What job heavily involves building PC's and other mobile devices

[Cartoonface12]

What job heavily involves building PC's and other mobile devices e.g. Tablets, Smartphones, MP3 players, etc, etc
I'm talking like those guys at CyberpowerPC and iBuyPower that build you PC and send it to you but I want to start a buisness (I know I need a degree in business)
-thanks.

 

[Iron124]

You sound like you want to be an entrepreneur of some kind. An IT Tech (Or PC Tech) spends a lot of his time repairing broken computers, as well as installing hardware and software upgrades. Unfortunately, building PC's from scratch (while fun) isn't a huge market, due to the fact that most people buy a pre-built PC from Best Buy, and really don't care because it does what it's supposed to.

Tablets and Smartphones are another story, because there's a lot of warranty issues involving service providers and repair restrictions *cough* Apple *cough* Repairing older smartphones and tablets could be a high demand market that you could look into, as shelling out a new $500 every time you drop your phone really sucks.

Look into it, not sure how old you are but if you get started now you might be able to gain some valuable experience before it's time to choose a major in college.

 

[nvalhalla]

Factory line worker at Foxcon. They make almost $400 per month.

Seriously though, Iron124 is right, starting a boutique PC business like Cyberpower is really hard. I've tried it and failed. It's just a very small market.

 

[The Kasafist]

It's a niche market my friend not only is it difficult but it takes a whole lot of networking (i.e. advertising) to get that kind of business going. Also you need to compete on a level that seperates you from the competition.

For example offering a unique case or liquid cooling system that no other company has or something incredibly expensive and mundane like that. On top of the cost of holding the patent for such unique things so other companies don't use your ideas to compete against you.

Business is a very tough field for the custom PC market and you're talking about selling only to the top 10% of the population in your country i.e. the rich who don't care how much money they spend just as long as they have a better more stylish PC then they're friend or at the LAN party.

If you want to work for that type of company it may not pay as much as say perhaps just mastering a programming language like (Java, Python, Objective C, etc.) and making like 6 figures! Or getting your A+, Networking and Security certifications and becoming and Network Administrator. Or perhaps earning yourself a CEH (certified ethical hacker) certification and such.

It's a long road for such things but not as long as the one that you put a small fortune into and fail because the market is super small. Best to settle for something more likely for business and custom build PC for people on your spare time if it's something you would love to do for people. At the end of the day it's still up to you. I don't mean to be discouraging but it's a very tough market.

 

[vagrancyx]

limiting yourself strictly to PC building is a waste of time. Those boutique shops cater to a small group and that market is heavily saturated. You can put your PC building skills to use to perhaps do pc repair although a lot of places consider helpdesk to require hardware skills as well as windows 0S/server skills.

 

[USAFRet]

What job heavily involves building PC's and other mobile devices e.g. Tablets, Smartphones, MP3 players, etc, etc
I'm talking like those guys at CyberpowerPC and iBuyPower that build you PC and send it to you but I want to start a buisness (I know I need a degree in business)
-thanks.

Assembly line drone.
You can't 'build' mobile devices as you can PC's.

And most of the work at IBuyPower is a case of the configuration software that you and I see, a warehouse, and an assembly line.
The have a warehouse full of stuff. You, the buyer says I want parts "A, B & C". Those are extracted from the warehouse (or shipped in), Delivered to the assembly line and some new kid slaps them together.
Or that new kid puts in the PSU. Some other new kid puts in the motherboard. Etc....

 

[vagrancyx]

Yeah I'd attribute the work those people do to be pretty much in line with working at a warehouse like amazon's shipping. You pick what you want online.. someone gets it..throws it in a box and mails it out. Not very glamorous. I'd suggest expanding your knowledge into the OS itself and perhaps networking. Networking and Systems Administration jobs are always out there and their always hiring..however its a field that you have to constantly learn new things and its always evolving. I'm still young (25) so I'm only at the start of my career, but I've been fortunate enough to earn a pretty damn good living.

Alternatively, you can always look into software development, systems analysts, cloud computing, and so forth..the possibilities and career pathways are huge.

 

[The Kasafist]

Yeah I'd attribute the work those people do to be pretty much in line with working at a warehouse like amazon's shipping. You pick what you want online.. someone gets it..throws it in a box and mails it out. Not very glamorous. I'd suggest expanding your knowledge into the OS itself and perhaps networking. Networking and Systems Administration jobs are always out there and their always hiring..however its a field that you have to constantly learn new things and its always evolving. I'm still young (25) so I'm only at the start of my career, but I've been fortunate enough to earn a pretty damn good living.

Alternatively, you can always look into software development, systems analysts, cloud computing, and so forth..the possibilities and career pathways are huge.

I greatly agree as that's what I am also working on! Close to getting my A+ and then working toward my Networking and Security as well. Then more studying to gain the knowledge necessary to hopefully someday get higher end stuff such as the (hope those abbreviations are correct) CEH, GCIA and GCFA. Security pays especially for someone who has held a security clearance such as myself.

Very easy to make 6 figures with a secret clearance for the federal government in this field. You just have to chase the education, the certifications being the most important the vest first step! Anyhow I myself am almost 28 not quite there yet but with my technical experience in the military and the certifications I can pretty much rule out a degree for my experience. Proably the best advice you could possibly have givent the OP!

 

[vagrancyx]

Yeah I'd attribute the work those people do to be pretty much in line with working at a warehouse like amazon's shipping. You pick what you want online.. someone gets it..throws it in a box and mails it out. Not very glamorous. I'd suggest expanding your knowledge into the OS itself and perhaps networking. Networking and Systems Administration jobs are always out there and their always hiring..however its a field that you have to constantly learn new things and its always evolving. I'm still young (25) so I'm only at the start of my career, but I've been fortunate enough to earn a pretty damn good living.

