computer hardware profession?

hello everybody. ima short time reader, first time poster hehe. so highschool is almost over and im thinking about what to study in college. ive been kinda into playing computer games and looking at computer parts and stuff online for the last few weeks er so. so i was wondering if there was a profession where you could like design or build or repair computers for like a company or something. or maybe even build those big compuers that take up a whole room. do they even have jobs like that? if they do what kinda stuff would they have for it in college? like a bachelors or masters or what? thanks for the help.

well, there's definitely those type of jobs out there. ^^
They have undergraduate and graduate programs for such fields too.
Can also go A+ certification route.

If you want to actually build the circuitry and what not, you can enroll in a Computer/mechanical Engineering. Or if you want to do the building and installations, Electronics and Computer Technology. (it may be referred to differently by region)

Best way is to talk to the admissions counselor at the college you are interested in attending. ^^

Designing actual hardware, Electrical engineering, or Computer engineering with a focus on circuits and digital logic.


There are jobs in Information services / Information technologies that let you work with clusters, distributed computing, a large networks.

enso said:

ive been kinda into playing computer games and looking at computer parts and stuff online for the last few weeks er so.

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Im not bashing or anything... but...

I am in college right now taking a CNE program (computer network engineering). Basicly what I will be doing when I get out is mainly troubleshooting/fixing PCs and networks.

I am the ONLY person in my classes with any type of extended knowledge about computers. Ive been troubleshooting/repairing computers for the last 5ish years and have always had a passion for computer ever since I got back into them in middle school. We havent gotten into any of the computer classes yet because Im getting the core classes out of the way, but it seems to me that everyone is in it for... quote, "the money".

I strongly advise you to pick something you are passionate about and not something that you have been looking at for the last few weeks. I love and enjoy computers everyday of my life so fixing and maintaining them for a living will actually be somewhat interesting and fun for me. I helped my Dad fix computers for his business for a year or two, took over the business when he moved, and I have now moved to where he is (Texas) for school and currently help him fix computers... I actually dropped off a laptop about an hour ago . I know I like doing this type of stuff because I have been enjoying it for 5+ years...

Im just saying that you should try to get in a few months of experience for whatever you plan on doing in college... mainly because there is no way of knowing if you will truely enjoy it until you know exactly what you will be dealing with on a daily basis. Volunteer at a vet place if you want to do something with animals like that, maybe ask a local computer repair shop if you can sit in and observe and ask questions? I dont know...

Sorry if that was long and seemed like a rant... I couldve written more but I left alot of stuff out.

I am currently majoring in CPE/EE myself, focused mostly on circuit design and logic. Quite interesting, also I am co-oping with a local company doing PCB designs, if you are wanting to do the actual circuitry down to the bare traces this is where you want to go, plus the money is not bad either

I haven't seen too many CNE programs, sounds like a Network Administration position, and "the money" has dried up substaintially compared to what it was, but still a healthy and growing field nonetheless. The main factor is that experience goes a long way in those professions. Definetly see if you can land some jobs with local comapnies to do some handy work, and always be willing to learn something new.

The best system admins are the most versatile, from Unix to PBX phone systems, if you want job security and to pull in the high dollar.

Not trying to thread hijack, but since A+ certification was brought up. Can people get decent jobs after getting their A+ certification? I thought it only opened up basic tech support jobs.

seniorpaul said:

Not trying to thread hijack, but since A+ certification was brought up. Can people get decent jobs after getting their A+ certification? I thought it only opened up basic tech support jobs.

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It really depends in area etc, as a general rule of thumb certs really only backup experience in todays job market. Still though the A+ is seemed as neccessary, but is almost taken as a given when someone is applying for even the lowest tech positions. Experience is everything in the IT world, I would say a college degree far outweighs most certs you can get now.

A+ is nice to have but.. youll definitly need more

From my experience A+ usually means and ammounts to absolutly nothing if somebody has it. Everyone I have ever met that has their A+ except for ONE person knew absolutely DICK about computer hardware/troubleshooting/A+ type stuff. I know a few people with their A+ that are scared to swap out motherboards and screw up all the time when installing Windows...

I personally havent jumped on the A+ bandwagon because it costs a bit of pocket change that I dont have. I always figured if years of experience isnt enough for someone then I might go out and pay for the cert, but I havent ran into that yet.

One thing though, when working at a job requiring you to have those skills you could possibly get paid more money on the hour if you have certifications like that.

A+ surely does help, if you have experience. I worked in the IT field for 2 years, then got my A+ and started getting a lot more interviews, and even landed a local position working for Compaq making $30/hr until HP bought them out, with nothing more than A+ and some experience. Every IT job I've had wanted the A+ and some experience, or a degree. So if your absent the degree, certs really do help backup what you say you know.

Getting your A+ and gaining some experience is a good, and much cheaper, way then going all out for a degree in the IT field, where competition is feirce and pay is not what it used to be, only to find out it maybe not all you hoped for.

enso said:

i was wondering if there was a profession where you could like design or build or repair computers for like a company or something. or maybe even build those big compuers that take up a whole room. do they even have jobs like that? if they do what kinda stuff would they have for it in college? like a bachelors or masters or what? thanks for the help.

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There are jobs like that. Such as the $9 "tech" at OEM builders who stands on an assembly line and pops DIMMS into mobos. That's about as close as you're going to get, other than working in a mom and pop store.

No business is going to hire someone to just build computers for them. Even tiny businesses buy all their computers from OEM's such as Dell. You can't build a basic office machine for even close to what Dell can.

If you're going into the computer field you have a few choices:

help desk
network admin
help desk
system admin
help desk
cable monkey (install internet for ISPs)
help desk

Keep in mind the computer field now pays for shit and suffers from a lack of job openings. Everyone is outsourcing their support and there are too many people graduating with computer degrees who don't know anything and are saturating the field.

Having to do over again, I wouldn't have switched my major to IT.

S1nF1xx said:

Everyone is outsourcing their support and there are too many people graduating with computer degrees who don't know anything and are saturating the field.

Having to do over again, I wouldn't have switched my major to IT.

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Ya... like I said I am in a CNE program... and... there are about 15 people in my class that know absolutly dick about computers. It completely stuns me that someone 65 years old that has been selling insurance for 30 years would even consider going into this field... there is someone in my class like this. There are a ton of "yo-dog" gangster type people that wear thick gold teeth that are in it for quote "the money".

I majored in IT in college wanting to get into network administration/hardware stuff.

I ended up being hired by a major software company (The Big Red Machine, to those who know what that is) to do programming/datawarehousing/consulting work.

Couldn't say I'm dissatisfied with it, I would much rather be working with hardware. But, those jobs are few and far between if you expect to make any money doing it.

Any Joe Schmoe can put a computer together