First off, you don't need to work in BB. I had a friend that worked there, and he didn't have to go through that... and i was offered a job as well, and i've never worked at BB.
Second... you may have to work instore tech support first, or phone tech support, if you're not that experienced.
Third... you do need A+ certification... even if you've got 10 years experience doing this, have MCSE, etc, they still require it. I think that's because one of their advertising/selling point stresses all technicians are 'A+ certified'.
You don't know what you're talking about. Just because you can install a videocard, doesn't mean you can handle this job. You get called to a site thinking it's something to do with spyware or virus interrupting the internet connection. Then you realize there's a small network set up. Are you skill enough to know what the problem is? That it's just a TCP/IP problem, or a router problem? Or DNS? And what if you had to do multiple things while you were there, because they wanted to take advantage of you. So now you need to set up the printer on the network to connect to their Point of Sales system. You're on site, without access to the internet to do a google search... are you going to tell them you can't help, and you'll need to send for somebody else?
The fact that you didn't get hired from them, and they came up with a lame excuse to let you down easy, should give you a clue.
It's not the most difficult job in the world, but you have to know your stuff. You need to know W95 all the way to W2003 and XP. You need to know all your hardware inside out, from Pentium 1s to the most recent stuff. And software... not just how to load Word, but how to format Excel cells, and important them into a Word graph. And you need to know ALL this in your head. You CAN have some guides with you, but how much are you going to carry? A truck full of books? And spend 30mins going through the book to find each answer?
You need to factor in the cost of getting to the location, figuring out what exactly they need over the phone (ie what mobo they have and what kind of ram that would fit).. and once you get there, you do'nt just pop in the ram and leave. Obviously if they want more ram, they want better performance. So you'll see if it boots up quicker. If not, you'll take a quick look at the task manager and see what could be causing some issues.
actually A+ certification is for Geeksquad dept. seniors and supervisors only. Actual geeksquad agents(the ones that go to houses or just work in the store) have no formal requirements for certifications, though you do have to pass a relatively difficult test.
this is nothing compared to SBC, i'd install a dsl modem for the customer and I didn't even have to make it work with their PC, and we still charged $200 for each visit.
Kerouactivist
Diamond Member
- Jul 12, 2001
- 4,665
- 0
- 76
Originally posted by: archcommus
They DO hire for GS right from the start, that guy is BSing you.
But no, no certification is required. Just proper display of enough knowledge to do the job right.
In-store techs start from $10-$14 an hour. The guys that drive around are making $15-20.Originally posted by: mugs
I know people like to say that to make people who would charge less feel inferior, but I don't think it's true. $129 to set up a dial-up connection?Best Buy is paying those kids what, less than $10 an hour? So I would say the market value of setting up a dial-up connection is quite a bit less than $129.
They just know they have people by the balls. What do you think of their $40 USB printer cables?
I didn't realize they made that much money.... $15-20 not bad at all...
I could never do that job. Call me a sucker but to charge a hundred bucks to change some settings that really takes ZERO critical thinking is such a rip off in my mind. I could just imagine cruising up to some old ladies house to install her internet so she can email her kids across the country who never come to visit her and she pays me using her social security check.
Everything on that list involves guided setups and plug n play devices. Its not like they are configuring the iptables on your apache server from the command line.
Everything on that list involves guided setups and plug n play devices. Its not like they are configuring the iptables on your apache server from the command line.
So very, very true. This is one of the crucial errors that I made (and regretfully still make sometimes) in running my business.
I think the problem with GeekSquad from what's been reported to me is the quality of their service. I've heard and witnessed firsthand horror stories. They bill people good money and don't always fix the underlying issues. Sloppy work might be expected from the geek kid next door, but not from a so-called professional outfit.
unfortunately this is true and your quality of service is not standardized across the company because often times you have a manager that has not technical expertise hiring someone thats supposed to, and they often times don't pick the smartest people.
Man, that sucks when hiring managers are lacking in tehncial expertise.
There's this one story that rubs me the wrong way about the GS. They were hired for a cleanup (slow PC, spyware, etc.). The bill came to ~$300 which is not excessive. However, the computer came back borked. It could no longer print from an HP all-in-one and it still had some hiccups. So GS was contacted and a technician was dispatched, spent 4 hours trying to get the printer to work, and in the end said sorry, he couldn't do it. This is when I was called in to fix the situation. My fix was to unisntall all printer software, reboot, and reinstall latest drivers from the web. Total time ~1 hr. When the client saw this, she was livid and requested a refund from GS on the grounds that they caused a secondary problem and were unwilling/unable to fix it, when, in fact, it was fixable.
They did issue a refund, but also wrote her a letter statuing that they would never be able to assist her in the future. I can understand not wanting to service a "problem" customer, but a customer scorned will do nothing but badmouth the offending outfit which does hurt business in the long run.
I see one advantage to working for geek squad, you work there, create your own business as well, and hand out your own business card to every customer you encounter, building up a customer base, then if successful, you could make some decent money and quit retard-squad..
I'll charge $100/hr to go to someone's house. Why? Because I really don't fvcking want to. If I have to get off my ass and go to someone else's house to fix some crap for them, they better make it worth my while. Now given Geeksquad has WAY more overhead than I do, those prices look fine.
I would assume that GeekSquad would have new hires sign a non-compete agreement. As for the enforcement of such a contract, that's another matter alltogether.
SKORPI0
Lifer
- Jan 18, 2000
- 18,489
- 2,420
- 136
I remember someone in BB who used to do that, before they were called Geeksquad. He was offering to fix their computers at home. BB did not offer that service yet, you had to bring your computer to the store. Manager found out and he was fired. Needless to say he found another better paying job.
yah, whats the point of doing anything for free. You don't create value for yourself by doing things this way. At least have her buy you lunch in return or something, you get no respect in this life for doing things for free. You just get walked all over by people who take advantage of your generosity, girls especially. I could see if your helping someone stranded on the side of the road, but not this.
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