Alternatively, you can always look into software development, systems analysts, cloud computing, and so forth..the possibilities and career pathways are huge.

I greatly agree as that's what I am also working on! Close to getting my A+ and then working toward my Networking and Security as well. Then more studying to gain the knowledge necessary to hopefully someday get higher end stuff such as the (hope those abbreviations are correct) CEH, GCIA and GCFA. Security pays especially for someone who has held a security clearance such as myself.

Very easy to make 6 figures with a secret clearance for the federal government in this field. You just have to chase the education, the certifications being the most important the vest first step! Anyhow I myself am almost 28 not quite there yet but with my technical experience in the military and the certifications I can pretty much rule out a degree for my experience. Proably the best advice you could possibly have givent the OP!

I don't know about the CEH I think it's kind of a waste in my opinion, I'm working toward my CISSP, and CCNA through Cisco. I'm getting into the networking side more of things but nowadays it seems like system administrator positions are a hybrid between sys admin and network admin duties..at least for small/medium businesses that make you wear multiple hats.

A+ isn't a bad thing to get if you're coming out of the gate but once you've got the experience it isn't that necessary anymore but if you've got a degree and no experience having certifications to bolster that isn't a bad thing by any means.

Also, thank you for your service.

 

[The Kasafist]

I wouldn't say CEH is a waste I just think it depends on where you want to be. Since my area of focus is security for example thats where I plan to head toward. To make the lateral move in my company I have to have the A+ then I can make a switch. Afterwards I was recommended by a friend from IT (MIT PhD btw) to follow through with my Networking and Security. Cisco certs aren't really my lingo anyhow. I do however plant to toss my (eventually when I get it) CEH cert with the GCIA and GCFA cause I would like to do something federal with my clearance.

When I explained it for the OP I was aiming toward throwing out the possibilities. A degree (according to my IT buddy) is negligable. Since he focused as a network admin the degree didn't hold wait in his field. It wasn't until he got certifications that he started getting swamped with phone calls for jobs. He said for the degree unless you really intend to pursue some type of software or programming language for a career an associates is more than enough and to focus on certs.

Although if you have the experience such as from codeacademy and you toss a portfolio of your code and such things and show work you have done with coding or programing they will consider your experience over the degree as well. I personally feel a degree is great for those who learn better in a classroom environment and don't mind paying a lot for the knowledge. Of course I myself learn better in a classroom environment so as for my computer science degree it's something I am willing to accept. Since security and hacking are my main focus and since I have so much experiecen with hardware already a simple associates to get my feet wet will do. I can take on the rest from there.

I have every intention (not to master per say) to get a reasonable amount of experience with C language, SQL and perhaps 1 or two others. Then I will (ony my own) learn all I can about their Syntax so that I can gradually pick up on other languages. Hopefully that will help me to have a strong foundation to do the line of work I would like to. As for the OP since this thread is yours my friend I say think about what you really want to do in that field. the A+. Networking and Security are like the entry level stuff. The Cisco certs are actually harder to get through but offer even more influence in the field like vagrancyx is pursuing.

I say if he is shooting for Cisco certs then he's definitely more knowligable about cyber security than I am at this time LOL! It can be very rewarding and I don't see any reason why you shouldn't pursue this field! Oh and vagrancyx I don't mean to disagree with what you said bud I just personally have no desire for the Cisco certs despite the fact that just between your CISSP and CCNA alone can clock you 6 figures over time hahah! I just want the more general security cert like the CEH with the other two I mentioned for the type of career I am specifically after.

P.S. Your welcome I was glad to serve my country!

 

[vagrancyx]

oh certainly, I guess saying it's a waste was a bit harsh, It certainly does depend on what route you want to go. I'd be thrilled to make six figures..and hopefully I'll get to that point someday in my career..I'm over half way at the moment! I'll have my CISSP hopefully by the end of the summer and then I'll focus on my CCNA. I've had a lot of exposure with Cisco devices between ASA's and UC's so I'm pretty confident I'll be okay. I think subnetting is probably the most annoying thing to learn or at least memorize.

 

[The Kasafist]

oh certainly, I guess saying it's a waste was a bit harsh, It certainly does depend on what route you want to go. I'd be thrilled to make six figures..and hopefully I'll get to that point someday in my career..I'm over half way at the moment! I'll have my CISSP hopefully by the end of the summer and then I'll focus on my CCNA. I've had a lot of exposure with Cisco devices between ASA's and UC's so I'm pretty confident I'll be okay. I think subnetting is probably the most annoying thing to learn or at least memorize.

I'm not quite as far along as you are but I think I will be exposed to some subnetting soon enough. Yea my buddy has his CEH that thinkg still clocks like $50-$100K just for having that cert depending on your experience of course. Many places look for the others specifically the one's you're getting and yes the jobs pay up the wazoo good sir LOL! CISSP and CCNA are huge in the IT Security at as far as the commercial wold goes.

On the military side of things I hope that the certs I am after can clock in the same rate of pay. On top of consulting, have you gotten to gain anything as far as consulting goes yet? If not, then perhaps trying to go about gaining some of that under your belt might help. My friend easily makes 6 figures between both his regular and consulting. Anyhow I wish the OP and yourself the best I am working on hopefully getting the A+ just so that I can work with him and maybe take him on as a personal mentor haha! Eventually I may not continue to renew my A+ who knows it depends.