List Of Things I've Learned While Becoming A Computer Repair Professional

[Xander]

...which you didn't qualify in your pointed reply to Brand. You stated it as an absolute, not with "symantics" (sic).

And to tell people that "if they don't like something, don't post" doesn't wash. You're putting out advice for everybody and everybody is just as entitled to give their opinion on that advice. And "if you have nothing better to do with your time" is an awfully hypocritical view when you've opened up your own can of worms and people are poking those worms with sticks. It goes both ways.

 

[rjframe]

Both devices that I don't repair.

On your site it says "iPod, iPhone, iPad.. Doesn't matter. We've got it covered." If I was a customer I might assume you do repair the iPod Shuffle and Nano.

 

[NYJimbo]

Gee, this started out like such a nice thread.

 

[hightechrex]

On your site it says "iPod, iPhone, iPad.. Doesn't matter. We've got it covered." If I was a customer I might assume you do repair the iPod Shuffle and Nano.

First and foremost, my site is forever changing and always improving. Infact, as we speak I'm learning new things and am updating it right NOW. I've never claimed that my site was perfect. This thread wasn't claiming any sort of web design expertise. Also, I didn't claim any sort of SEO or Marketing expertise. The thread was called "List Of Things I've Learned While "Becoming" (becoming being the operative word) A Computer Repair Professional." I'm just baffled at why everyone is taking turns slaughtering my thread over something so miniscule. I felt much of my initial post was sound advice; all things that I've learned while in the business.

And 16k.. for someone who claims themself as such a guru. You can honestly sit there and tell me that PPC is NOT a great method of testing the potency of keywords?

Funny how the users here taking stabs at my site don't even have URLs in there sigs..

 

[hightechrex]

...which you didn't qualify in your pointed reply to Brand. You stated it as an absolute, not with "symantics" (sic).

And to tell people that "if they don't like something, don't post" doesn't wash. You're putting out advice for everybody and everybody is just as entitled to give their opinion on that advice. And "if you have nothing better to do with your time" is an awfully hypocritical view when you've opened up your own can of worms and people are poking those worms with sticks. It goes both ways.

Also.. Xander, can you tell me why you came here with your site in your signature and later removed it. Site is a massive eye sore, logo looks like it was made in paint, massive wall of text, bland, etc. Pot calling the kettle black, much? Please, keep it moving.

 

[Xander]

So, your strawman argument is, rather than admitting that you jumped on Brand's back for his simple opinion, to attack my site? I have never made any claims to be a web designer, Mr. Weebly, nor made claims to be able to offer SEO advice so on what of that do you try to troll me with "pot calling the kettle black"?
Or, since I'm using 16K's Wordpress theme, is that a back-handed attack on him?

And as for "removing my signature"? What the hell are you talking about, junior? You can't edit out a signature after your original post. Try it. My sig is up there with my first post and I usually don't add it to subsequent posts because I'm not on this site trying to troll up customers from this userbase.

And, yes, we all know your site is constantly changing because you start a new thread regularly asking for critique. It's ADHD of web design. LOOK PONIES!

Gee, this started out like such a nice thread.

It was, until someone got a lot of butthurt over other people's opinions.

 

[hightechrex]

So, your strawman argument is, rather than admitting that you jumped on Brand's back for his simple opinion, to attack my site? I have never made any claims to be a web designer, Mr. Weebly, nor made claims to be able to offer SEO advice so on what of that do you try to troll me with "pot calling the kettle black"?

And as for "removing my signature"? What the hell are you talking about, junior? You can't edit out a signature after your original post. Try it. My sig is up there with my first post and I usually don't add it to subsequent posts because I'm not on this site trying to troll up customers from this userbase.

And, yes, we all know your site is constantly changing because you start a new thread regularly asking for critique. It's ADHD of web design. LOOK PONIES!
It was, until someone got a lot of butthurt over other people's opinions.

Google increases the site rank of new pages that are updated frequently. Hence the frequent updates.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Gee, this started out like such a nice thread.

Yeah, I've learned over the years whenever I see one of "these" threads, I just grab some popcorn and watch the show.

 

[Disposable_Me]

Observable Productivity. I recently learned your employer should be aware of exactly how valuable you are to them.

I was let go from a fairly large computer repair chain because I didn't "seem busy". Which, I can probably see as my fault as I was really over qualified for the position. They basically turned the diagnosing and repairing of computers into an assembly line, I'd have ~10 new comps a day on my desk and I'm a profoundly lazy person. So in my first week I switched some things up.

1) Looking at their mandatory hardware testing procedure, I found 2 tests that were redundant, I opt'd for the manual test selections and omitted the 2nd memory and hdd tests which brought a 4-5 hour diag per machine to ~1.5h

2) Automated the entire 'tune up' procedure, all the programs, windows updates (initially pulling a wsusoffline folder from my ftp, cuz not all computers dig workgroups, and then finishing it off with a powershell script in startup that removed itself from startup after there were no more important updates) and software updates

3) Using that win OPK thing I got reinstalls down to 20 mins (would be less but there's some win updates, and programs that just don't work in there)

4) And the last nail in the coffin is I'd have my automatic script pull logmein rescue tech PIN's from my workstation using a local XMPP server I made so it'd auto connect to me when it was all ready for last checks.

So I ended up clearing my desk everyday and not running between a dozen nor so computers flicking KVM buttons just to get progress updates.

So yea, lemme say again, always keep performance metrics, even if they're just for you.

edit: Oh, and don't do your development in the companies google drive, cuz you can't get back in when they lock your account. : /

 

[hightechrex]

Observable Productivity. I recently learned your employer should be aware of exactly how valuable you are to them.

