Is this normal for a technician?

N2IT

First of I'll talk about the positives, because the guy is really great at what he does. He is a remote desktop support tech and he is very good at what he does. Consistently getting people up and going, quick to diagnosis problems, understands the infrastructure, but is just plain aweful with printers and hardware. The guy can barely open up a laptop without taking a long time. Never in a million years would this guy change the backlight on a LCD monitor or replace the screen. Removing systemboards from a laptop is another problem for him. He can do all this he understands the interworkings of the machine, but he just isn't that good at it.

Now if this is an OS or application issue he is all over it. He is also very good at supporting Microsoft applications and in house applications, COTS and in house designed. However the dang hardware is not his strong suit.

Do you know people like this?

Btw this guy is me

za3bour

Never in a million years would this guy change the backlight on a LCD monitor or replace the screen

Me too, It's not my strong area and I'm not planning honestly to concentrate on this. There are others who can do it better.

it_consultant

I can't do any of what you mention. Normally the dell or hp techs handle that for me. I rebuilt a laptop once and the stupid keyboard bowed up in the middle...I think that was a dell D610. So no, I don't think this is too unusual!

xenodamus

Everyone has different backgrounds. Before my current job, I came from a small time PC repair shop where hardware issues were a daily thing. I can't tell you how many times I've taken apart a laptop flying by the seat of my pants with no idea how it breaks down. We used to solder broken power jacks, blown capacitors, and anything else we could figure out how to fix. I thought that everyone in the IT industry had this level of hardware expertise PLUS all the server/network knowledge that I lacked.

Now I work on the Desktop Support team for a fairly large organization and the techs who have been here years come to me (after 4 months on the job) with harware issues asking for suggestions. They are good techs...they just didn't come from a background with as much harware troubleshooting as I did.

To answer your questions, I don't think there is a "normal" tech. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. All we can do is study and try to better ourselves to make up for the areas we lack in.

Anonymouse

You sound like every other technician who are just regular people who can't be good at everything but do have their own strengths.

snokerpoker

I wouldn't worry to much about it. The thing with laptop hardware is practice. Most people work on desktops more than notebooks, that's just the way it is. My experience with laptops is ok but all of them are a pain in the butt.....lots and lots of screws and everything is so crammed, makes it harder to work on for sure. You might look into buying a cheap used laptop somewhere and just tinker with it to get some practice taking all the components out and putting them back together.

tpatt100

It took me forever to open a laptop at work once. Laptops are all kind of different.

tomahawkeer

Dont beat yourself up. Laptops are a different animal. You have other strengths that more than make up for skills inside a laptop. Focus on those.

subl1m1nal

I am kinda this way. Desktop computers I'm fine with. I absolutely hate dealing with printer and laptop hardware issues. This is why I always get the best warranty available for these items. Its not that I can't, I just don't like it.

earweed

Laptops are all different and dealing with disassembly requires either inate mechanical aptitude and/or a technical drawing. I have the mechanical side down but still find a drawing/tech manual before dealing with a laptop I've never dealt with before.
Example: an interview with Dell I was asked how to install more RAM in a Dell latop. Got it WRONG as Dell laptops have one stick in the normal location and one stick under the keyboard.
One mechanical thing I am going to do myself is I'm starting a Cisco CCNA lab kit next month and I'm going to BUILD my own rack. It wont be pretty but will be heavy, durable, and scalable. I used to be a machinist and I still have cutting torch and welder and some angle iron (stainless) on hand. It wont be a pretty painted metal/plastic skeletek but will be cheaper and will last as long as I want to keep it.

BradleyHU

i can replace the mobo or the monitor with no problem. Opening a laptop is a piece of cake. but the backlight of the lcd....no way sir...i dont know the first thing. Printers, i'm ehhh...i personally hate answering tickets about printers, unless you want me to get a paper jam out, or replace the toner....but all that, i'm sending a job to the printer and it wont print bs...i'll pass on that. problem could be either the ip addy, the network card in the printer, bad drivers, etc...i aint trying to figure out all that.

Chris:/*

It depends on your experience and what you have been trained in.

I can work as top tier system admin but at the same time I have been trained to do circuit and low level soldering. It all depends on what you have experienced with and where your weaknesses are.

I am also a different animal I do not like having areas I really cannot do. So if I find a weak area I aggressively work towards improving myself in that area till I am at least a associate level, though I may not have the certs to prove it.

I suggest doing the same you can pickup cheap hardware pieces off e-bay and other sites. Buy a few broken bits and try and fix them, it works for some of the students I tutor at the local high school.

chmorin

tpatt100 wrote: »

It took me forever to open a laptop at work once. Laptops are all kind of different.

