Yay, I got my first job :D

[nerd0795]

I have got my first job at the age of 15. It's helping the managers of a campus, with the computer's their by kinda being a tech support. Since the previous tech was fired for not knowing what he was doing and was fired. Now I got a job where I get $35 an hour!!! Wow. I'm going to be making more money then my Mom makes :D

Any advice or tips for being a good tech. I won't be actually on campus, I will have other means of communication. My sister's husband works there so, that's why I got the job. Since I fixed the families computer's quite a few times before.

I'll be saving up for either an iMac or a custom built rig with a 500gb hard drive, AMD Phenom X4, 3 GB of ram and one of those new ATi cards. I'll be putting a few linux distros on it too, and this time I will finally have a computer compatible with linux!

[jimi_hendrix]

try everything and break everything...then fix it so you can help them when they break stuff

[nerd0795]

try everything and break everything...then fix it so you can help them when they break stuff

Break something = Fired

[Grant A.]

In the U.S. you have to be 16 years or older to have a job.

Btw, do those computers run Windows, Linux, etc.?

[nerd0795]

In the U.S. you have to be 16 years or older to have a job.

Btw, do those computers run Windows, Linux, etc.?

Yeah, but I'm in Canada :D I believe it runs Windows. I wasn't told. I know how to operate Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows (window's the best)

[albinootje]

Any advice or tips for being a good tech.

Congrats with your job!

In my opinion a good tech is first of all friendly, listens to problems as much as needed, tries not to overload the customers/clients/users with too much information unless they are really interested in learning a bit more, and fixes the problem as fast and as best as is reasonably possible.
And the good tech tries hard to not be a BOFH, but only as a last resort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*******_Operator_From_Hell


or a custom built rig with a 500gb hard drive, AMD Phenom X4, 3 GB of ram and one of those new ATi cards. I'll be putting a few linux distros on it too, and this time I will finally have a computer compatible with linux!

Was Nvidia not recommended over ATI for Linux ?

[nerd0795]

Congrats with your job!

In my opinion a good tech is first of all friendly, listens to problems as much as needed, tries not to overload the customers/clients/users with too much information unless they are really interested in learning a bit more, and fixes the problem as fast and as best as is reasonably possible.
And the good tech tries hard to not be a BOFH, but only as a last resort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/*******_Operator_From_Hell


Was Nvidia not recommended over ATI for Linux ?

Thanks, the reason I wanted ATi since it had the perfect $200 graphic card. Well I'll do some research when I get the money.

[jimi_hendrix]

Break something = Fired

no dont break their computers...set aside a gig or 3 of diskspace to install linux on your computer and mess around in there!

[Namtabmai]

Congrates!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofh

Your URL got a little messed up there by the swear filters, fixed it for you :)

As was said before, don't do anything the BOFH does. But just remember when the users get to you, and they will trust me, read through the stories for a little bit of stress relief.

[nerd0795]

no dont break their computers...set aside a gig or 3 of diskspace to install linux on your computer and mess around in there!

Oh... oops. Yea, I'll probably install 3 different distros for fun :D

[nerd0795]

Congrates!



Your URL got a little messed up there by the swear filters, fixed it for you :)

As was said before, don't do anything the BOFH does. But just remember when the users get to you, and they will trust me, read through the stories for a little bit of stress relief.

I don't have a bad temper, I get annoyed easily. But I don't yell at someone and take out my anger on others. Which is great :D

[Namtabmai]

I don't have a bad temper, I get annoyed easily. But I don't yell at someone and take out my anger on others. Which is great :D

That's good. Even if you're on the phone you have to remember to smile, and be nice when the person you're helping is having a go at you because they're lost all their files and it's VERY IMPORTANT WORK and of course they don't keep a back up. As you're taking them through recovery steps trying to locate their precious files, taking them through every step, remember to smile and be pleasant.
Even after 40 minutes when you finally figure out that by "lost their files" the person actually means their recently used document list has been blanked but the files are still there, keep smiling and talking nicely right up until they hang up on you.....

Sorry I was getting some 'Nam style flashbacks there.

