A new low with people asking for my help

[BigBadBeef]

I am a graduated computer tech that went into welding career. I did it because back in the days there wasn't as much money in it as it was in metalwork.

While I don't regret it, I still love computer work, thus I pretty much get requests to build/maintain/repair computers all the time... for a reasonable price of course!

That being said, I for all means, don't treat it as a business, thus I don't patronize my customer... if that word even applies. Whomever brings their computer, if I find signs of it not being cared for, he will get an ass tearing from me, scaled with the level of abuse I find on it.

Thus I have a local reputation of being described as "he's an asshole, but he's the foremost authority for pc hardware related stuff... and he's cheap!".

That being said, my pc fixing adventures have encountered a new low when dealing with those who reach out to me. I got a call from an unknown guy who got a number from someone whom I helped prior and was his friend (you know how it goes).

So the guy was an architectural engineering first grader, who bought an RTX 4080 and a waterblock for it. Its broke. Bring it over I said. So he comes over with the card, I take it apart and slap a cooler on the core so I can see if it boots. It doesn't. The core is shot. What I found odd that the cooler was dry as a pepper.

Then he told me. He said that the stock cooler was too big for his micro-atx case so he bought a waterblock, thinking he could aircool it.

A grown man, in early twenties, an up and coming architectural engineering student, a field of study not to sneeze at, thought he could aircool a waterblock on a card which sells 40% above MSRP in my country!

I... was... stunned! I didn't even feel angry. I felt pity. A guy who thought he knew better than a company who invested billions of dollars into cooling the thing wants to be an engineer!

In the end, I put him in touch with a guy in austria who collected a few donor cards whose warranties were void due to... "similar reasons". He soldered a new core on the card and got it working again. I also had my cousing 3D print a ryzer stand for him so we mounted the card outside the case. The whole thing costed him half as much as buying a new one. And that is him being lucky we even managed to find him a core and an expert to change it.

This is a new low in the people I've had to deal with. Worst above all, I don't think he learned his lesson. Its just a matter of time before he'll pull another stunt like that, not necessarily with computers.

Jaka, you told me you use Linux. In case you're in these forums under a different name- don't call me again. This was one time only. I won't encourage the likes of you with this ass covering, even for money. My services are reserved for those who respect their computers.

 

[CrazedNerd]

Its also a perfect example of why actual experience is a million times better than some of some sort of "lookee at the money i spent on teachers!" certificate.

 

[Deleted member 137406]

Its also a perfect of why actual experience is a million times better than some of some sort of "lookee at the money i spent on teachers!" certificate.

I agree nothing beats actual hands on experience.

I worked at the state department and anyone with a degree got hired over anyone without a degree and actual experience.

Businesses want people with degrees it's what the corporate fat cats want and is the usual protocol these days of most company's.

 

[KGIII]

We have kids that visit. There's no reason to swear. Thanks!

 

[sphen]

I once worked at a huge company where the title "Member of the Technical Staff (MTS)" was given to entry level engineers fresh out of college. The people without a bachelor's degree were "Technician" or worse. I had an unusual combination technical and managerial role there.

The people under me developed custom hardware and software for a large customer. One of the people was a Technician with a high school diploma. He had been with the company over ten years and had moved up from computer operations. For our projects, he wrote and debugged device drivers for the custom-made hardware we built. It was very advanced work, far too challenging to give an entry-level "MTS."

I tried three times to get him promoted from Technician to MTS, pushing it higher up the chain each time, but was rejected over and over. The third time I went around the Division Manager (950 people) to the Group Vice President (14,500 people). He demurred, not wanting to antagonize one of his Division Managers (and the other managers at various levels between us). After patiently waiting another five years, the Technician left our company and joined one of our competitors, who immediately recognized his talent, and had no issues with formal college degree or not.

He was a close lifelong friend who left us in a tragic car accident far too young. He was one of those rare, always-upbeat, great people that everyone loved. The accident was long ago, but I still miss him. :-(

 

[MikeWalsh]

I agree nothing beats actual hands on experience.

I worked at the state department and anyone with a degree got hired over anyone without a degree and actual experience.

Businesses want people with degrees it's what the corporate fat cats want and is the usual protocol these days of most company's.

