part 1 http://homepage.mac.com/monickels/techjob.html
part 2 http://homepage.mac.com/monickels/techjob2.html

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Of course if everybody with a little bit of knowledge in the matter did exactly that then there would be a overcrowding in that market.

Assuming that it doesn't already exist in Brisbane.

I think he under emphasis some areas, they being.

- Home customers can and will suck you dry.

- Small business almost never pay on time and often not at all.

- Phone will ring 24/7, do I mean 3:30am? Hell yes.

- Home users tend to take anything 'free' and screw it for all it's worth.

Some other advice.
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- Never never never look after point of sale or pubs/clubs. Don't ask, just trust me.

- Be very specific with language. EG: When a client asks "Is everything ok now?" responding "yes" will get you burned. The correct answer is "just the issue I've addressed today"

- One needs to be as skilled in personal communication and customer relations as one is with computers.

- As mentioned in the article, the 'one more thing' problem is trully perenial and must be handled artfully indeed.

- One issue I think he mistakenly de-emphasises. Such a career is very rewarding for those whom it comes naturally. I did it for a few years during the late nineties and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, all the elements well suited my personal nature (in other words you've got to love it). Even now, I still have clients that just won't go away even though I've "ascended" to full time project management/systems design.

If another phat contract doesn't emerge when my stint with state govt runs out on Christmas, I'm contemplating going back to that simpler and more personally satisfying lifestyle.

Good advise Codebasher. I also found the articles to be quite good in general. I still do moonlight work for my previous employers and they seem to like the arragement i.e. in terms of contract rate , quality of my services etc.

I don't think I have enough patient to do free-lance thing full-time though as I get too panicky when there is no regular income etc. I'd rather have 1/2 clients that I can do it after work etc. This gives me extra income etc. -- though no much but it's a good spare change for tax deduction as well as some spare cash to live on etc.

My $0.02

Your right there, it still was an excellent article.

One issue I think he mistakenly de-emphasises. Such a career is very rewarding for those whom it comes naturally.

I think that is the key to why I didn't like some of his attitude in those articals. Quite a lot of the IT industry realy isn't up to facing end users on a day to day basis, so widesweeping claims of "if you have any technical skill you shouldn't be unemployed" is just silly. Not to mention that while there is a market for that kind of work, it isn't dependable, and it isn't realy that big. Certianly not enough to lay certian bets that it will always be there.

Just wanted to say thanks for posting this article. I am trying to increase this part of my buisness and the information contained in this article was extremely helpful.

Quite a lot of the IT industry realy isn't up to facing end users on a day to day basis,

And end users that require to pay someone to come to their house to fix something, are the lowest common denominator when it comes to users … the vast majority of them are the kind of users that most people can not believe exist.

Including one dumb bitch that didn’t understand that I couldn’t magically look into her computer and know everything that was wrong with it when her computer was broken and offline (I was working helpdesk)

so widesweeping claims of "if you have any technical skill you shouldn't be unemployed" is just silly.

Technical skill is such a massively broad claim too. For example one of my oldest friends is one of the leetest CGI ninjas I have ever seen … he can also break computers at a range of 5 meters (they just break when he is near. Including once his computer caught fire when he was doing nothing to it. (yes, it caught fire)

The biggest problem with all of these “just go fix some dumb f***s computer for money” articles is that they often don’t infer what your legal responsibilities are. If a plumber comes in and f***s something else (due to negligence) then they would be liable for any and all damage … Same goes to the guy who comes into a house as a paid professional, and accidentally (because they where negligent) f***s some files, they could be liable.

Doing this kind of business has all of the headaches of small business, and you have to be prepared as a small business owner and not just Joe “Bum f***” Doe the computer repair guy who wants to make a quick buck.

But I like the moral of the story, which is as I read it.

"Shut the f*** up, life sucks get a helmet"

Adam