Best Buy Geek Squad 2009

Just wanted to get an idea of what I should do..

i have
3 years professional exp.
A+ & N+ training. saving up for the cert exams

I was offered 11.55 an hour to start.. should i have asked for more.. well yeah i should have but, now I was told they will pay for my exams... so should I expect an increase in money per exam? ex: a+ cert.. extra $1.00 an hour

so I might make 13.55 an hour after my a+ and n+... still low rate, no? =/

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blargoe

What does your 3 years professional experience consist of?

If 11.55 is what they pay bench techs, then that's what you're worth... to them.

Were you previously unemployed and just needing a gig or something? What were you making before?

Either way, it is experience, and a stepping stone into another better paying gig.

MoreInput

blargoe wrote: »

What does your 3 years professional experience consist of?

If 11.55 is what they pay bench techs, then that's what you're worth... to them.

Were you previously unemployed and just needing a gig or something? What were you making before?

Either way, it is experience, and a stepping stone into another better paying gig.

consisted of building/repair laptops, desktops, customer support via email and phone.. had just gotten out of a 15 week A+ course.. Unemployed.. last job was 10.50.. Yes, def. experience and a stepping stone.. just feeling like I should have asked for more.. I suppose I could always push for a supervisor position after a while..

MoreInput

they will pay for my certification tests so I can go for my A+ & N+ asap.. hoping i will get a pay increase after I pass each test..

Do you know if the new A+ test is out already?

crrussell3

That is their standard pay rate that they offer techs. And depending on your location, if you are "full time", you may still be lucky to get 40 hours per week. Its all based on sales from previous weeks.

MoreInput

crrussell3 wrote: »

That is their standard pay rate that they offer techs. And depending on your location, if you are "full time", you may still be lucky to get 40 hours per week. Its all based on sales from previous weeks.

thank you very much for your post

RobertKaucher

I made $14.50 as a CIA at the Geek Squad in Ohio.

Our productivity was usually very high, but we were heavy on part timers. I don't recall any issues with full-timers getting their hours cut at our store, but we were also heavy on "old pc" business (virus removal, diagnostics, etc). As far as pay goes... This will depend a lot on your Store Services Manager and your Store Manager. Your DoCI will have some input, but it will not be his/her choice.

Agent6376

Each store is different. I started at 11.75 as a CIA, bumped to 15.50 as a DA, and now 18.81 as an SA.

For being retail IT, it's not too bad. I'd try to get into the field though. It has some great perks, managing your own time being a big one for me.

Good luck and welcome to the Squad

Icecube0045

Agent6376 wrote: »

Each store is different. I started at 11.75 as a CIA, bumped to 15.50 as a DA, and now 18.81 as an SA.

For being retail IT, it's not too bad. I'd try to get into the field though. It has some great perks, managing your own time being a big one for me.

Good luck and welcome to the Squad

whats DA and SA? Also did you have any certs when you first started? Im taking 602 tomorrow actually and then 601 next week. I plan on heading to Best Buy and CompUSA as soon as I pass the 601 and apply for a job..

Im in miami so hopfully I will start off with atleast $10.00. Also even if you are certified do they have some on the job training or do they expect you to dive in head first and know what you are doing?

Forsaken_GA

$11/hr + paying for exams isn't a bad deal for an entry level bench tech. If that's enough to cover your expenses, I'd take advantage of it unless you have better offers in the wings

skrpune

MoreInput wrote: »

they will pay for my certification tests so I can go for my A+ & N+ asap.. hoping i will get a pay increase after I pass each test..

Do you know if the new A+ test is out already?

The new A+ exam is set to come out in August I believe, and the "old" objectives are going to be live through July of next year.

Not sure if you'd see a $1/hr increase per cert obtained, but this might be something to discuss with your boss to see what you can expect in terms of a raise for meeting goals or bench marks.

richnewman

Icecube0045 wrote: »

whats DA and SA?

DA is "Double Agent", it's the person that goes out to people's homes.

SA is "Special Agent", they do work for businesses.

Agent6376

richnewman wrote: »

DA is "Double Agent", it's the person that goes out to people's homes.

SA is "Special Agent", they do work for businesses.

Correct! Also, I'm not sure if it's just my district-but all of my certifications have come out of pocket.

goforthbmerry

If it puts experience on your resume in IT that you don't have I suggest you go for it at least until you can find a better help desk job that might give you better experience than Best Buy. I had to work a help desk job for 12 bucks an hour ( a major pay cut for me after i left restaurant management) for about a year before i was able to get a job that matched my restaurant salary ( actually it beat the old salary) and then two years later i was making 50% more than that in a different company. No need to stay in any one job forever. Keep learning and expanding your skills and keep growing and you will grow with it.

djhss68

Ok, I've got a question for you guys. I've got two jobs on the table.

