Being “good with computers” is always relative, and to most people computers are basically black magic.
Here’s some stuff I’ve seen other people do.
Had a coworker buy a whole new laptop because their Google account had signed out and they couldn’t remember the password. (obviously buying a new laptop didn’t help)
My mother couldn’t figure out how to hang up a MS Teams call so she just closed the lid on her laptop, which she still assumes turns the whole PC off even after explaining to her multiple times it doesn’t…
My former boss call me into work on a day off to “recover” the main software we used since it had disappeared from the computer. It was still there, an update had just changed the desktop icon.
And most recently a buddy installed multiple viruses on their computer after I told them to ‘backup their files’ before doing a clean Windows install. I had forgot to mention that backing up their files just meant coping them to another drive…they immediately started searching up shady “file backup” programs from random sites on the internet.
I was just explaining to my girlfriend that people’s ignorance about computers provides a space where even people without advanced skills can make a decent living doing support.
Like, not everyone can get a gig as an advanced sysadmin making bank, but you can probably find some tech support roles that pay really well to support folks who essentially think technology is magic.
The amount of times I’ve been asked to make someone a website or app…
Oh, so you can Programm? Surely you know how to make this cool idea using AI I just had!
Most people dont even know, that there are like 50 different fields that are somewhere in the space of IT/Programming and of these fields only a quite small amount of do develop apps or websites.
Being “good with computers” is always relative, and to most people computers are basically black magic.
Here’s some stuff I’ve seen other people do.
Had a coworker buy a whole new laptop because their Google account had signed out and they couldn’t remember the password. (obviously buying a new laptop didn’t help)
My mother couldn’t figure out how to hang up a MS Teams call so she just closed the lid on her laptop, which she still assumes turns the whole PC off even after explaining to her multiple times it doesn’t…
My former boss call me into work on a day off to “recover” the main software we used since it had disappeared from the computer. It was still there, an update had just changed the desktop icon.
And most recently a buddy installed multiple viruses on their computer after I told them to ‘backup their files’ before doing a clean Windows install. I had forgot to mention that backing up their files just meant coping them to another drive…they immediately started searching up shady “file backup” programs from random sites on the internet.
At this point, it is weaponized incompetence. You tell someone once or twice that closing the lid is not turning off the power and that should be it.
I was just explaining to my girlfriend that people’s ignorance about computers provides a space where even people without advanced skills can make a decent living doing support.
Like, not everyone can get a gig as an advanced sysadmin making bank, but you can probably find some tech support roles that pay really well to support folks who essentially think technology is magic.
The other side of that ignorance is if you can do simple tasks they also assume you have the skills to be the next big-tech genius.
The amount of times I’ve been asked to make someone a website or app…
Oh, so you can Programm? Surely you know how to make this cool idea using AI I just had!
Most people dont even know, that there are like 50 different fields that are somewhere in the space of IT/Programming and of these fields only a quite small amount of do develop apps or websites.