You keep your hands on the keyboard
Watching someone else do it is not learning. I will point, describe and wait as long as it takes, but I will not take the mouse off you unless you ask.
About
I fix computers for a living. I teach them because someone should.
Shane, a computer and IT tutor based in Warners Bay, working across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
I have worked in IT for years. Servers, networks, infrastructure, the things that sit quietly in a cupboard and cause a great deal of trouble when they stop. It is a good trade and I like it.
This is separate from that. It started, as these things usually do, with family. Older relatives who had been sold equipment they did not need, talked to as though they were slow, and charged a great deal by people who then failed to explain anything. Every visit produced a new story along those lines.
What struck me was that none of them were struggling with computers. They were struggling with having never been taught, by anyone, with any patience. Once you sit down and go through it properly, at a normal speed, without the sighing, most people are entirely capable.
The other half of it is the kids. I meet teenagers around here who would be genuinely good at this work and have no idea it is available to them, because nobody in their family does it and school can only go so far. At that age, one person showing you what is possible is often the whole difference.
So that is what this is. An IT professional, a kitchen table, and an hour at a time.
How I work
Four things I will not compromise on.
No jargon without a translation
If a technical term is genuinely worth knowing, I will explain it properly, once, and then use it. If it is not, I will not use it at all. Jargon is mostly used to sound impressive.
I will tell you when you do not need me
If it is a five-minute fix, you will be told it is a five-minute fix. If the honest answer is that the machine is finished, you get that too. I am not building a subscription here.
No question is beneath asking
Not one. I have never once thought less of someone for asking what a browser is, and I have been asked a great deal worse by people who were paid to know.
Practical details
The boring but useful bits.
- Where: in your home anywhere across Lake Macquarie & Newcastle, or at my place in Warners Bay.
- When: Weeknights 4pm to 8pm, weekends 8am to 3pm. I work in IT full time, so everything runs after hours. Weeknight slots fill first, so weekends are usually easier to book.
- Rate: $65 per hour, with no call-out fee and no lock-in. Full pricing.
- Devices: Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, and anything with a network port on the back of it.
- ABN: 00 000 000 000. Invoices available if you need one.
- Working With Children Check: required in NSW for paid work with under-18s. My application is in progress, and lessons for under-18s begin once it is issued.
One request
If you have been scammed, ring me. Do not sit with it.
This is the part of the job that matters most, and the part people are most reluctant to call about.
Scams are built by professionals, tested on thousands of people, and designed specifically to work on careful, intelligent adults. Being caught by one says nothing about you. Being too embarrassed to tell anyone for three weeks, however, is what turns a recoverable problem into an expensive one.
You will not be lectured, and you will not be made to feel foolish. We work out what happened, secure what needs securing, and decide what to report. If it turns out to be nothing at all, that is a good afternoon's work, not a wasted call.