Thread: As a webdeveloper do you find you become their IT guy ?

I've one client at the moment.

On top of training them in the CMS ... I'm having to resolve issues with why their browser stops working for certain things. Now they are a good client and well I don't really want to **** them off they put up with me as well so ... I don't mind too much.

But do you find its taken for granted that you suddenly become the IT guy ? ...

My email isn't work ...
Check the settings on the website .. then find you've to go checking their machine and find they've done something funny like blocking ports due to installing new software ?

I ask .. probably because I want to have a bit of a rant ... either that or I want to increase my Threads started count :P

I've also ended up sorting out issues like how they can resize images ... and so on (which does and doesn't come into the CMS side of things) all in all its added on a lot extra to the project ... for which I'm not exactly getting paid an hourly rate on it. It will get to the stage when I have to say ... please revert to your IT guy but for the moment I'm doing it.

Depends on how valuable the client is and whether they will bring in repeat business, if it is too much additional work, then put a couple of hours of "IT Support" on the next invoice and see how they respond to the invoice

Still at the stage where every client is equally important and I try to **** them off equally

I think what I'll do is gently say a few things to try and then say it really sounds like an IT issue. Of course they don't have an IT department as such. Me not being IT as such as well means some things take me tht bit longer to fix than someone doing it everyday.

Originally Posted by Briask

My question would be: Forbairt, do you actually want to do it? Is it a service that you want to provide?

I generally set up email and so on for clients. Really depends on the customer. I've done some work for an IT services company doing the same.

Really though I'm unsure if I want to or not. Each added task I do takes more and more of my time ... its really starting to affect my posting ability

Graphic Design + Web Dev + Wed Design + SEO + Hosting / IT + Marketing

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... there are only 28 hours in the day after all.

Originally Posted by Briask

Don't think your posting rate is under threat @ ~11 posts a day!

Exactly its way down on what it should be

Originally Posted by Briask

Does the IT work take away from landing another client? or completing existing work quicker so that you can get another another project started?

well all work potentially takes away from landing that big client. not just IT related stuff. Though in general IT related stuff is of a higher urgency than other work.

Originally Posted by Briask

probably damned if you do and damned if you don't?

pretty much .. if you don't do the IT work .. they potentially look elsewhere ... you do take it .. they go ... oh he can sort that for us. My mouse button is broken ... lets ring him

We get calls about people's DSL not working ...

We also get asked about SEO all the time and people actually expect us to control how Google ranks their site:
How To Ask For Help - Blacknight Blog - Hosting - Domains

The highlight of my career in my last place as their webdeveloper was ... getting asked by a customer ...

"How do I download a file?"

Of course there are probably lots more I've just blocked from my memory

best one I've heard was when working as 2nd line support for a large consumer electronics company about 20 years ago, one of the 1st line staff was getting quite frustrated with his caller, it turns out that the guy was complaining that his PC wasn't working, they'd done all the usual is it plugged in, switched on and such like then got down to the is anything else plugged in to that socket, does that work, it turned out that the lights also didn't work, the fridge was off and so were all the other things in the house. Solution offered was "I suggest you may have a power cut sir!"