[Bubba]

I built my first computer back in Mar or April, and I caught the bug. I have learned a ton and love it. I wish to do this for MONEY now lol. So how do i go about it? I'll give a short bio, my thought on how to proceed and then hope some of you computer industry pro's can steer me right.

I'm 45 and retired. I owned (still own I guess) my own contracting company. I quit 6 years ago to take care of my daughter when she was born. She is in school now and my wife say I gotta get back to work and not be a fat, lazy, beer swilling, couch potato. Simply put, I have no desire to build houses or remodel houses anymore for idiots who don't give a damn about good quality craftsmanship. I currently freelance write, but that doesn't pay as much as the expenses are to do so lol. Of course I'm "working on a novel" (aren't we all, most, like me are stuck on the thinking about it stage lol)....... But like I said I got intrigued with the whole building a computer/support thing. My ideas how to proceed are as follows:

I want to obtain the necessary knowledge, work for a Company (Geek Squad, Micro Solutions, Fry's ect) for a couple of years to get some experience and then of course start up my own business. I've just worked for myself too long to be comfortable working for anyone else lol.

There is a place here in Atlanta called New Horizons that offers all kinds of computer classes. Anything from A++, the MS certifications, to help desk support and networking. The A++ class costs something like $3000+ and is a one week 6 hours a day course. They pay for your certification test(s) until you pass them. Also you can re-attend any classes until you DO pass the test. With that certification, I can get one of the aforementioned jobs for around 15 bucks an hour. That's not as much as I was making, but I'm starting over as it were and it's an entry level salary for an entry level job, as such, I have no problem with that (lol I paid my carpenters much more).

Is a program such as that worth it? They are a reputable company from what I can learn, but can I really learn enough to start in a week? There are technical and community colleges that offer similar programs but they take a year to eighteen months, one or two hours a week, to complete and are dumbed down to meet the needs of the slowest student who probably finds simple addition a chore. I figured after completing the program and getting a job, I could work on my Microsoft certifications. Of course New Horizons can teach me all of those, but I think the grand total of THAT was about 16,000 bucks. NOW we are talking some real money lol. I checked out Microsoft's site and they offer all the information needed for the certs, some free, and some at a fraction of that cost. I also figured that if I was working for a company that THEY might pay all or a portion of "continuing education."

Am I thinking right? Do I have a good plan or are there other options I should look at? I know many of you are from Countries other than mine, but you know the SAME computer information and how YOU got it. I can't believe things are that much different all over so please speak up. I have a friend who is a consultant for Oracle that is about to go the England to start up a consulting business there so I know at least US and Great Britain are compatible lol.

[Dave Hybrid]

I started messing around with old Amstrads when I was a kid, breaking then fixing them myself. Then moved onto Amigas, fixing them myself when they went wrong. Then moved onto proper PCs and again fixing anything myself.

Worked at various IT companies through the years and now run my own business. Never had any formal training am completely self taught through trial and error, teaching myself or watching others.

That said unless you can get a job then gain some experience a course is probably a good idea.

Most companies will want to see an A++ for basic pc repair work, much more if you want to get into high up places in large corps doing networking, servers or similar.

[Carbon]

In the US big box stores doing A+ might pay slightly more but it's hardly a requirement. Unfortunately, there's much less experience required with repair and more with sales. Geek Squad et al does more unnecessary pushing of "stuff" than actual work, imo. If you can find a smaller shop, that would be best, but the faster you get into doing it on your own the better off you'll be.

[Bubba]

I mentioned Geek Squad because of their exposure do to advertising lol, and have talked to several of their techs, they say go somewhere else for the reasons you stated. I have already looked into some other places, Frye's, (their techs build, others do the sales), Micro Solutions, and a few local small shops. The A+ cert is not needed to get you in the door, but it helps you be able to do more "meaningful' work to start they are telling me.

I actually bought an A+ book, a couple 1000 pages long that seemed fairly comprehensive. I figure when I finish reading it I can ask more informed questions. It has a large section on BIOS comprising several chapters which is the area I have had the hardest time finding any good info on. It also deals with MS products from Windows98 up through Vista including the Server OS's. Looks like a good place to start before dropping 3 grand lol.