[nerd0795]

That's good. Even if you're on the phone you have to remember to smile, and be nice when the person you're helping is having a go at you because they're lost all their files and it's VERY IMPORTANT WORK and of course they don't keep a back up. As you're taking them through recovery steps trying to locate their precious files, taking them through every step, remember to smile and be pleasant.
Even after 40 minutes when you finally figure out that by "lost their files" the person actually means their recently used document list has been blanked but the files are still there, keep smiling and talking nicely right up until they hang up on you.....

Sorry I was getting some 'Nam style flashbacks there.

I don't think the problems are going to be more of that, more of focusing on showing the owners of the campus, how to do what they want to do, I'm still unsure what style of questions I'm going to get. Since I'm still a kid, they won't give me very hard stuff.

[albinootje]

Your URL got a little messed up there by the swear filters, fixed it for you :)


Thanks! :)

[theApokalypsis]

Thanks, the reason I wanted ATi since it had the perfect $200 graphic card. Well I'll do some research when I get the money.

ATI cards are definitly my preferance of choice these days. the R7XX especially.

Congrats on the job In Canada. Although still can't beat the oppressed countries these days and their less restrictive age laws and other sorts of mind boggling things...

:-k

[nerd0795]

ATI cards are definitly my preferance of choice these days. the R7XX especially.

Congrats on the job In Canada. Although still can't beat the oppressed countries these days and their less restrictive age laws and other sorts of mind boggling things...

:-k

Yea, with the whole Nvidia chip recall thing, I don't really trust Nvidia right now. Especially since my new notebook has an Nvidia card, hopefully it's not affected by the recall.

[theApokalypsis]

Yea, with the whole Nvidia chip recall thing, I don't really trust Nvidia right now. Especially since my new notebook has an Nvidia card, hopefully it's not affected by the recall.


I used to use a 9600GT (could not stand the slow compiz/web browsing issues), but eventually opted for a HD 4850. in a ironic twist that after a month of solid work i switched in a new PSU and suddenly found myself RMA'ing it... lol I still am holding for it though.

Im happy though that both chipsets have strong/ever growing support for GNU/Linux.

Moving to Jaunty as soon as 9.1 is out :)

[bigbrovar]

hmm i have a similar job (plus general system admin/IT manager) here are some tips .. first you would need to be armed with recovery tools .. a puppy live cd (preferably installed on usb) comes in handy. this is for recovering systems that whos OS have crashed and u need to save files before formatting .. it would also be nice if you can setup an help desk .. i used glpi which (which is also an inventory software for IT dept) has a cool but simple help desk where users can report problems, which would be sent to my mail.. and i can now tag them in other of priorities and know kind of like the way launchpad or bugzila works.. .. also u need to predict future problems before they are reported.. which means u need to have a good understanding or their IT setup.. also because most people you work with know nothing about IT its up to u to find better ways of achieving tasks there do everyday.. (this is a good way to forestall future problems) i can go on an on .. but right now am in the computer lab performing general maintenance before the week start on monday.

[nerd0795]

hmm i have a similar job (plus general system admin/IT manager) here are some tips .. first you would need to be armed with recovery tools .. a puppy live cd (preferably installed on usb) comes in handy. this is for recovering systems that whos OS have crashed and u need to save files before formatting .. it would also be nice if you can setup an help desk .. i used glpi which (which is also an inventory software for IT dept) has a cool but simple help desk where users can report problems, which would be sent to my mail.. and i can now tag them in other of priorities and know kind of like the way launchpad or bugzila works.. .. also u need to predict future problems before they are reported.. which means u need to have a good understanding or their IT setup.. also because most people you work with know nothing about IT its up to u to find better ways of achieving tasks there do everyday.. (this is a good way to forestall future problems) i can go on an on .. but right now am in the computer lab performing general maintenance before the week start on monday.

I live in a different province then the company does, I'm just helping out if they have any questions. If needed I will use a desktop sharing apps to control their computers to hopefully help them.

[rajeev1204]

35 Dollars an hourr wow.

I need to move to canada soon .:)

[hoopz23]

wow where did u find that job?!?! i live in Canada in the summer. i'm gonna start looking for a summer job like that! whahaha ;)