. As it is I manage to get my hands dirty doing everything from mundane virus removals and "tune-ups" to ground up server builds, virtualization, running cable, wireless networks, generic "sys admin" duties on multiple servers - the list goes on and on. Hell, I still get the people who refuse to change out their 120 year old mouse so I get to clean it out because the ball stops rolling properly.

In our area there are plenty of guys that will fix anything for $40 where we might charge $200 for the same fix. Even so, we never have a shortage of business.

Do they fix it properly? Because at the end of the day that's what matters. If you charge $5 an hour or $500 you better fix the problem in order to survive.

 

[vdub12]

I work in both worlds and can say without question my technical abilities are more often taxed, tested and honed doing the corporate IT dance than when I'm simply fixing a residential customers "broken" computer.

I wish the extent of my corporate IT work was throwing in a few sticks of RAM and replacing cdroms. As it is I manage to get my hands dirty doing everything from mundane virus removals and "tune-ups" to ground up server builds, virtualization, running cable, wireless networks, generic "sys admin" duties on multiple servers - the list goes on and on. Hell, I still get the people who refuse to change out their 120 year old mouse so I get to clean it out because the ball stops rolling properly.

You see I see it the other way around. I find business systems easy and not challenging at all. Residential computers on the other had are sometimes a pain.

 

[MasterTech99]

Most techs are terrible at what they do? That's a pretty broad brush. What makes you say and believe that?

We're a large shop and we supply almost all of the independent techs in this area. Our prices are about the same as newegg and we have a good selection that you can get today. We carry a lot of networking supplies and rack equipment that you can't get anywhere else locally. That is enough to draw a good cross-section of the local techs for at least some of their supplies. We also average about 300 repair/month at this store so we see a lot of their previous work come to us.

Most of them are extremely bad. If that hasn't been your experience I'm not going to try to prove it to you. I'm going to assume that you haven't had enough exposure to the average CL tech and maybe even envy you a little.

I also was not implying that all IT guys do is swap the occasional part. Quite the opposite, I was actually implying that most of them don't do that very often. A senior admin is going to have a vast skill-set but it will rarely be in the types of things you need to be a good tech. Our sister company is an IT contracting firm, which I have managed in the past, and I was Signal in the Army. I have worked in a few IT shops, one where down-time could mean dead soldiers, and have a good idea what roles most will have.

Right now there are a lot of laid-off IT guys that think they're going to make ends meet by being techs until they can find something permanent. Most of these guys are not the highly skilled senior admins but the disposable entry level guys. They've reimaged a few workstations, done a little phone support, and then got dumped first when the economy went south.

Another issue regarding pizza techs in general is that there are almost no barriers to entry in this business. In most states all you really have to do is print a few business cards and put an ad on craigslist. Most pizza techs don't even bother to create a legal company. There are too many people who have installed a few sticks of memory, replaced a CD-ROM, and helped a couple of friends with easy computer problems that think it qualifies them to be a tech. They've probably had their well meaning but clueless friends and relatives tell them that they're so good at computers because they can copy/paste that they should have a business on the side. Sure they could learn but most will only be in business for a few months and see maybe a dozen clients. In that time they'll burn those clients and make it that much more difficult for you to sell your professional services to them in the past.

Someone who's been burned by a pizza tech is far more likely to toss a perfectly good but virus-laden system than they are to try their luck with another tech. We need a licensing program for computer techs and a good professional organization to maintain standards. Until that happens pizza techs will always outnumber professional techs 10 to 1.

 

[NWPhotog]

I find a fair number of techs who work full/nearly full time on the corporate IT side and then do after hours and weekend moonlighting for $20 - $35 per hour to bring in a little extra cash to make ends meet.

Simply because someone charges a much lower rate than I would doesn't mean they aren't fully capable and knowledgeable in the field. Granted, the "pizza techs" in the IT industry, particularly in the residential segment far out weighs the pros who just want some pocket change but you can't assume it's everyone.

They must not be very bright to charge $20 an hour when they could charge $60+ as a Professional. Yes most low ball techs are not very good. Like any rule or generality there are exceptions.