I was let go from a fairly large computer repair chain because I didn't "seem busy". Which, I can probably see as my fault as I was really over qualified for the position. They basically turned the diagnosing and repairing of computers into an assembly line, I'd have ~10 new comps a day on my desk and I'm a profoundly lazy person. So in my first week I switched some things up.

1) Looking at their mandatory hardware testing procedure, I found 2 tests that were redundant, I opt'd for the manual test selections and omitted the 2nd memory and hdd tests which brought a 4-5 hour diag per machine to ~1.5h

2) Automated the entire 'tune up' procedure, all the programs, windows updates (initially pulling a wsusoffline folder from my ftp, cuz not all computers dig workgroups, and then finishing it off with a powershell script in startup that removed itself from startup after there were no more important updates) and software updates

3) Using that win OPK thing I got reinstalls down to 20 mins (would be less but there's some win updates, and programs that just don't work in there)

4) And the last nail in the coffin is I'd have my automatic script pull logmein rescue tech PIN's from my workstation using a local XMPP server I made so it'd auto connect to me when it was all ready for last checks.

So I ended up clearing my desk everyday and not running between a dozen nor so computers flicking KVM buttons just to get progress updates.

So yea, lemme say again, always keep performance metrics, even if they're just for you.

edit: Oh, and don't do your development in the companies google drive, cuz you can't get back in when they lock your account. : /

Thanks for the advice. I will keep all this mind. *taking notes*

 

[16k_zx81]

He found that me using "iTouch" as opposed to "iPod touch" was a problem. Although most clients call it the iTouch and I didnt think it was a big deal.

wrong.

................................

I rest my case.

 

[hightechrex]

wrong.

................................

I rest my case.

Will it make you all happy if I change it? lol

 

[16k_zx81]

Will it make you all happy if I change it? lol

Mate I couldnt care less what 'you' do.

The thing I am concerned about is that you're trying to give SEO advice without really understanding what you're talking about and I didnt want anyone coming away and wasting their time based on some of the things advocated here.

.

 

[hightechrex]

Mate I couldnt care less what 'you' do.

The thing I am concerned about is that you're trying to give SEO advice without really understanding what you're talking about and I didnt want anyone coming away and wasting their time based on some of the things advocated here.

.

Which of the following pieces of advice was incorrect. Please ellaborate.

1. PPC is the best way of discovering what keyword work and don't. Even if you use it for a few days or a week. It's great.
2. Anyone who promises you overnight SEO results ranking is usually lying.
3. Facebook is an extremely powerful tool for getting on the 1st page.
4. Google Analytics is your best friend. Use it wisely.
5. Webmaster tools is your best friend. Use it wisely. (Especially when you need your site indexed)
6. You can now link your website as an annotation in Youtube videos.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

oh my. oh my!



ohmyohmyohmytwenty

 

[SoloCon]

Sad how some have to take a great post and poke holes into it. The OP was bringing up good points. Trying to help others. What was given was not bad advise. For a select few to look @ his site and poke at it, is just looking to start trouble.

The OP never said he was an SEO expert. Rather he was giving sound advise. What information he has on his site is his own. If it works for him, great! I could sit here and poke a few different holes into ANYONE using WP for their site, but why? That is not what this board is all about. Its about helping one another.

To the OP, great advise and thanks for posting!

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

Sad how some have to take a great post and poke holes into it. The OP was bringing up good points. Trying to help others. What was given was not bad advise. For a select few to look @ his site and poke at it, is just looking to start trouble.

You might read the tread again, as the OP got butthurt when someone disagreed with him and that is when the thread took a turn for the worst.

 

[Rosco]

rex i guess just everyone loves to hate you. take it as a compliment. maybe we can close this thread down we have said our mind now lets let it go.

it all started with jim just voicing his opinion. on the first page lol

time to drop it

 

[hightechrex]

You might read the tread again, as the OP got butthurt when someone disagreed with him and that is when the thread took a turn for the worst.

I wasn't hurt. I expressed confusion, because i didnt think using "iTouch" instead of "iPod Touch" was that big of a deal. As if it cancelled out every last word of what was meant to be a helpful post.

 

[jcitron]

I couldn't agree with that anymore. Know-It-All customers are one of my biggest peeves.

I agree too. These customers too are also the worst ones because they "know" how to fix the problem.

These people call for help and then waste our time because they never fix their problem, or worse, we never get paid for helping them. One day I had someone call me for help after they had broken their machine. I told them, in so many words, that they should know how to fix it because they know this stuff already.

But... I would like to add that customer service and honesty are two things that really go a long way with customers.

Selling yourself short on time means not coming through as scheduled. This will make you seem as though you're never prepared or a liar. Over estimating the completion time and then coming through early means a lot. To the customer, you are a hero because you completed the job early. In general never, ever, underestimate the amount of time to complete a job. Plan for the worst, or as the old saying goes. Not planning and preparing for a project is the same as planning for a failure. I've seen this many times, not just in the outside world, but in the corporate environment as well. This is especially true with the bigger IT organizations.

Being honest and up front when not knowing something too is important. Sometimes you may lose the job, but then again you maintain a high reputation. There's nothing worse than saying you can do something and not come through. It is more difficult to undo a bad reputation than it is to build up a good one.

Being a good listener too is important. Rattling off the geek talk does nothing for a customer relationship. Taking the time to listen to the customer, helps in a faster turn around of the problem. There's nothing worse than talking over a customer. Let the customer get their word in. As my old manager said to me when I was first starting out. "Listen with your ears not your mouth."

John