How well do "tech" jobs pay?

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InorganicMatter

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With my current job, I earn $7.50 an hour. I was thinking, just for this summer, that I might get a job at a local computer shop. Maybe just as a tech there, building custom computers. Would the pay be better or worse than my current job?
 
id go n start building custom pc's for ebay lol using cheap but stable non uber preformance parts and selling in a cool case at the same price equivelent say HP would go for
 
You can go work for the geek squad.....and get paid 11.50-12 an hour...But I would not tell anyone that, you will be made fun of...
 
darktiger said:
You can go work for the geek squad.....and get paid 11.50-12 an hour...But I would not tell anyone that, you will be made fun of...
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Why do you say this? You must elaborate, this sounds interesting...

Ballz2TheWallz said:
id go n start building custom pc's for ebay lol using cheap but stable non uber preformance parts and selling in a cool case at the same price equivelent say HP would go for
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I don't have any money to start with.
 
wtf r u kidding me!?!? how old do u have to be(god i wish i was old enough for atleast a job permit)
 
i been working at my college for 5 years and still get 8$ It fuckin pisses me off but I dont do much and enjoy working here for the most part and lots of study time if I can stay away from [H]
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
id go n start building custom pc's for ebay lol using cheap but stable non uber preformance parts and selling in a cool case at the same price equivelent say HP would go for
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does that pay well? I'd never thought about it.. but how much of a profit gain could you look to gain off of doing that?

Also I think when he says geek squad he is referring to the computer tech area of best buy...
 
I believe you need to be A+ Certified to work at Bestbuy geeksquad or Tech at Compusa.

darktiger said:
You can go work for the geek squad.....and get paid 11.50-12 an hour...But I would not tell anyone that, you will be made fun of...
Click to expand...
 
It depends on where you are, what the job market is like for techs, etc. If you are very experienced, have a good rep, and do housecalls, you can get upwards of $50/hr. I charge $65 and people are happy to pay. However I do this only for pocket money, it doesn't pay the bills. If you work at a retail storefront expect anywhere from $8 to $15/hr depending on how experienced you are and how fast and well you work. An important factor is the ability to make a fast and accurate diagnoses.
 
LOL, When i fix computers because im lazy and its free "You need a new one" or "Format" and No I dont want to backup ur files. hahhaha

dariob said:
It depends on where you are, what the job market is like for techs, etc. If you are very experienced, have a good rep, and do housecalls, you can get upwards of $50/hr. I charge $65 and people are happy to pay. However I do this only for pocket money, it doesn't pay the bills. If you work at a retail storefront expect anywhere from $8 to $15/hr depending on how experienced you are and how fast and well you work. An important factor is the ability to make a fast and accurate diagnoses.
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dariob said:
It depends on where you are, what the job market is like for techs, etc. If you are very experienced, have a good rep, and do housecalls, you can get upwards of $50/hr. I charge $65 and people are happy to pay. However I do this only for pocket money, it doesn't pay the bills. If you work at a retail storefront expect anywhere from $8 to $15/hr depending on how experienced you are and how fast and well you work. An important factor is the ability to make a fast and accurate diagnoses.
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The house calls work out well too if you're fixing a hotties computer and she tips you with a HJ etc... ;)

MD
 
MD_Willington said:
The house calls<a onMouseOver="window.status='' ; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status='';" oncontextmenu="window.status=''; return true;" onclick="location.href='http://www.enhancemysearch.com/admin/results.php?q=work&id=4';return false;" href="" TITLE="More Info..."> work </a>out well too if you're fixing a hotties computer and she tips you with a HJ etc... ;)

MD
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this isnt a hardcore porno....come back to reality
 
I work on Nortel phone systems for a living and make about $56k a year. No degree and no certs. If I have my B.S. and a couple certs I could easily make over $100k.
 
wow lets see if i can get a job there

edit: awww none in houston :mad:
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
wtf r u kidding me!?!? how old do u have to be(god i wish i was old enough for atleast a job permit)
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uh $12 isn't shit really. i'm a comp tech at a school district. add the fact i don't get any benefits whatsoever $12/hr is barely enough to live on. especially when i drive an F250 to work.
 
beats working at BK making min wage while in highschool...its more then my mom makes to so be quiet so what if im poor, atleast i rub in my moms face that i make more money then she ever did at a first job haha :p
 
sac_tagg said:
With my current job, I earn $7.50 an hour. I was thinking, just for this summer, that I might get a job at a local computer shop. Maybe just as a tech there, building custom computers. Would the pay be better or worse than my current job?
Click to expand...