Yeah no kidding. Laptops seem to be very proprietary and while they all have similarities, any time I open one up I need to have the manual open.

Don't beat yourself up about it. Just try, and it will come eventually. Usually it is when people don't try things become an issue.

Paul Boz

Re: Difficulty opening laptops:

Step 1) Go to vendor's website and download product guide

Step 2) Follow product guide

Step 3) ???


I understand hesitation for stuff like LCDs and some other difficult to get to components and would generally prefer to defer something like that to the vendor or manufacturer. That being said, its really not that hard. I built some home-made HD projectors (LumenLabs represent) and one of those steps was dissecting LCD monitors. Laptops are actually easier than that because they're designed to be replaced. Typically with an LCD monitor if its broken you buy a new one.

SephStorm

Mike Meyers would chuck his lunch if he saw a tech opening a monitor, or a PSU, or digging into a laptop past the ram. Actually today I was looking into upgrading the CPU on this laptop, I was unaware that it can use a desktop processor. To bad it appears to be difficult to find it. (45w AM2 dual core proc)

Chris:/*

Cooling becomes the problem with using a desktop CPU in a Laptop so be careful.

Psoasman

Everyone has their own strengths/weaknesses when it comes to IT. One of the best ways to get comfortable with hardware is to play with it. At work, our supervisors will give us a "broken" desktop and have us fix it. Sometimes its a RAM module that isn't fully seated, loose SATA cable, missing drivers, or missing CMOS battery.
IT is so broad, it's hard to be an expert at everything.

Sett

Well, I can say I am good network engineer but I am terrible at cabling, lab mounting, anything that involves personal contact between me and the device - I am just good via the ssh. Also I can't splice fibers or make decent utp crimp.
I guess it's kinda similar to your situation.

Devilsbane

N2IT wrote: »

Never in a million years would this guy change the backlight on a LCD monitor or replace the screen. Removing systemboards from a laptop is another problem for him.

Replacing a screen is extremely easy. The backlight is much harder because the tubes are so small and can be broken with the tiniest of forces.

Buy an old junker off ebay for $20 and take it apart, put it back together, and repeat.

Printers are a whole different animal. For home printers, if it is broken then you probably need to shell out $30-$50 and buy a new one. If it is a network printer, you probably wouldn't be working on it anyway. Even our printer techs here call Ricoh out weekly, if not daily because they can't fix something.

Bl8ckr0uter

A lot of people don't get much Hardware experience in their jobs. For many people who didn't come into IT through the PC/depot tech path (myself being one of them) it can be difficult to get that experience. I can honestly say that I haven't even done A+ level hardware work in my job regularly in over 2 years (although this week I did, install drives and ram into one of our servers and some other stuff). My hardware knowledge is weak and I am working to improve it. I have an old Server+ book at my house (thanks robert) and I have been waiting for a newer one to come out but it doesn't seem like it is happening. I might pick up an exam cram for the old Sev+ and review it.

earweed

I'm currently looking at a Server+ book just for the storage stuff right now. A lot of good stuff in that book. It's sort of like A++ but for servers instead of PCs. I've done a lot of hardware work on PCs and laptops but haven't had my hands on a server yet.

nielpeel

I was fortunate enough to get a new job (promo from IT Tech) to Network Manager at a school, in April this year.

My predecessor had started his own business as a freelance IT consultant, but the school had retained him as an IT Tech for 2 days a week, so I was now his line manager.

He had done a Computer Science degree at university, but has since admitted me that he never even got the opportunity to see the innards of a PC.

My background is initially that of a PC enthusiast, building and troubleshooting PCs for myself and family/friends, then five years in a computer shop as a IT Tech, then two and a half years as a IT Tech in a school.

During the six months we have worked together, he has learned far, far more from me than I have learned from him.

He is a really nice guy and has admitted this himself and I am happy to be able to pass on my knowledge, but personally I would not want to brand myself as an 'IT Consultant' unless I had at least the primary abilities to troubleshoot and repair a laptop or a workstation.

One of the problems with the IT industry is that anyone can call themselves an 'IT Consultant', including my old boss at the computer shop who I had to walk through setting up DNS and DHCP on a SBS 2003 server.

it_consultant

It is not terribly important for most higher level IT professionals to know how to take apart a laptop. If push comes to shove, as someone mentioned, I can just go to the manufacturer's website and get the diagrams. Lets face it, most of the time if something needs to get replaced that required the least amount of skill, I call it in on warranty. If they break it, they fix it. If I break it, I void the warranty.

I have never been denied a promotion, raise, or job because I couldn't put a laptop back together.