Door to door computer lessons...

Not sure what to make of this. Thought I'd post it here to get some boardsies thoughts (I'd assume that a majority on here are fairly used to the auld computers).


A guy I know, who is self employed but struggling, decided that a good way to make money would be to offer to help people learn the basics of computing. Indeed, using his computer knowledge to tutor complete beginners for a few hours in return for payment.

I'm not actually sure how much he charges, but I'm a bit shocked that he is actually doing it. His computer knowledge is fairly basic (well, I mean he knows the ins-and-outs of the web and has ECDL and all that, but he doesn't know anything in-depth about anything computer specific, just a vague broad general knowledge, it'd seem).

He (apparently) meets up with people two or three times a week for an hour or two a go and goes through the basics with them. How to turn it on, basics of Microsoft office and then email and internet stuff. Like a short ECDL except the person gets no formal certification, obviously.


Just wondering what you guys make of it? Great idea? Bit of a con job?

Personally, I think it's a great idea, but never thought there'd be much demand to it. Always assumed computers were a self-thought kind of deal. I don't think I know anyone who started off with computers via any formal 'tutoring'.


So what do ye reckon guys? Boards.ie Computer Training? We can elect one person from each county/town (depending on demand) and create our own boards.ie business (which will inevitably turn into some kind of pyramid scheme)?

Recession be damned, and all that malarky?

MaybeLogic

It's worth a try if it makes a few bob.
Does he actually call door-to-door to ask people if they want lessons?

MaybeLogic

MaybeLogic wrote: »

It's worth a try if it makes a few bob.
Does he actually call door-to-door to ask people if they want lessons?

Hmm... I don't actually know. I doubt it though. I'd say he made up a few leaflets or something?

I'm not sure actually. Wasn't talking to him about it for too long.

friendface

Had always thought about something like this, but more along the lines of a computer repair service. I often get people asking me to take a look at their computers to get rid of viruses, perform defrags etc etc. The sort of stuff that requires a bit more than a basic knowledge of computers. In fairness, the majority of older generation computer users would be fairly clueless when it comes to performing more advanced computer tasks which younger tech-savvy people might find routine or easy. (No offense intended to anyone here )

For the above idea you would obviously need to know you're demographics before going setting up a business. I do think there's a niche market there though. People are often afraid or unwilling to take their computers to repair shops for fear of being charged extortionate rates. Also, it's an awful hassle to have to bring your computer to a repair centre especially if you're using a desktop PC and callout charges are probably ridiculous.

AnonoBoy

I suppose if he had a laptop he could do the lessons at the door otherwise I think he's lying to people a bit.

nucking futs

It's a lie, he's obviously a male prostitute, going around inserting his USB drive into clients' ports

Biggins

nucking futs wrote: »

It's a lie, he's obviously a male prostitute, going around inserting his USB drive into clients' ports

He's get his foot in the door, whips out his floppy and turns it into a hard-drive.
Yee haa... Go get 'em tiger! :cool:

Ruu_Old

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I suppose if he had a laptop he could do the lessons at the door otherwise I think he's lying to people a bit.

"We do it on your doorstep!" By jove, it is brilliant!

AnonoBoy

Biggins wrote: »

He's get his foot in the door, whips out his floppy and turns it into a hard-drive.
Yee haa... Go get 'em tiger! :cool:

Hope he remembers to attach his protocol driver or else he might get an exec format error. If you know what I mean!













I suck at this.

nucking futs

Yes, yes you do. I hope he remembers to install a decent antivirus would have been much better

AckwelFoley

Fair play to him i say.

At least hes not sitting on his hole in front of a computer complaining about having nothing to do

minidazzler

For old people in particular this would be quite useful I think.

All anyone really needs is the basics, the rest can be learned fairly easily then.

Valuble service TBH.

Overheal

Move over Plumber: Theres a new man in town for the MILFs to swoon over. And he knows how to defrag.

the_syco

Sounds like he knows more how to interact with people than computer skills.

Elenxor

minidazzler wrote: »

For old people in particular this would be quite useful I think.]


Well come in little man...would ya like a sweetie?:)

AnonoBoy

nucking futs wrote: »

Yes, yes you do. I hope he remembers to install a decent antivirus would have been much better

You don't say!