Take someone like Steve jobs for instance, he only gets paid $1 a year which should be obvious by the fact that he wheres nothing but the same black turtle neck and jeans every dam day.


you could even hit it rich like gates, but chances are that wouldn't last long and someone like ballmer will just come along and before you know it he'll be taking oral pleasure from you while your kids watch him bang your wife.



tech jobs suck
 
Mushroom Prince said:
tech jobs suck.


Take someone like Steve jobs for instance, he only gets paid $1 a year which should be obvious by the fact that he wheres nothing but the same black turtle neck and jeans every dam day.


you could even hit it rich like gates, but chances are that wouldn't last long and someone like ballmer will just come along and before you know it he'll be taking oral pleasure from you and sleeping with your wife frequently.
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get as much money as fast as possible then sell the company lol thats how i would do it.....live off bank interest
 
tech jobs don't suck. You make decent money doing non-labour intensive tasks and people appreciate you b/c without you they would be virtually unproductive. Start small and work your way up to a nice IT job at a large corp/university.
 
dariob said:
tech jobs don't suck. You make decent money doing non-labour intensive tasks and people appreciate you b/c without you they would be virtually unproductive. Start small and work your way up to a nice IT job at a large corp/university.
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you insult my humor
 
dariob said:
tech jobs don't suck. You make decent money doing non-labour intensive tasks and people appreciate you b/c without you they would be virtually unproductive. Start small and work your way up to a nice IT job at a large corp/university.
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appreciate? are you fucking kidding? all they do is whine and bitch when shit doesn't work. and then blame you when they can't get work done when 90% of the time its fuckin user error. i'm 19..and i came home from work one day shaking from all the stress i was so mad. that shouldn't happen to me. the most stress i should worry about is a late term paper or something. geez
 
markt435 said:
appreciate? are you fucking kidding? all they do is whine and bitch when shit doesn't work. and then blame you when they can't get work done when 90% of the time its fuckin user error. i'm 19..and i came home from work one day shaking from all the stress i was so mad. that shouldn't happen to me. the most stress i should worry about is a late term paper or something. geez
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I started in computers in the Air Force in 1979, have stayed in the profession ever since. About 5 years ago, I got an ulcer. Cause unknown, but accd to doctor, seriously aggrivated by stress at work. Three years ago my blood pressure started going up, started having blinding headaches. Two years ago, I started having heart palpitations, again accd to doc due to stress at work. I had to take stress handling classes, started to carry nitro-glycerine with me in case of a heart attack. And I'm only 45!

When we moved to Florida late 2003, I started looking for, guess what, computer jobs. Then I started having waking nightmares where I'd re-live some of the crap I've been through in computers over most of my life. So, I took a break from them. I've been an air-conditioning tune-up tech, a race kart mechanic, a lawmnower mechanic, a DSL install tech for Sprint, a first-level phone tech for a mortgage company ("hello, I, uuhhhh...forgot my password again").
My stomach doesn't hurt. My blood pressure is back to normal, the doc down here says I've got the heart of a 35 year old.

When I left from my job up north, I was bringing in nearly 100K a year. During my break from my computers, I averaged about 10 bucks an hour. But I was alive!
Guess my point is, get in computers if you really want to. You can make good money if you stay in long enough. Just pray you'll live long enough to enjoy it!
 
dariob said:
tech jobs don't suck. You make decent money doing non-labour intensive tasks and people appreciate you b/c without you they would be virtually unproductive. Start small and work your way up to a nice IT job at a large corp/university.
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They only appreciate you because they are to damn lazy to look up the answer or research the problem themselves...
 
kind of off topic, but i am a first year computer science major and i am starting to wonder what exactly you can do with a BS in computer science? would it be possiable to get into network administration or something like that?
 
compslckr said:
kind of off topic, but i am a first year computer science major and i am starting to wonder what exactly you can do with a BS in computer science? would it be possiable to get into network administration or something like that?
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Over the years as the person who does the hiring in computer departments, what I've usually looked for in a potential employee in order is: 1. experience 2. certs (MCSE, MCSA, MCP, A+, etc.), 3. education.

