Fast times at… Geek Squad City?
Not much going on here on the home front, work is good as usual, things in general are going well. I’ve been working in Data Recovery for almost a year now, and I enjoy it immensely. There’s nothing quite like telling someone that you can save all their precious memories from their computer. That you’re better equipped than anyone else to help them. It’s quite a high.
I’m blogging for Geeksquad.com now, which is pretty sweet. I guess I’m an “official” blogger now or something. Whatever that means. I’m not particularly looking forward to negative feedback from the public, but it goes with the territory. I’ve been blogging now in one way or another for around 8+ years now. It’s kind of weird to think about it, time goes by so fast.
I’ve taken the Linux plunge. That is to say, I’m trying it out as my main desktop now. I’ve used it fairly extensively for server work, mostly web-based stuff, some enterprise. I’ve been a firm believer for quite some time that Linux was not ready for the desktop. That’s not to say I didn’t think it couldn’t be used for the desktop, just that an average user wouldn’t feel comfortable picking it up. It’s pretty close now. There’s so much choice in what you can do, which is phenomenal, but that’s a double-edged sword. I’m trying out Linux Mint, which is a derivative of Ubuntu, which is in turn a derivative of a distribution that I’m fairly familiar with, Debian. I’m enjoying it immensely. I’m hitting a few snags with Wine, but I’ve gotten around most of them. So I’ve conquered Windows (and it’s many ugly relatives), and Mac OS X… now on to something bigger and better.
I think I’m going to start some graphic design again. It’s hard to explain, but I get an itch… somewhere in my brain, something that needs fulfilling, and art is the only thing that does it. So yeah, I’m gonna re-awaken the Beast.
This is a reply to this:
That you’re better equipped than anyone else to help them. It’s quite a high.
Just because some geek squad person can take a hard drive out of a computer and save someone’s pictures does not make them a hero. It makes them able to plug in a cable, or a lamp, and drag some files, or move the laundry to the hamper.
I work for a company that does warranty repair and we get computers that Geek Squad cannot fix all the time. You are no better equipped than anyone else, sorry to burst your bubble. All you do is a set of routines that existed long before you got there. Swapping out a motherboard isn’t saving someone’s life.
Get over Geek Squad. It’s not all that you think it is. Remember where you’ve been before. Remember how you were cast aside. Don’t make their mistakes.
Me - August 11th, 2008 at 6:54 pmI mean, really. You’re that much of a company guy that you truly think that Geek Squad is the highest qualified company with regards to data recovery??
I have a melted, blackened platter for you and your Squad to play with.
Wow.
Me - August 11th, 2008 at 7:03 pmSo I thought pretty long and hard about approving your comments. I’ve long held an open policy about these sort of things, so I decided to approve them.
Your first point. Yes actually we are better equipped than anyone else for data recovery, the only exception would probably be Seagate’s data recovery business, because their a hard drive manufacturer. They’ve also developed so pretty sophisticated technology called SignalTrace that allows them to do some amazing stuff. Knowing what tools we have at our disposal, and what we have access to, I can pretty give the same answer. A definitive “Yes”.
I would disagree that saving someone’s files doesn’t make them a hero. When you’ve got someone on the phone saying that the pictures on this hard drive that’s been through a house fire has the last remaining pictures of their dead wife… well I don’t know how callous you are, but that makes me feel pretty good that I can get that for them. So yes I invite you to send that blackened platter in for me and my Squad to play with. Do you have the money to put up to recover it?
Geek Squad is everything that I think it is. I do remember where I’ve been, and I remember that all these other IT companies, mom and pop shops that I’ve worked at were horrible. But those are my experiences.
I also recognize that not all Agents are as well trained as techs from other companies. But I can tell you with 100% confidence that there has never been a problem that I couldn’t fix, and I train all my people to have that same mentality.
You can either complain about how something sucks, or you can work to make it better. I prefer to be in the game, and to improve things.
If you want to continue having a negative conversation about this I’m sure there’s an open space over on the Consumerist. If you’d like to have an intelligent discourse about issues that you see with the company, I suggest you email the Chief Inspector, Robert Stephens.
Matthew Gotth-Olsen - August 11th, 2008 at 8:01 pm