Building Computers as a Career

[jgorman]

Hello. My name is James and I've always been interested in computers but I never really though about going into IT as a career. I've tried my hand at starting in various different career paths, but none of them felt as right as wanting to work with computers. I went from messing with my own to helping my family/friends when they needed it, but now I actually want to try and make a career out of it. I am in the process of building my own gaming computer and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would and learning a lot.

What I am wanting to know is what kind of degree/certificates should I look at for entering a company that builds custom computers and possibly making a career out of it by joining a company like DigitalStorm, Asus, Alienware, or another company that makes custom PCs?

Thanks for the answers ahead of time and for taking the time to read, and possibly respond, to this question.

 

[daswilhelm]

don't expect custom built pc's to be around 10 years from now. 20 years ago building pc's made me a good amount of money. it's slowly fading away, as there's no need to replace a pc every year now. plus alot of the technologies (video, sound, lan etc) all come built in. soon the cpu's will not be on a socket, and soldered to the motherboard. it's all evolving into something that will resemble a smartphone.

feel free to learn about building, and enjoy it as a hobby, but don't make a career out of it. it's slowly dying.

 

[IRyannHD]

It's a very hard business to start, now that people can easily make their own PC or buy pre-built, with youtube tutorials etc more and more people are building their own, also not many people want custom PCs, as much as the Desktop community isn't dead statistics show the majority of people are buying laptops overall. As long as you know what you are doing certificates aren't really needed although to start a business you should know a bit or two about the business field.

A good start might be to start a small website, also specializing in PC repairs and advertise yourself to friends and family on Facebook and twitter, social media has a lot of effect, you could ask your friends to share the link to your website or even a dedicated facebook/twitter page and then get their friends to share the link and you will grow. Sort of like one of them "share this if you love" pictures. (although to also start a PC business you pretty much need to know everything about computers/crashes/components)

I hope I helped And good luck!

 

[IRyannHD]

don't expect custom built pc's to be around 10 years from now. 20 years ago building pc's made me a good amount of money. it's slowly fading away, as there's no need to replace a pc every year now. plus alot of the technologies (video, sound, lan etc) all come built in. soon the cpu's will not be on a socket, and soldered to the motherboard. it's all evolving into something that will resemble a smartphone.

feel free to learn about building, and enjoy it as a hobby, but don't make a career out of it. it's slowly dying.

I don't feel that it's dying, although the average person would buy a laptop, even 10 years from now I don't think a laptop is going to outperform a desktop and with the gaming community I believe technology for desktops will only advance, I feel people think it's dying because the average user uses a laptop and for people with desktops, companies are going out of business because people build their own, especially with Youtube tutorials and the information that can be found online.

 

[USAFRet]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

 

[IRyannHD]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

 

[daswilhelm]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

why would the future cause a boom in older technologies? 10 years ago if there were 5 ppl in a house, there were 5 computers, now you are lucky to find one, collecting dust as everyone is on their smartphone or tablet.

 

[USAFRet]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

I don't think it is dying quite yet. Per dollar, a desktop is more powerful than a laptop or tablet. The overall business community still wants a desktop, if only to save money.

The majority of business users don't need the portability, and the space issue doesn't really matter. The big box lives under the desk.

 

[IRyannHD]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

why would the future cause a boom in older technologies? 10 years ago if there were 5 ppl in a house, there were 5 computers, now you are lucky to find one, collecting dust as everyone is on their smartphone or tablet.

Well as games advance and new technologies are constantly being developed more and more people are turning to PC gaming,program developing or modelling, also as Youtube is a growing community some people turn to desktop for rendering, recording etc.

 

[IRyannHD]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

I don't think it is dying quite yet. Per dollar, a desktop is more powerful than a laptop or tablet. The overall business community still wants a desktop, if only to save money.

The majority of business users don't need the portability, and the space issue doesn't really matter. The big box lives under the desk.