That's not to say a BS in CS won't get you hired...it just probably won't get you top pay to start. Very few start at the top! ;)
 
I'm about the same as HTPC Rookie. I started in the Marine Corps in 1976 as a Communication Specialist and became a computer operator during my stay with the Air Wing (Swing with the Wing!).

I have been a programmer, developer, project leader and project manager. Right now I'm mainly doing support. I do hardware stuff on the side. I don't see getting into the programming or software portion of the computer industry. My company is currently planning on sending 30% of our developement and support jobs to India. They are having people train the India personnel and promising to reassign them, then, Whoops, no Jobs at this time, so long.

If you are planning to get into computers, do it as an engineer or start out in programming and work your way into project management. I don't see a future for developers in this country any more. Go for the network side of the house but don't get into software.

I'm 46 and don't look forward to trying to find a tech job at this stage. I have made a very good living but I don't see corporations keeping us on when they can pay Ajay and Gupta half of what they pay me.

Good Luck
 
MD_Willington said:
The house calls work out well too if you're fixing a hotties computer and she tips you with a HJ etc... ;)

MD
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Because nothing turns on a girl like fixing her computer.
 
HTPC Rookie said:
Over the years as the person who does the hiring in computer departments, what I've usually looked for in a potential employee in order is: 1. experience 2. certs (MCSE, MCSA, MCP, A+, etc.), 3. education.

That's not to say a BS in CS won't get you hired...it just probably won't get you top pay to start. Very few start at the top! ;)
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Exactly how the order goes. I graduated from a university with a BS in CIS. (Thinking about getting my masters now in NIS) Anyway... I worked for 6 months from home TRYING to find a job. Could not find one for the life of me... searched in a 6 state radius and still no prevail. Put out over 80 apps and got 2 bites... Finally working for one of the companies that took the bite. (Although getting paid peanuts) All rejected because did not have any experience in the field. Didn't have any certs at the time either.

Luckily at my job I've been at for over a year now... (Network Admin/PC Tech for an ISP), I've managed to get some minor certs like a couple of Cisco certs, and a bunch of Calix C7 training.. w00t!

Big thing is... if you're just going into the tech business.. don't expect a 50k+ a year job unless you have a lot of experience and possibly some good certs to back you up.
 
When I was hired in 2003, Best Buy in Pittsburgh started at $9/hr for a tech, they hired me at $10/hr and in 3 months I was at $10.40/hr. Once I did in-home work I moved to $14/hr but chances of getting one of those positions is slim anymore.
 
$12 an hour seems pretty standard to me. Some people get lucky and do a corporate job for much more. If you do house calls it all depends on where you service (rich neighborhoods, etc)
 
I've been persuing IT as a profession for 2 years (despite my degree being in a non-tech/sci field), I have no certs (yet, I plan on getting at least MCSA/E and CCNA/P, before moving on from my current job).

I wasn't happy with my previous career path (Fund Administrator), and I've always loved computers, so I decided to switch to IT, I lucked out (sort of) and got a job with a company that was just starting out with it's own IT strategy and was looking for someone like me, who knew a little bit about lots of things and could work happily in a chaotic problem solving/troubleshooting type environment.

The pluses as far as I'm concerned are that I get to work with a wide range of technology at pretty much any level I want (our budget is seven figures), and I get a couple of years worth of experience with some pretty high end stuff to put on my resume (most important in my book).

The negatives are that the company is a non-profit/charity organisation, so the pay isn't great, not much over $40k, and I have to do grunt work as well as the more interesting stuff.
And my Manager is a total a$$.

