On Sun, Mar 23, 2003 at 05:26:50PM -0800, Wayne Hardy wrote: > To Those Interested,
Hello! > I've heard from several of you on this idea of a business venture to > provide tech support. That's encouraging. Now what do we do? <snip> > 1. Our group represents a tremendous pool of IT talent in many > areas which should be valuable to businesses if they could find > us. ( The IT talent pool represented by HAMLUG is, perhaps, the > best kept secret in Central Jersey.) What kind of talent are we talking? From the LUGs I've dealt with (LVLUG, NJLUG, dev/plug, etc.), the vast majority of the talent is sysadmins or sysadmin wannabees. I'm starting to see a need for, i.e. I'm lining up projects that need, programming skills beyond the sysadmin level (Perl/Tk, hardware integration, etc.). One of the first things that need to be done, IMNSHO, is to list what talents you/we have. > 2. Some of us do become unemployed from time to time (especially > in the current economy), and those working are often not secure > in the jobs they do have. <soapbox> That's why you need to work for yourself! Break out on your own! Be the Boss! Relying on someone else for your livelihood is perilous! Master your own destiny! Okay, okay, I'll climb down of my soapbox now...</soapbox> > 3. One of the original ideas, when the group began, was for the > group to offer tech support to the community (community > organizations) especially in the area of Linux - as sort of an > outreach aspect of the LUG. I think what is also needed (in my geographical area (NJ) as well as yours (central NJ)) is an education program. You're right, a lot of small companies need part-time programmers and sysadmins, but more importantly than that, IMO, is they need to know what Linux and FOSS can do for them. Most people are wearing MS blinders when it comes to what computers can do for them. We need some way to educate them. > One of the business ideas, or business models, that intrigues me, in > the present economy, is to offer part-time or outsourced IT support to > companies that cannot, or will not, afford an in-house IT staff. There > is an untapped market of companies, small businesses, small offices, > who need support of various kinds. It's not untapped. Maybe under-serviced, but not untapped. My company (Linux New Jersey) does precisely that (although I specialize in Linux only). Most "computer companies" provide sysadmin services, albeit poorly, IME. Again, IME, when it comes to Linux, most people go with companies that are Windows-based and say "Yeah, we can do Linux". When taken up on their offer of doing Linux, they run out and hire the first person they come across who knows what "ls -al" does. I'm hired to clean up the disaster that inevitably follows. > They cannot afford full time IT > people but may well use the services of a company who will provide IT > support on an as-needed basis. The possibilities are numerous. That they are. That they are. > With regard to IT support that is part-time, as-needed, outsourced and > cost-effective, the HAMLUG group (plus technical friends and > associates) may be an ideal pool to draw from since many of us are > available some times but not all the time. (Some of us pop into > consulting contracts and later pop back out again.) (Come to think of > it, full time jobs are getting like that too.) This has been my thought with the other LUGs I've dealt with. I've had mild success at it, but, as I've mentioned before, it's the kind of talent that matters, not just Good (Technical) Intentions. > I think the market is ready for what we are ideally suited to provide. > It simply needs some business organization and some marketing to make > it happen. Agreed. > These are nice ideas, but the devil is in the details. Business > administration is needed and some real marketing work. I'm wondering > who has a serious interest in this and who is willing and available to > do some work on it? Well, considering that this *is* what I do for a living, I'm obviously interested. -- Regards, Faber Linux New Jersey: Open Source Solutions for New Jersey http://www.linuxnj.com
