In this video, I’m showing an example of an onsite service call for one of my Field Nation alternative clients where I made $160 for one hour of work. This is something you can do as a freelance information technology field tech.
This job was to convert a site from their existing Verizon internet connection to a new, much faster, AT&T Fiber connection. All I had to do was connect the new modem to their existing Silver Peak and test with the client.
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I have been in the freelance IT tech industry since 2000 working with Field Nation alternative clients, on Field Nation since 2010, and on Work Market since 2011. Field Tech Academy wants to give you the secrets of 20+ years of experience how you can succeed as an Independent IT Field Tech.
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Video Transcript:
Today I’m doing a
cut over from one circuit to another, so it’s a pretty
basic install. Just thought I would
give you an example of the type of ticket you might see.
Obviously, we’re at a network rack. We have a AT&T circuit back here that we’re going to connect to
and we’re going to call our client and have them walk us through what they want done.
You’ll see this a lot, too, where
the
client support will tell you exactly what they want done.
it’s almost
idiot proof.
Clients always want photos taken
of
equipment,
circuits.
A lot of times they want before pictures and after pictures taken.
We’re here to install a new circuit.
Switch over to the AT&T broadband circuit.
You know, if you’re doing a circuit extension or circuit cut over,
you’re looking for existing versus new.
See something that might indicate this is AT&T.
You know, in these situations,
your client support contact is going to know circuit I.D. numbers and more information about it than you’re going to know showing up at the site.
All you really have to do is talk to them and they’re going to walk you through those steps.
Your job is really to identify visually the equipment that they tell you about
and figure out where you’re going,
you know, to what equipment are you going to connect.
Another thing going to do when you’re doing your service calls
all along the way you want to look for
what are the deliverables that the client’s going to want.
So in this case,
they have their own app
and they have a list of things that they want you to provide.
So the question you might have is how much does a job like this pay? Well, this particular client
is paying me
$60 an hour
plus $60 travel. So I’m going to make $120 for showing up,
If this job is done in less than an hour, I may $120 in that hour.
Jobs like this are very common, and very
easy to get if you have the skill set
and the contacts to get them.
So am I going to need to have my laptop out
to
configure the router? No,
it’s plug and play
okay,
<unknown>
And we’ll have to figure out what piece of equipment in the rack we’re going to connect to.
When you are dealing with a rack, most of these just press them from one side and you kinda squeeze them in a little bit.
I was just opening that up because I wanted to see where this cable went from this modem.
It’s going over to this device here.
Just so I kind of already know, by the time he tells me something, if that’s going to end up being useful.
And honestly with most of these jobs, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait,
which is fine. You’re getting paid to stand here so they can take as long as they want.
So we’re in.
So there’s a Lumen, a Verizon.
We’re probably replacing Verizon.
<unknown>
wall
at the rack in the room
Place break out
in hall closet
telecom room
north of reception desk.
So there’s uh
a break block in
room.
November 18th.
I got service, I’ve got a circuit ID.
What’s that circuit ID?
Say that number one more time.
5143697
Okay. That matches a device that I’ve got on the wall here.
Okay, perfect.
So right now, there’s a cable connected to that device that’s going down to
switch one.
Okay, let’s disconnect it from switch one.
Okay.
All right.
What we’re going to connect it up to is called a SilverPeak.
Oh yeah, I saw that. Is it rack mounted?
Yep, I see it. And
let me give you the mac address so I can tell you where we’re going to plug into it.
It’s probably going to be port
WAN 1. Let me double check. All right,
I’m going to
get my cable ready to route
If you want to go ahead and do that,
that’d be great.
Thank you for your help.
That’s what I’m here for.
All right so yeah it looks like the
what I’m assuming is maybe a Verizon it says level three.
There’s something plugged in to your Silverpeak in WAN 0 right now.
So that’s probably your existing
probably under Lumen
WAN 1
WAN 0
<unknown>
<unknown>
Oh, WAN 1. Okay.
I think that’s Verizon
<unknown>
Yeah. I’m not unplugging anything until you tell me.
All right.
Go ahead and pull that cable out of
WAN 1.
Cable’s out of WAN 1.
Like I was saying at the beginning,
got in touch with my client on the phone,
their support person.
He identified the modem which is on the backside, gave me the
serial number or the identifying circuit number, so I was able to locate it.
He told me the name of the equipment that we need to go to, which I found in the rack.
Gave me the brand name,
told me the port number.
Don’t let these racks
and these network closets intimidate you.
As long as you can recognize what people are telling you and you can follow instructions and you can be patient,
you can do this.
You just don’t mess with things that don’t apply to you.
You always watch for
power connections on the floor so you don’t unplug things
So the other thing you want to make sure of is that you have a charger with you because you’re gonna be on the phone for extended periods of time.
So right now is my first call of the day. My phones already at 54%. I made the mistake of not having it plugged in
in my van on the way over. So you want to make sure you have a charger with you.
The other thing I’d recommend.
Get you a ten foot cable. That way you can… because you never know what power is going to be in relation to where you need to be.
I also bought one of these
Amoner.
It’s Amazon stuff.
Three charging ports.
You know, in case I’ve got my phone and my tablet needs charging, things like that.
Ok go ahead and plug that in if you could.
Okay.
WAN uh
WAN 1.
Alright, WAN 1.
Alright.
Got link light,
All right, so we’re reaching the end of the job. So at this point, I want to do my deliverables. On this particular client, they require four photos of completed work.
Didn’t really do much, but of course, I need to put the cover back on and put everything… tidy things back up. If you have any cables dangling, you want to tie them back up, make it look nice, and then take the pictures.
Alright. <unknown>
There’s a device out there called Appneta.
Can you reboot it?
All right.
Oh Appnetta. Yeah. All right,
Pull the power on it.
Okay. I have
unplugged, re-plugged.
All right, looks like we’re good.
Okay. You want to go ahead and
clean up or anything like that,
go ahead and do it.
If not, you’re good to go.
All right,
Very good. I appreciate it. Thank you sir.
Have a good one! Have a good
All right, so now we’re released from site.
Final step is to do your deliverables.
The Field Nation alternative client requires the deliverables to pay you,
so you should stay on the clock
and do your deliverables
since it is a requirement.
No sense in either waiting till the end of the day and spending 2 hours of your night
doing deliverables on your time
or
doing them in your van after you’ve checked out. You need to do your deliverables
before you leave site or from your van before you call the client to check out
You’re going to say, well, that’s
10 minutes of time. 15 minutes of time. Yeah. You but do that over the course of a week.
That’s over an hour of additional time you’re getting paid for.
So
little tips and tricks.
The purpose of showing you example service calls like this is so that you can see what working as an I.T. field tech looks like. I want to remove the fear of the unknown for you. My goal with Field Tech Academy is to help aspiring technicians see what they can do and to help experienced technicians have higher performance. If you got value today from what I shared, please, like the video and subscribe to the channel so that you can learn more about how to be an independent field tech.
Don’t forget to check out our website at fieldtechacademy.com. I offer one on one coaching as well as some other products that can accelerate your quest to become self-employed as a technician. As always, let’s get you out in the field making money. I’ll see you in the next video.