@Bartman :-

Yes, I agree. it IS what the corporate culture demands. But what makes me p**s myself laughing is the number of school-leavers here in the UK who, over the last 15 years, have been conned by their teachers into believing that they HAD to go on to a university or technical college to get a top-end qualification like a degree or diploma.....and then they leave, expecting to waltz straight into a top job, and get a rude slap in the face when they find out many companies have been been scaling-back their workforces for some years now. And then they find out that they can't get any other sort of job either. Guess why..?

Because as far as most employers are concerned, they're now "over-qualified". Stat.

Jeez.

@BigBadBeef :-

Basic maintenance doesn't take long to do. A once-a-year session, clearing out dust, checking wires for fraying/rubbing & connectors for loose pins, a tight fit, etc, should be considered the absolute minimum. And it only takes 10-15 mins, tops.

Every other year I'll pop the cooler off and re-do the thermal compound, whether it needs it or not. That's just me. RAM and peripheral cards get checked for a tight fit at the annual inspection, too.

If you can't be bothered to do this once a year, then to my way of thinking you're not just lazy......you're bone idle.


Mike.

 

[Deleted member 137406]

@Bartman :-

Yes, I agree. it IS what the corporate culture demands. But what makes me p**s myself laughing is the number of school-leavers here in the UK who, over the last 15 years, have been conned by their teachers into believing that they HAD to go on to a university or technical college to get a top-end qualification like a degree or diploma.....and then they leave, expecting to waltz straight into a top job, and get a rude slap in the face when they find out many companies have been been scaling-back their workforces for some years now. And then they find out that they can't get any other sort of job either. Guess why..?

Because as far as most employers are concerned, they're now "over-qualified". Stat.

Jeez.

I got out of the military and got me an Electrical Engineering degree and went to work for the State Department.

My degree had nothing to do with the job I was hired for at the State Department however it was one of the reasons I was hired.

@BigBadBeef :-

Basic maintenance doesn't take long to do. A once-a-year session, clearing out dust, checking wires for fraying/rubbing & connectors for loose pins, a tight fit, etc, should be considered the absolute minimum. And it only takes 10-15 mins, tops.

Every other year I'll pop the cooler off and re-do the thermal compound, whether it needs it or not. That's just me. RAM and peripheral cards get checked for a tight fit at the annual inspection, too.

If you can't be bothered to do this once a year, then to my way of thinking you're not just lazy......you're bone idle.


Mike.

I agree basic computer maintenance is easy and doesn't take that much time to preform once a year.

I've never had to re-do thermal paste on any of my computers unless I've disturbed the processor for some reason or another.

 

[jpnilson]

Two of the most intelligent people I ever worked for one was a physicist major the other had a chemistry degree. The physicist developed software and hardware for local area networking equipment and disk controllers as well as other things. The other designed components for phone systems as well as building a LORAN system a predecessor to GPS. I learned a lot from these folks and was soon working in fields other than my original degree as well. All experience is important. Education is important. Its all in what you do with your education and experience. I have worked with many folks straight out of school. I often learn as much from them as they learn from me. It comes down to the person and what the do with what they have. Its not what you know. Its all about what you can find out.

 

[BigBadBeef]

I agree nothing beats actual hands on experience.

I worked at the state department and anyone with a degree got hired over anyone without a degree and actual experience.

Businesses want people with degrees it's what the corporate fat cats want and is the usual protocol these days of most company's.

Where I am, that being blue collar, you don't get to last long there if you're aren't apt at what you do. I mean, even the "remotely competent" ones get kicked to the curb. If you come to work in my branch with all school and no skill- may the lord have mercy on you, because we won't!

I've seen a grown man, straight out of carpentry school, damn near collapse in tears because he couldn't push a screw into a sheet metal (specialized screws with drill heads). It kept flipping off his powered screwdriver. He was supposed to clean out a whole box screws in half the allotted time.

Big shinny new piece of paper telling he's a carpenter, head over heels, head up his a***, "I got this, this is easy" attitude. We didn't just peg him down a notch, we straight up, zero beating around the bush, struck him down into the dirt.

We shoved him that his diploma was toilet paper. We didn't even go out of our way to humiliate him. We just just treated him as our equal... us who have been in the business 7 years and he was fresh off the puddle.

In the end the kid turned out alright by the time he left. Stopped acting like "he's the man" and started to pay attention to his "elders". We called him little Erik. "Little" was a nickname, because he was actually one head's worth bigger than the biggest among us.

 

[Brickwizard]

it IS what the corporate culture demands.