I agree although I also think more and more people are returning to desktop PCs for performance, gaming, rendering. I've also noticed a lot of people are sick of consoles and turn to PC gaming, so do you think maybe the console industry may be dying, very slowly but losing "players" as they realise the potential and performance of a PC?

 

[USAFRet]

Consoles are good for gaming only. Once a person realizes they also need to write a paper for school, or a resume, or send a love letter.....they get a PC of some sort.

Tablets and phones are good for content consumption. Not content creation.

 

[daswilhelm]

For AlienWare, Digital Storm, etc...the 'custom PC' only happens within the software that the buyer sees, and the warehouse inventory.

After that, the 'building' is merely a low paying assembly line job.

What's your opinion on desktops, do you think the desktop community is dying or do you only see it booming say 5 years from now?

I don't think it is dying quite yet. Per dollar, a desktop is more powerful than a laptop or tablet. The overall business community still wants a desktop, if only to save money.

The majority of business users don't need the portability, and the space issue doesn't really matter. The big box lives under the desk.

Consoles are good for gaming only. Once a person realizes they also need to write a paper for school, or a resume, or send a love letter.....they get a PC of some sort.

Tablets and phones are good for content consumption. Not content creation.

agreed. business's are about the only people (besides gamers), who still purchase desktops. we will see a bump in sales soon due to XP fading away, but unfortunately (for us), the replacement machines will last 10+ years, and do you really see desktop pc's being sold 10 years from now? (and i mean pc's as you see them now, something you can build) I see future "pc's" being about the size of a roku. and the only real pc's left will be workstations and gamers.

 

[Deuce65]

Hello. My name is James and I've always been interested in computers but I never really though about going into IT as a career. I've tried my hand at starting in various different career paths, but none of them felt as right as wanting to work with computers. I went from messing with my own to helping my family/friends when they needed it, but now I actually want to try and make a career out of it. I am in the process of building my own gaming computer and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would and learning a lot.

What I am wanting to know is what kind of degree/certificates should I look at for entering a company that builds custom computers and possibly making a career out of it by joining a company like DigitalStorm, Asus, Alienware, or another company that makes custom PCs?

Thanks for the answers ahead of time and for taking the time to read, and possibly respond, to this question.

Building computers at a place like digital storm (or best buy or whatever) isn't really IT, and it doesn't require any degree or certificate (A+ at most). You're more of an assembler than anything. Anyways, I don't mean to discourage you or anything, if you enjoy doing it than by all means go for it, just it isn't the kind of thing most people aspire too. It's more of a "foot in the door" kind of job. You would be essentially assembling PCs from a set list of parts, which doesn't require any particular skill (almost everyone on this forum is qualified, for example) and as such you're looking at like 10-12 bucks an hour give or take.

 

[EthanPark]

As someone who works in business related IT, almost no businesses get computers built unless it's for a special reason. You're way more likely to see a bunch of Dell computers at schools, government buildings, corporate offices, etc due to the competitive costs, brand recognition, trustworthy warranty, and contracts that overshadow what a local computer builder can offer.

The mass majority of custom build PCs are for gaming with some for really cheap small business owners who were persuaded to get one built for cheap by someone local as well as for someone too poor to buy a $300 PC. I mean... unless you're a famous PC gamer & PC builder who wins contests at conventions. Then you might secure contracts with some organizations, seminars, etc and I'm sure that you have an idea of how unrealistic that is.

I have interns at my work who can build computers with some second opinions to double check, and I doubt they will be able to survive if they tried to make a living off of doing that. If it's your passion, I'd keep it as a hobby like Deuce said because making something into work (especially one that isn't doing so well) can make you quickly lose your passion for it. And believe me.... after about several hundred of so computers, it doesn't even matter anymore. I could care less about computers now unless they're new technology. I'd try going to school for engineering to be involved in development if you're passionate about computer hardware. Worst case scenario, you'll end up with a decent IT job in a business environment.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Companies aren't allowed to discriminate by age, but I've seen plenty of IT people have trouble due to age.

 

[DEZn00ts]

Damn I think he killed himself after this. Can someone close this thread?