The Role of a PC Technician

With the ever changing technology in computers there is a need for constant on job training with in the profession of PC technicians. There is also a wide range of PC's available now so in some cases many people tend to specialise in a few certain kinds of computers and have general knowledge on others, unless you have lots of experience in the sector then your knowledge will be more varied.

Becoming a PC technician is a long process but depending on how much you want to know about the different products it can take you 3 years or more to finish the qualifications needed. You will need to ensure you have the right kind of interests before going into the profession as it is a very specific kind of job, below are some interests and skills you may require when becoming a PC technician:

- Have the ability to work to a dead line; this is essential especially when completing work for a client as their company may be making a loss from their computer systems being down.
- Being able to work while training; due to the world of computers ever advancing it is important for you to be able to learn about new systems while working with them so you have a clear knowledge on how the systems work, as the new systems often tend to replace the older ones fairly quickly.
- Have good communication skills; this is important because the fault has occurred before your arrival you need to know the history of what happened exactly to cause the problem. Often because the client may not have a great knowledge in computers you may need to explain technical things in a simple way.
- Have a thorough knowledge about common software, hard drives and networking; when working in the different environments where computers are used you will be required to know about the different operating systems and basic equipment used within all computers.
- Be safety conscious; there are many sensitive parts within a computer that can be damaged by static electricity, and also there is the risk of you hurting yourself if you do not follow the correct safety procedures that should be used when dealing with any electrical equipment.

When you have all the correct qualifications it is possible for you to go into all sorts of career paths some of the different fields you can enter are:

- Commercial computer repairs, this is where you visit computer users houses where they have technical problems and solving them from their homes.
- Working for a computer firm, when working as part of a technical support team you may be required to work with a variety of machines and will probably have your own specialist area.
- Owning your own business, when you own your own company you can provide a variety of services including PC retail and repairs, if you have the correct knowledge you can provide peoples machines with upgrades.

The main duties of anyone working in PC technical support are to diagnose the fault and have the solution then carry the work out to a high level of quality, ensuring there are no hidden flaws left before allowing the owner to use it.