This is what I call the American philosophy of employment, when I started in my industry as a buyer, all the suppliers reps were in their mid-thirties at least, they had worked their way up through their respective companies from the lower rungs, they knew their products and or companies capabilities, then the British companies started to be controlled by American conglomerates, and gone was the 30 something knowledgable salesman in a sports coat/blazer who could answer any question and sort out a problem on the spot, and in came the 22 year old know it all and know damn all in a smart 3-piece suit, who knew nothing of his company history and products, and had about as many personal skills as a pencil, But he fitted the company profile he had some degree after his name [usually nothing whatsoever to do with the industry they were now working in]
when we employed new staff, our preference was to look for someone with enthusiasm [depending on the job] it didn't matter it they only had a basic school-leaving certificate as long as they could do basic maths, read/write and have the right attitude on the phone or face to face, above all willing to learn, over the years, I saw many of them leave and start their own trading companies.
in conclusion, enthusiasm, ethics & willing to learn, beats Ba/Ma Dip. any day

 

[MikeWalsh]

@Brickwizard :-

Heh. Yeah; I think it's a fundamental cultural difference between our two countries. The UK was always traditionally more "blue-collar" than "white-collar", though with the emergence of all these college qualifications in media studies & the performing arts, I'm just not sure quite HOW you classify things any more.

Half the trouble, to my mind, is this new, "unspoken" social charter that seems to have evolved in this country. You're not allowed to be 'negative' about anything or anyone these days. Nobody must be made to feel bad about themselves; even chronic underachievers - who would never fit into a normal employment structure - MUST be made to feel "good" about themselves.....

I don't see the point. Never have. I call a spade a spade.....if I think you're a lazy, good-for-nothing waste of space I will tell you so, to your face. There's no sense sugaring the pill.

And the worst of all, in my view, is this ridiculous business of "respect". The idea that you automatically deserve respect based entirely on who you are, what you have or what you do, regardless of facts. In the case of inner-city gangs, it's 'demanded'.....often at gunpoint.

You want MY respect, you're gonna have to earn it. Then - and ONLY then - will I accord it to you.

Crazy, mixed-up times we live in.

---------------------------------

@Bartman :-

My degree had nothing to do with the job I was hired for at the State Department however it was one of the reasons I was hired.

Umm; yeah. I think you'll agree with me; that one statement, right there, pretty much sums up the corporate attitude for at least the last few decades. They couldn't care less what your degree is in.....so long as you've got some letters after your name. 9 times out of 10, it'll be completely irrelevant anyway.......but it LOOKS good on the annual reports, on the company's headed note-paper, and - most important of all! - on the office door name-plates.....

Mike.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

Back in the day we called "Experience" as learning from the "College of Hard Knocks"

 

[BigBadBeef]

Back in the day we called "Experience" as learning from the "College of Hard Knocks"

Yes, well, unfortunately inflicting blunt force trauma has become illegal.

 

[MattWinter]

I think both are important. It took me 9 years to get my BSCS because I was working full time at the time. I managed to get a job in QA, then moved to programming before I completed my degree going to school at night.

Sometimes going to school and getting the degree means making sacrifices, setting goals, and doing what it takes to get there...even if it takes 9 years. It's a lot of commitment and problem solving, deal8ng with life as it comes and finishing anyway.

I think, at least, that says more than complaining about not getting what you want because nobody "gave" you opportunities all because you didn't have a "piece of paper".

 

[sphen]

Back in the day we called "Experience" as learning from the "College of Hard Knocks"

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

 

[CrazedNerd]

I think both are important. It took me 9 years to get my BSCS because I was working full time at the time. I managed to get a job in QA, then moved to programming before I completed my degree going to school at night.

Sometimes going to school and getting the degree means making sacrifices, setting goals, and doing what it takes to get there...even if it takes 9 years. It's a lot of commitment and problem solving, deal8ng with life as it comes and finishing anyway.

I think, at least, that says more than complaining about not getting what you want because nobody "gave" you opportunities all because you didn't have a "piece of paper".

Well, im glad you got adequately rewarded for all that investment and boredom, but no employers have shown the least bit of interest in my liberal arts degree. It would just be nice if people didn't praise education like its anymore worthwhile that what you do with it outside of universities. Lots of people basically just got scammed into going into debt because no one was able to help them figure out what kind of career path to take.

 

[bob466]

I graduated from the school of trial and error...of cause most of what I learnt years ago is useless now.