1) Part-time Geek Squad position doing in-store repairs. Or...

2) Full-time Level 1 Helpdesk position, but only an 8-week contract. It's an hour commute(one-way) though, while Geek Squad is local(10 minutes).

This would be my first official IT position too. What do you think?

Agent6376

djhss68 wrote: »

Ok, I've got a question for you guys. I've got two jobs on the table.

1) Part-time Geek Squad position doing in-store repairs. Or...

2) Full-time Level 1 Helpdesk position, but only an 8-week contract. It's an hour commute(one-way) though, while Geek Squad is local(10 minutes).

This would be my first official IT position too. What do you think?

I'd take the BBY position, and not because I work there now. It lets you get your feet wet in IT and you're part of something big. There are a lot of people who will help you out and answer questions for you, and it may be something that you can grow into.

djhss68

Agent6376 wrote: »

I'd take the BBY position, and not because I work there now. It lets you get your feet wet in IT and you're part of something big. There are a lot of people who will help you out and answer questions for you, and it may be something that you can grow into.

That's what I'm leaning towards. Phone support seems boring and I really would like to avoid helpdesk. BBY seems like it would be more hands on, hardware oriented stuff. But I would eventually like to be in some sort of field tech position in the near future. You're a field tech for Geeksquad, right?

Agent6376

I am, and it's a very rewarding position. There's a lot of freedom that comes with the position and it's a completely different environment (obviously) from in the store. I get to focus on one client at a time, analyze situations and make decisions that I feel are best for my client, and meet various clients in both residential and commercial establishments to build not just relationships with Geek Squad, but with myself.

You manage your day completely on your own. You're provided with a company vehicle, fuel card, cell phone, and your own dedicated field support line of people who have worked in the position before and have since then moved to corporate to assist other field agents. The pay is decent (18.81/hr as a "Special Agent") and there are great employee benefits with 401k/health/dental/stock purchase. I started in IT in October of 2006 with Geek Squad, and even though I wish I had more experience working with more in depth and complex technologies, I still feel like it's been worth every minute due to the connections I've made with people and what I have learned while working for them.

Geek Squad gets some heat sometimes because in every organization there are some idiots, but it's a fantastic way to expose yourself to the basics of IT by being a part of a large team while actively learning the day to day processes of your typical computer technician. I'll forewarn you: Each store is different. Some stores have great communication, morale, and people genuinely like going to work each day. Others...well not so much. In whichever position you go for, good luck.

djhss68

Thanks.

You pretty much described my last position to a tee. It was non-IT related, but I had my own van, fuel card, cell phone, and I would get a list of stops at the start of the day and manage them myself. I would call my customers and arrange the appointments. I was doing deliveries, set-ups, and troubleshooting albeit for something completely non-IT related but I still think experience like that could be transferable to a position like Special Agent if I were ever offered that down the line. I have some questions if you don't mind.

When you say you do both residential and commerical jobs, is the ratio more 50/50 or lopsided in favor of one or the other?

Also, are you working on mainly MS domains? And what kind of work do you mostly perform? Server/workstation upgrades? Migrations? Complete set-ups from scratch?

Agent6376

djhss68 wrote: »

When you say you do both residential and commerical jobs, is the ratio more 50/50 or lopsided in favor of one or the other?

Also, are you working on mainly MS domains? And what kind of work do you mostly perform? Server/workstation upgrades? Migrations? Complete set-ups from scratch?

It differs from time to time, depending on the needs of various clients. For instance, typically I work residential jobs on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday whereas I do commercial on Tuesday and Fridays. You will find yourself working more with residential clients as opposed to commercial because the scopes that we offer to commercial clients are primarily focused on small businesses. We have a much larger market share in residential services and it's where BBY really makes their money for field services.

Most of our work with client operating systems are XP/Vista/OSX. We perform server installations from scratch, firewall management, application troubleshooting, and general break-fix scenarios. How detailed your scope of work is really depends on your area. Most of the time you'll have a technology consultant speak with you before quoting a job to ensure that you have the necessary skillset to complete the proposed job. If you feel like you can troubleshoot a Unix server and a client calls in and needs help with one, then your consultant will quote the job, get the approval, and away you go.

djhss68

Awesome. Thanks for the info. This helps a lot.

