How to Find a Competent Computer Tech
Finding a person that advertises themselves to be a computer repair technician is easy, however, the challenge is finding a competent one. Certainly, there are some excellent and extremely qualified professionals in the industry but finding a competent (and honest) technician can be a difficult proposition.
There are two distinct tasks necessary to fill this need, finding a pool of possibilities to choose from and eliminating the less desirable candidates from your list.
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Instructions
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Finding a Competent Computer Technician
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Network with the businesspeople you trust by asking them to recommend someone they use. Contact your lawyer, insurance salesperson, doctor's office and anyone else who comes to mind. Collect a list of several recommended companies.
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Call your friends and family but be aware that most of these people may not have the expertise to discern the competency of a computer repair technician, certainly not on the level of an office manager who has to have functioning computers to keep their business running smoothly.
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Check your local newspapers for advertisements, adding any names found to your list. The telephone book is also a good resource, look in the Yellow Pages under the "Computer Repair" section.
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Check online, specifically in local forums. If there isn't any information posted there, sign up to create an account and ask the group for opinions. Make sure to discount any opinions that you get knowing that anyone, including a disreputable computer repair person can also post biased opinions in these forums.
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Call the better business bureau in your area, and check for complaints against any of the names on your list. Another place to give a quick call to is your local police department's business office (do not call 911), and inquire if there is anyone you should avoid.
Evaluating the Candidates
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Ask any perspective candidate how long they have been in the business. A competent computer repair person will need to have had a minimum of three years as a supervised bench tech.
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Check customer references who had their computers satisfactorily serviced by this technician. This includes calling the competition and inquiring.
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Test the technician by asking exactly how much a vaguely described symptom will cost to fix. As an example, ask "How much will it cost to get my computer to stop making that clicking sound?" If you are given a fixed price answer (that doesn't include replacing your system) move onward. Competent technicians in any trade will give you an answer as to how much it will cost to repair something before they know exactly what is wrong.
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Compare billing rates. A professional computer repair person will have overhead as well as the cost to inventory numerous replacement parts, most of which will have a continuously depreciating value.
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Discount claims of certification. While certifications and continued training are important, over the 28 years this author was involved in computer repair full time many of the worst repair technicians used various certifications as their primary sales tool.
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Tips & Warnings
Without doubt the most critical evaluation tool you have is common sense. If your instincts tell you that the person you are talking to not honest, believe them. A good computer repair man is always in demand. However, they will always prioritize an emergency (server hard disk crash, for example) over non-critical upgrade installation. A sure sign that the computer technician you are interviewing is not the person you are looking for is that he is not busy.
Big box stores that also provide computer services can be a risk. The qualified technician you get today may not be the there tomorrow. If a computer repair person tells you that the reason why he is qualified is because he works at a big computer company, inquire exactly what his position with this company is. In one situation that I am familiar with, a computer repair person was advertising that he used to work for a large, commonly known, firm but neglected to say that he was a janitor there.
