On Wed, 2010-01-13 at 15:40 +1300, Robert Fisher wrote: > > Adrian Mageanu wrote, On 13/01/10 14:11: > >> On Wed, 2010-01-13 at 13:45 +1300, Kerry Mayes wrote: > >>> My brother in law has recently used two locals out there and I > >>> wouldn't recommend either of them. Both were quite pricey for > >>> incredibly simple things. ($200+ to remove Norton anti virus and > >>> install a replacement.) Sorry, don't know either's name. > > > >> I think I'm in the wrong business..... > > > > No - there's no money in computers.... Everyone wants it cheap and good. > > > I totally agree - which is why I closed my business. People seem happy to > pay for a plumber or an electrician but they hate seeing a computer > "fixer" do his work on the keyboard - they think that they should be able > to do that and why should they pay good money for an "expert". > > > > > Nothing is more soul destroying than doing work for someone and it goes > > to custard. > > > Recently I backed up data on a friend's PC to my USB portable HD, repaired > the PC and a few days later went back to restore from the backup only to > find the backup HD stuffed. Even a forensic expert could not recover > anything. (I suspect that they had dropped the drive as it was in a > different place from where I had left it but that did not help the > situation.) > > Rob >
My comment was meant as a joke, however I can see now that it could also be read in a different way, and I apologies if it conveyed anything other than humor. Due to the nature of my activity, I never provided services directly to consumers (plus appalling selling skills), so I didn't break any souls. But I did charge in the past more than that per hour plus travel, accommodation and other expenses, for different projects. I had a small contribution to the inception of this document and I would recommend it to every IT professional regardless of the nature of the work provided and the target market for his or her products and services: http://www.nzcs.org.nz/files/NZCS%20Code%20of%20Practice.pdf It is a good guide on how to avoid - and deal with - situations where the profession has the potential to be seen as less than.... reputable, if I can use the word. It doesn't cover the moral aspect of charges, but if you follow the guidelines (e.g. 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.2), what you charge for your services will reflect the value that you provide to your clients. Adrian
