For any IT professional considering PC repair jobs as an alternate career path, there can often be confusion about the range and variety of work that is available. This article focuses on the job types, range of technologies and employers that can have a positive impact on the career path you choose.
Once an individual has achieved some form of certification as a PC technician, or alternatively gained enough work experience, they will start out looking for specific roles. In particular, the option is between working as a support technician or service technician. Support technicians do not work on client sites but provide a support service relating to specific products (hardware/software) via e-mail or phone. By contrast, a service technician is expected to travel to or work on client sites gaining hands-on experience fixing computer issues for clients.
An alternate way of viewing these types of PC technician roles is to define them as either field or bench technician positions. Obviously enough, bench technicians work in one single location (i.e. from a workbench) and have fairly consistent work hours, usually defined according to the PC repair shops opening hours. A field technician is expected to travel for their work to customer’s premises in order to provide computer support.
The next consideration is the technologies that you will ultimately focus upon as a PC technician. Many PC repair jobs initially start out being quite broad, covering hardware and software issues (e.g. in a PC repair shop where customers can bring in huge range of computer issues). However, over time the technician will begin to gain a greater interest in specific areas of technology that will interest them (e.g. data recovery, network management, etc) and will therefore focus their training in these areas and only pursue roles that can progress them along these career paths.
The final factor affecting a career path is the nature of employers offering these PC repair jobs. They can broadly be defined as either consultancy, repair shops or self-employed positions. When you are employed by consultancy firm, you will be expected to switch from project to project fixing computer issues for various clients, and may be expected to travel for your work. When you are employed by a PC repair shop, you will naturally be expected to be based at a repair facility/shop and not have to do much travel (although this is changing with the advent of mobile repair services). The holy grail for many PC technicians is to start out their own business and become self-employed. This is often a long-term goal which requires gain enough experience, and even some initial clients, in order to start out.