UK - college/uni or private courses

[sorcerer]

As some of you may know, I never wanted to be self-employed or run my own business. I was thrust into this environment due to ill-health and the fact that no-one else will employ me because of my health issues. Messing about with computers was my hobby and I enjoyed doing it as a hobby, but it's a very different animal when complete strangers are paying you money to fix their machines.

I was fairly knowledgeable at a hobby level and in 2001 I did an HNC in Computing which consisted of ten modules, one of which was PC Maintenance and Repair. Just for context I'll say that I completed eight out of the ten modules with distinction but in reality I'm finding that that doesn't really mean a great lot these days as that was a long time ago and I've only been self-employed for less than three years.

Anyway, I'm fed up of floundering around and sort of stumbling from job to job, flying by the seat of my pants. Sometimes I manage to effect a repair but don't even know how I managed to fix it and couldn't repeat it if another machine came in with the same fault! I am managing, and I haven't had any complaints yet and I've even got repeat customers so i must be doing something right, but I know I need to do better.

I need to learn how to do this job properly. At 57 I'm too old to get an apprenticeship or to get a company to take me on as a learner but my health problems would prevent that anyway, so I suppose I need to go to college or uni or something. Does anyone know of any suitable courses (either college or privately run) that I should look out for?

I know that there's lots of stuff out on the net and I used to be fairly good at teaching myself but the constant pain from my back injury and the medications I take, mean that concentration and motivation is a constant problem and I need to actually be taught, rather than just reading stuff and expecting it to stick in my head these days.

 

[FremontPC]

Sorcerer -

Check into any PC recyclers that you might get to easily, they often have training programs and (on this side of the pond) will offer a computer for time put in. You should get some schooling in Windows and Linux in the process, always handy to have.

You're stepping into a change in architecture, from old school MBR - BIOS (Win7 and prior) to the newer EFI systems (Win8 and newer), so do some research on that and see what you can do to identify the characteristics of the one from the other.

Backups. You'll want to learn a lot about this, as any pro knows it will help you fish yourself out of dicey situations at the very least. There are a few different types:

1. File level backups.
2. Disk image backups.
3. System Image backups.
4. Sector-by-sector backups.

If you could only teach people how to run backups, you would give them a huge advantage. You could be the emissary of backup. How many small businesses out there, how many households just don't know how to get this done? If a business loses it's data, that could be the end of it, not to mention the employees and businesses that depend on them. In my experience, there are lots of small businesses out there that have fits just getting their PCs to complete basic tasks and have no thought to the safety of their data. Some may have cloud backup for some of their data, but if they get hit with encrypting malware, do they have access to previous versions of their cloud backups? If so, can they bulk restore those previous versions of their files, or only one file at a time?

Triage:

Is it a hardware problem or a software problem? You'll want to know how to determine this in fairly short order. Even if you partner with a local shop and let them take care of the actual repairs, being able to sum up the situation and set customer expectations accordingly is a good skill to have.

Which brings up the notion of partnering with a local shop. There might well be shops that could use more business that could handle your knottier problems. Maybe in exchange they could offer software tools and some training to help you on your way?

You've shared a bit about your weak points and thank you for that, because there are others in the same boat. Let us know more about your strengths and others that may have been down that road may come up with some guidance.

It's rare that I hit the nail on the head, but I might say something that might give another an idea. One thing I know...you've got the will. There's a way.

 

[FremontPC]

Sorcerer -

Maybe check in with these folks:

http://www.ict-direct.co.uk/


I saw apprenticeships offered in your area and this may be the outfit offering the training. Even if you can't get an apprenticeship, they might be able to give you a leg up somehow.

 

[sorcerer]

Thanks Fremont, for everything. You sir, are a scholar and a gentleman