Where to start learning to fix computers

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Loopey

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My brother in law is interested in learning the trade and helping me out. Still being a 1-man operation working a full time 'day job', I don't really have a lot of time to teach him. Any suggestions for websites or videos I could send him to start learning the basics?
 
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What part of the "trade"? That's kind of like saying he wants to learn to cook... Peking Duck? Nuke frozen vegies? Lasagna?

For the basic break/fix stuff get a bunch of busted machines and have him figure out how to build a working machine out of the parts, including loading OS's, drivers etc.

For basic networking, etc. Get a recent desktop, bump up the RAM, and install ESXi on the bare metal. One can then load up some VM's to play with networking. You can even get virtualized routers and switches.
 
markverhyden said:
What part of the "trade"? That's kind of like saying he wants to learn to cook... Peking Duck? Nuke frozen vegies? Lasagna?

For the basic break/fix stuff get a bunch of busted machines and have him figure out how to build a working machine out of the parts, including loading OS's, drivers etc.

For basic networking, etc. Get a recent desktop, bump up the RAM, and install ESXi on the bare metal. One can then load up some VM's to play with networking. You can even get virtualized routers and switches.
Click to expand...

LOL, yeah should have been more specific. I'm a residential break/fix tech. Lot's of malware cleanup, OS repairs, and home networking stuff. He took an A+ certification class a few years ago, so he's not completely brand new to the area. I'm hoping to give him some resources to start learning some of the stuff I learned from experience.
 
Best way I learned was just being thrown into it. Like my full time job, I'm helpdesk/server admin. Pretty much when I got there, my IT director didn't have time to teach me a lot. It was like here's the passwords and usernames you need, figure it out. He did train on some things, but a lot of it, I just had to learn by doing. Been there 5 years now. My IT job before that as a field tech, same thing, some basic training, but mostly learn by doing. Give him a couple of jobs in shop at first with a set of instructions on how you want things done, see how he does, then as you feel you can trust him, pass more to him, correct him along the way.
 
Tell him to practice his Google technique and to work from home, that way he can figure it out in private. I started out by winging it or calling my hubby (server architect and PC guru).
 
I started 22 years ago by my dad pointing me to a corner of computer parts in a basement. He said "if I could build one and get it working I could keep it. If you have any questions I will answer them but I won't help you hands on." That is one of the best moments from my childhood I will never forget. Give your brother the opportunity to mess things up he will learn more. He will not ever stop learning and he is already behind an 8 ball because of how quick technology is advancing. Professor Messer on Youtube is pretty good for industry cert review. Best of luck to you and your brother!
 
"youtube.com" is a great place to learn break/fix, hardware tear down & re-assembly, how to install (software & hardware). I use it quite a bit as a point of reference when working on items I had never seen before. Give him some problem that you know how to fix and have him do the research via google / youtube on how to fix it.
 
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I use to volunteer in a few help chats and as a result met a lot of novice technicians that would contact me over AIM for help. In my opinion the best thing a good technician can do for a novice is to accelerate the novices experience. Sure you can be like heres a bunch of broken computers fix them all but how does the novice really know if he went about it efficiently? How does he know how common the particular issue he just discovered is? I had them write down what steps they took and the results and then I tell them what I think they did wrong and how common this particular problem/solution is.

Edit: I personally think technicians learning now have it way harder trying to teach themselves and using google for information. The amount of bad information out there is just horrifying and the only reason we can sift through it is because we can already identity the bs.
 
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Gegeek.com

Hardware is easy its like lego

Get him to understand the Windows directory, first and that almost all software has an options/preferences field.

Google/Youtube/RTFM
 
If you really want to learn computers (assuming you already have experience with windows software) I recommend that you go out and buy a computer in separate components and assemble it yourself. Your going to make some mistakes but you will learn. Nothing is better than experience when learning something. Also, Load up Linux and work with that. You will learn a lot more about your hardware and how software interacts with it using linux than you would windows. At a later time you can always load windows back on your computer.

I have gotten all my knowledge on computers/networking ect.. from on the job and personal experience. Although some classroom learning is fine, I find they are behind the times most of the time and teaching you irrelevant stuff. So, When you get out in the actual field you find things are a a lot different from the classroom.

ExperienceTheTeacher_zpsh8gnw56o.png
 
I would start off by providing a list of the things you are expecting him to be able to do and then provide as much information on 'how to do it', what steps should be taken. And here's my point, if he's working for you and representing you, then you are responsible for what he does incorrectly. He shouldn't have to learn the hard way that he should always make a backup prior to doing certain jobs. You need to provide proper 'current' tools of the trade (Fabs etc).
There is also lots of course-ware out there to study for MS certifications such as one for networking which would be helpful. Set him up with a lab environment and let he train on that.
 
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