MoreInput

Thanks for the posts! One thing Im excited about is at least they will pay for my cert. exams... So that saves me a ton of money.. Hoping to get a raise per cert. but if not.. I get paid certifications.. A+ Net+ and Security+.. I hope I can move up in the company... DA would be great to out on my own and make more money. Guess we'll see how everything goes...

Agent6376

Agent6376 wrote: »

Correct! Also, I'm not sure if it's just my district-but all of my certifications have come out of pocket.

Double check on whether your area will do this for you.

RobertKaucher

Agent6376 wrote: »

Double check on whether your area will do this for you.

Wow, MCSE + the SBS exam were required for SA back in my day and I know they covered it. Then BBFB tanked because we got no support from corporate and the pulled the position in all but name.

Agent6376

They actually cut the CSA position about 2-3 months ago. Immediately they noticed a significant drop in BBFB revenue and they're already talking about bringing it back. They took the requirements to be MCP and SBS certified out of being a Special Agent as well. Unfortunately even the highest of the field food chain positions are being de-valued, but still we try to keep up to date-at least in New Orleans.

RobertKaucher

Had they wanted BBFB to actually succeed, they would have put some money into advertising and making sure the SAs were certified as required. It's a sad state. When I was promoted to DA, I was super excited about the SA position. The Elder Geek who had it at the time only had his MCP on the 290 and I was one test from my MCSA with some SBS experience. So I was hoping that I might be able to be his second or if he moved into another role, take over his position. Then BBFB was released in our area and no one did anything. The Computer Sales senior took over the BBFB "evangelist" role and ended up quitting because nobody in management thought that it was important. CCity going out of business, the "new economy" was not even thought of... Life seemed good and the home consumer was all they thought they needed. One of the best ways to drive margin was simply sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity.

richnewman

djhss68 wrote: »

Ok, I've got a question for you guys. I've got two jobs on the table.

1) Part-time Geek Squad position doing in-store repairs. Or...

2) Full-time Level 1 Helpdesk position, but only an 8-week contract. It's an hour commute(one-way) though, while Geek Squad is local(10 minutes).

This would be my first official IT position too. What do you think?

You say "doing in-store repairs".. Not sure who described it that way to you, but you'll barely be fixing PCs. GS is a sales job, with very little to repair. They have tools that do the complete job for you, and all you do is ensure the PC is fixed then close up the Service Order.

Right after I left, they were changing a lot of things.. from what I've heard (never asked, don't care really), GS is going to be A LOT more sales. More then just selling to people that come up to the GS counter, actually going on the floor and selling services.

GS won't be bad unless you get bad managers. GS is retail sales. Promotions lead to more sales. Even Secret Weapon (GS phone support) is still just... a call center basically. SA might be decent, but there aren't a lot of them, and they cover big areas.

From what I've gathered talking to other people and jobs I've been offered, contracts can lead into permanent employment. The one hour drive sucks, but if you don't have a family to support and don't need rent money, and if it might lead to something interesting, I would take the contract.

richnewman

Agent6376 wrote: »

I am, and it's a very rewarding position. ... The pay is decent (18.81/hr as a "Special Agent")

So are you a DA or a SA?

exx1976

djhss68 wrote: »

Ok, I've got a question for you guys. I've got two jobs on the table.

1) Part-time Geek Squad position doing in-store repairs. Or...

2) Full-time Level 1 Helpdesk position, but only an 8-week contract. It's an hour commute(one-way) though, while Geek Squad is local(10 minutes).

This would be my first official IT position too. What do you think?

Personally, I'd take the 8-week contract. If BB only wants to offer you a part-time position, they'll be willing to offer it again. Such is the life of a retail outlet. High turnover.

So why would I take the 8-week contract? As a Network Manager in the corporate IT world, and having had to sift through resumes and interview and hire my own staff, any REAL helpdesk positions are incredibly more valuable than some retail experience and/or call-center experience.

Why? Level 1 techs in a corporate environment don't spend much time cleaning viruses and reformatting PCs. Sure, it's in their job description, but they might actually have to do it only a handful of times. Why? Corporations use high-quality, constantly patched AV software. Their workstations are locked down to prevent users from tampering with them and installing all the crap that usually kills a PC.

In addition, working retail or call-center, you don't get experience with the things that corporate IT needs: Experience working with PCs in a domain environment, experience working with PCs connected to a large network, experience with corporate applications, things like that.

That 8 week contract might be short, and it might be an inconvenience, but it'll lead to bigger and better things much faster than a part-time gig at BB will.

JMO, YMMV.

djhss68

Thanks for the insight It looks like GS is not where I'll be headed anyway.

They said they'd contact me early this week for the contract position. I did well on the technical interview over the phone, so I'm pretty confident they'll make me an offer.