But yeah, there's a lot of money to be had out there if you aspire to better than best buy.
My research and experience would also concur with the:

1:Experience.
2:Certs.
3:Education.

For advancing through the profession (though it's kind of circular, because you may need 2 and 3 to your foot in the door to obtain 1).
I wouldn't rate a CompSci qualification much though, I've yet to meet anyone who's made it seem like a good investment in itself.
 
I just graduated this past May with a BS in Comp. Eng and was lucky enough to find a good job. The one thing that really helped me out was the fact that I did an 8 month co-op. While you're in school co-ops are easy to get, pay well and you gain that much needed experience. My GPA and activities were pretty similar to what the rest of my graduating class had but I managed to get more interviews than many others solely due to the fact that I already had 8 months experience in the field.

That's something to think about when you get into school.

When I graduated HS I worked a couple of summers for a local manufacturing company as an inhouse PC Tech. It paid $8 but it gave me 40 hours a week 8 to 5 and I was able to keep my second job at the movie theater working nights.

So if there are any companies in your area go put in an application or resume with their Human Resources department. You have nothing to lose by it and it's also a great way to see the corporate environment and I learned a lot about networking and the server side of things as opposed to Geek Squad where you'll be stuck working on just desktop stuff.
 
Wut sort of job do you have now? I'm a senior in HS looking to go for Comp. Eng. in college next year. I'm mainly looking at big CO-OP schools since i've heard how much of an advantage that is.
 
Georgia Tech has a great CS department and one of the best co-op divisions in the country. If you want more info, you can go here.
 
Right now I'm doing Systems Engineering for a Contractor company. It's a nice job but I would prefer to be doing more design work. As it stands I'm working more on doing system analysis and making sure part A plays nicely with part B and making sure part C's requirements meet the customers needs. Eventually I'll get to work on the actual design side of things but I need to work my way up to it.

In the mean time my company's paying for my certifications and my masters :)

My co-op experience was great, I conducted hardware tests on servers. It gave me a chance to learn about how the servers work at the low level and it was the first time all that knowledge I learned in school was useful for something.
 
I am 15 right now, I work with computers in my school (for free) formatting them, backing stuff up, even set up a network or two. Anyway, I am hoping to get a job at Best Buy/Circuit City when I am 18. Hopefully I will. :D
 
For those just heading in college, definately give serious weight to those schools which offer a real co-op program. If possible, try to find one which has co-op as a requirement for graduation (they tend to have things organized quite a bit better than those schools who have added co-op on as an after thought).

In my situation, I ended up at the University of Cincinnati for my BS in CompE (at the time they had one of the best co-op programs in the area). It turned what is typically a 4 year program into a 5 year program (required co-op of three 6-month terms) but was well worth it. There are 3 major advantages to going the co-op route: You get experience in your field which will help greatly when it comes to landing a job just out of college. You get a respectable income while in college which can really help keep down your debt while in school. You get a chance to get out and see the country by taking co-op jobs that are in other parts of the country, which gives a great chance to get out and see what is out there for you both work wise and life wise.

By the time graduation came around, I already had signed on with the company I spent my final 2 co-ops working for. They had pretty much presented me an offer when I finished my final co-op, and since the pay was good and I knew I liked the company since I'd spent a year there, I agreed to come back to work for them pretty early on and was able to spend my senior year without the added stress of landing a job. A large number of my classmates were in similar positions.

On top of that, by getting into a co-op program, you will end up learning quite a bit more of what you'll need in the real world than you will in school. College classes are great places for hypothetical situations and ideal-case studies, but in terms of what I use day to day the co-op experiences were much more valuable. You get exposed to much more "thinking on-the-fly" as you are typically dealing with problems that you just don't see when dealing with scripted material and pre-planned class work.

Lastly, you get an introduction of what your life will be like on a day to day basis once you are out of college. This is a great way to really decide if you are headed down the right path or if you are going to find yourself unhappy in the long term. If you are headed down a path that you reallize isn't quite what you expected it to be, it's better to come to that understanding while you are still in college so that you can modify your direction then rather than trying to change things after you are already in a field which you don't really enjoy.
 
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