Where do Ex-Copier tech's go ?

[blackcat4866]

In my experience there are two types of employers of copier technicians:

1) the ones that pay an insubstantial wage to a fair days work.
2) the ones that pay a very good wage to own your soul.

If there is something in-between I'd love to try it for a while. =^..^=

[Jules Winfield]

In my experience there are two types of employers of copier technicians:

1) the ones that pay an insubstantial wage to a fair days work.
2) the ones that pay a very good wage to own your soul.

If there is something in-between I'd love to try it for a while. =^..^=

Huh...

I've only ever heard of the ones that pay an insubstantial wage to own your soul....

cultural differences

[Iowatech]

If you want to do something else, you might try learning a new trade using the free courses available. Like this:
MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials
Crap, I've got like four or five more links like that (in case I ever crash and burn), but I can't find them right now. Sorry about that. Still, they are out there. And they are free.

[krm]

After 25+ years in this game I've seen salaries driven steadily down by the big companies and small companies trying to squeeze every last bit of work out of me for peanuts.
I've had enough of the high mileages and needy customers but I can't retire for another 15 years !
Does anybody have any ideas as to what might be a good new career path for an Ex-copier tech ?
Do you know anybody that has successfully transferred their skills to another industry ?
There must be something out there that could take advantage of the multiple skills that we have built up over our careers surely.
Comments would be welcomed.

It's hard to get rich as a tech. Th big companies and most of the small ones use you to enrich themselves. It's the way it's always been. You have two options in this business: Find a small company with a good owner who does not have family hanging around. Negotiate a contractual buyout of the business after an agreed upon number of years. He/she gets an all in employee and someone with a purpose. You get a chance at a future. This difficult to find, but not impossible. Option two: Start or buy a business.

[DAG COPIERS & COMPUTERS]

Mine is an alternative view which may or may not apply to specific individual, or country. It is the option of 'Thinking out of the Box'. Do we all have to die as techs repairing copiers? Why not reinvest your earned income from the employment into other businesses? Personally, I am now thinking and planning seriously to move into 'Small scale' commercial mixed farming. I intend to plant pine trees, fruits, rear goats, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowls...all these on a 10 acre piece of land. This will mean that I must relocate to rural area, for which I am ready. With increasing world population, the demand for for food and timber is ever on the rise. I hope to reap more benefits than from repair of machines, for which I can now feel both my mental and physical strength are now on the decline.

[emujo]

IT companies will not hire a copier tech who dabbles on command prompt and understands Windows sharing.

Just as our industry is competitive more so is the IT industry with tens of thousands of Computer Science majors graduating every year with not only Bachelors but Masters Degrees.

I would suggest POS systems,CCTV surveillance, ATM technician something like that

Although I do a little more than "dabble" with command prompts....I would be out of my mind to think I could step into a medium/large IT company role and expect to survive, I do not have those necessary skills. I was pushing the gent into a more lucrative field within the MFP industry. A good working knowledge of AD/LDAP, scanning and document management, Different OS and sever platforms, and maybe a network + cert would be all that is needed to very easily roll into a solutions implementer. These are software packages we install with their IT support in most cases. When you are dragging 50, it's tough to be on your knees replacing copier parts, much nicer to be in a nice shirt/tie, in that 68 degree server room. Emujo

[RollingROARANDA]

The US Department of Labor lists our career field as a "Field of Critical Need" with existing manpower being in excess of 10% below actual need. Additionally, they also project that between now and the year 2020, the need will increase an additional 15%.
Now add in this, the recent recession caused the wholesale reduction of techs in the field to the minimum required to get the job done. Those techs who were laid off, for the most part, have gone elsewhere.
The old guys are retiring. There goes that brain trust.
Lastly, when was the last time you saw an entry level technician? On my last team, our most junior technician was 12 years into the field. Think about it, almost all of the entry level workers are going into IT and bypassing the actual repair of the machines.
What all of this is leading to is a point in the near future when guys like us who know how to work on these machines and make them work will be very popular. The IT guy may be very good at what he does but ask him to put in a feed roll and he will most likely reply, "I don't do that".
The corollary is what is currently happening in American Manufacturing. Good luck at finding a competent machinist. They are very few and far between. And when one is found, bidding wars take place to get them. Here, a good machinist will bring down 90,000 a year.
In a very real sense, the same thing is beginning to happen with our field.
Since the beginning of the year, I have been contacted by 10 headhunters. One of them led to my current position with Lexmark. During all of these interviews, the one thing that constantly came out is that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to the IT side of the business. Oh sure, I can enter addresses and the such, but my forte' is in the repair of extremely sophisticated electro-mechanical devices. And you know what, they all did not care about my lack of IT skills. They all needed someone who knew how to work on these boxes.
For myself, I have 10 years to retire and I have no plans for leaving the field. If what I have just experienced is any indication, the future is going to be very interesting.
Doug

This is a very interesting observation; it explains for the most part why I have so much respect for the senior service technician: I can implement managed solutions all day everyday, but when the machine breaks, I'm out of luck without the 20+ years of experience each of our service techs have!

[RollingROARANDA]

I was pushing the gent into a more lucrative field within the MFP industry. A good working knowledge of AD/LDAP, scanning and document management, Different OS and sever platforms, and maybe a network + cert would be all that is needed to very easily roll into a solutions implementer. Emujo

In my company, senior service guy with 20+ years experience is more valued than the IT kid.. But the person who has both? They're playing on a different level. That's the guy I want to be someday...

[DAG COPIERS & COMPUTERS]

In my company, senior service guy with 20+ years experience is more valued than the IT kid.. But the person who has both? They're playing on a different level. That's the guy I want to be someday...

ROARANDA, You have the correct vision of the industry's future, Carry on!. The 'Hard paper Industry' is in kind of 'upheaval' at the moment. The move to the 'paperless office' is slowly but surely becoming a reality. Improved technology is driving the machines towards very high reliability, more user friendliness and less maintenance. Reading 'off computer screen' as opposed to hard copy seem to be the preferred trend of the current and more possibly the future generation. The constantly and rapidly changing IT field is 'extorting a heavy toll' not only on the hard copy industry but also the techs who have to constantly update their knowledge and skills to keep abreast of these changes. Upgrading your skills to become a 'HYBRID' tech is the only sure way to keep relevant in this field now and in future. Good luck.

[blackcat4866]

Even if it's not copiers, there will always be electro-mechanical devices in need of fixin'. =^..^=