Caoimhín

Id set the dog on him.

Biggins

Biggins wrote: »

He's get his foot in the door, whips out his floppy and turns it into a hard-drive.
Yee haa... Go get 'em tiger! :cool:

2.5" floppy into a 3.5" hard-drive. Hardly impressive.

Agricola

Yeah its a good idea. I regularly have to provide tech support over the phone to an aunt and uncle in london. Its always stupid stuff like the task bar getting stuck up along the left hand side of the screen, a modem reboot, a missing toolbar in IE, or just a cable that needs to be pushed fully in! They havent a clue and if they called their local pc shop, the guy would come out and charge them 30 quid at least.

You kind of think that everyone is clued up nowaways but theres still a big group of people (not all necessarily pensioners) who treat a pc like a car. ie if it doesnt start on the first turn of the key it must be given over to a mechanic.

nehpets10

I think its a con but if people are willing to stupidly depart with their money, so be it.

The people taking the lessons would be better off trying to use the computer themselves and then if they were seriously retarded at it, then get lessons but I doubt they would need them.

stvincent

Not a con at all, in my opinion. Teaching is all about people skills, nothing to do with how much you might know about computers. I know quite a lot about computers studying electronics for 6 years and working in the software industry for another 10, but also know I wouldn't have a hope to teach someone how to use Office in a patient and encouraging way.

Fair juice to him I say. Bit of get up and go. Good on him.

CrazyRabbit

I assume if the customers weren't happy, they'd refuse to pay him. So, fair play to him for earning some extra cash instead of sitting around complaining about the lack of money.

Duggy747

If your a techie then whore yourself out, you wouldn't believe what people will pay to fix their computers.

Many times people would give me €50 for a simple, simple job. Obviously depending on the job & person I refuse that much money, that's just too evil for a nice guy like me.

*cough*

Hank_Jones

There is a few older gentlemen on my college course (these guys are old) and at the beginning they seriously struggled with computers.
Them using computers generally involves a lot of curse words and phrases like: ''What happened there?'', ''Oh shit'', ''Was I supposed to close that?'' etc, etc.

Also involves them taking up a lot of the lecturers time.
One of them still hasn't a breeze how to use computers and tries to steer clear of using them all together (which is quite hard in this technology driven age we live in).

I actually had to help some of these guys through their course work on computers as they really didn't know what they were doing.

So it is a good service, you'd be surprised how little some people actually know about computers.

Le King

Sounds like a bit of a con job to me TBH

TCP/IP_King

Osu wrote: »

Sounds like a bit of a con job to me TBH

cron job - OK, there I said it !

Dave!

Great idea tbh, this is the kind of thinking we should all be aiming for in these recessionary times

Kudos to him

Podge2k7

I tried teaching both my Grandads, and while one is learning the basics quite well, my other opened Firefox and shouted to me "Whats this b*stard an' Goggle doing on the screen?". I left it at that.

minidazzler

Osu wrote: »

Sounds like a bit of a con job to me TBH

How so? It's not like you need a wealth of knowledge to get someone started on a computer.

Off the top of my head things you need to be able to do.

Turn it on/off
Find Programs and know how to start and close them.
How to use a word processor and how to print. Along with some formating options.
How to email.
How to browse the web and how to find more information on using computers. Show them a few websites of interest to them, and how to efficiently use google.
How to avoid malware.
I can't think o anything else off the top of my head.

They are the essentials with computing. I could teach someone who is slightly smarter than a monkey that in less than 5 hours.

If you charge 10 quid an hour it's very much worth it.

Actually, I think I would charge 15 an hour. It's a valuble skill to learn even in it's most basic form because it is built on VERY quickly.

kowloon

Great idea, as long as he isn't charging unfair prices I don't see the problem.
It's more important that he's able to teach than have an encyclopedic knowledge. A lot of very knowledgeable types don't have the patience to teach basic skills.

Something I've noticed with people who haven't grown up with computers is that they'll learn off the steps do do a task but not be able to apply them to a similar task. So they'll know how to open word but not know that the same process will open excel. Time with someone who knows how to do these things really helps.