I have a question for all technicians out there, or consultants, or
basically anyone who works in, or has experience in, the computer business.

I call myself a "consultant." That means I do some tutoring, and some
general advising/consulting/troubleshooting type of work, mostly for home
users, but also for small businesses. I probably spend two thirds of my
time in "teaching" activities, and the rest troubleshooting. My training
consists of some university courses in Information Systems, and a whole lot
of self-study. I recently got my A+ certification, and am doing the MCSE
thing in my "spare time". Why did I get the A+ if I just do consulting? Do
I want to service computers? Well, yes and no. I did it mostly because I
just wanted to know more about hardware. I felt that you can never really
divide hardware and software.

So, my plan now is to slowly take on some service-type work from my
existing customer base, and see what happens. I don't intend to open up a
shop that takes in everything going.

I realize this is a VERY broad question, but here it is: do you have any
general advice for a person like me?

So far, I have found other technicians to be my most valuable
resource...oh, and mailing lists, of course! At this point, I ask for
advice more often than I give it in return, but some day I hope this will
change.  The other most valuable resource are good, current books...can't
have too many of them....and magazines and other computer periodicals. And
of course, the internet in general.

Do you have anything to add to this? Do you have any very definite
"don'ts"? One issue I find complex, especially to a relative newcomer (I
have been doing this as a business for one year), is the issue of
"proprietariness." For example, through the mail lists and from my own
experiences, it appears that Packard Bell and Compaq are particularly fussy
this way. And IBM too. Are there others? Or are all the big manufacturers
somewhat proprietary, just to different degrees? Are there any machines
that make you want to run the other direction? Any manufacturers who are
the worst? What happens to a person who tries to service, say, a
Hewlett-Packard printer and that person is not an "authorized service
center"? Is this possible or advisable? I know that people DO this, I am
just not sure exactly how they pull it off. I don't want to be unambitious,
however I'd prefer to avoid as much "baptism by fire" as possible,
naturally... ; )

Thank you very much for any advice.

Susan Sutherland

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