[kanmoodi]

In an effort to break into the small business market, 300 Best Buy employees have achieved MCP status. The goal is to have 900 employees certified by the end of the year.

For more information, click here.

[kadavul]

man best buy is full of idiots.
They are getting thier geek squad people mcp certified, i applied for thier small business consultant position and didnt even get a call back and i got my mcse security with sales experience from my time at circuit city years ago lol.
I would love to hear what kind of compensation, which i doubt if any, they are giving to thier associates who get thier MCP or are they just doing it to become a MS gold partner and to leverage deals with MS?
I bet they are working something similar with Cisco as well.
AKay

[kadavul]

I would imagine that they are paying for their employee's certification costs, but the salary is probably relatively low.. Still, I would imagine it is a good place to start.
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[kadavul]

well from what I read when i applied for the position the "MCP" i believe they are talking about is the Small business specialist not one of the traditional MCP exams we believe such as 270, 271, 272. I will try to dig up the job posting.
AKay

[kadavul]

All Business Technology Consultants will be required to successfully obtain a Microsoft Certified Small Business Specialist (SBS)

thats the MCP they are talking about.
AKay

[kadavul]

AKay724 wrote:

I would love to hear what kind of compensation, which i doubt if any, they are giving to thier associates who get thier MCP or are they just doing it to become a MS gold partner and to leverage deals with MS?
AKay


Geek Squad doesn't have "associates".
Geek Squad has "agents".

LOL Laughing
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[kadavul]

LMAOOOO @ Agents
I crack up everytime i see the pt cruiser or i go to best buy and see them walking around looking like bootleg men in black lol.
Or thier mugshots on the wall with thier official agent titles lol.
AKay

[kadavul]

The only thing bad about it is that what the Geek Squad does (from my limited understanding), is what small businesses did in the past. So, that makes me think it's gonna end up hurting the small I.T. business just like Wal Mart does to ma and pa stores.

They'll end up providing a sub standard service for less money than small businesses, and with their unlimited money for advertising (compared to small business owners) they'll take the majority of the customers out there.

In the end, the I.T. staff will get payed less money, the customers will get a poorer service, and the big wigs at Best Buy will line their pockets.

Man, now I'm getting depressed.

[kadavul]

Well, the agents have been naughty with Admin Pak licensing and are being sued by Winternals. It will be interesting to see who wins that case. For Winternals to post things about the case on their website seems strange in this day and age. I would think that might be able to get used against them somehow. You never can tell when it comes to lawyers. The evidence seems cut and dry and IMO easily enough to convict Best Buy, but Best Buy is the one with the deep pockets and will be prepared with a crack legal defense team. I'd be worried for Winternals that if for some reason Best Buy somehow snakes their way out of this case, they turn around and file counter suit against Winternals for all the negative publicity it has caused and will continue to cause as the drama unfolds in the court room. Of course, it was this same company, Winternals, who not long ago shed a huge spotlight in the rootkits embedded in Sony software which was distributed to God knows how many consumer computers. Mark and Bryce are still alive and kicking and haven't turned up mysteriously missing for that. I'd be nervous taking on these big companies LOL

Microsoft Acquires Winternals

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...-best-buy.html

Maybe the courtroom and MCP training will make them better agents. I don't have anything against them personally. I've always been assuming that they are experts at what they are doing but I have been curious from time to time as to their level of knowledge. Given my experience and level of knowledge, I've never had to use their services. I've also been curious about what it would be like to work for them. I used to read some of their agent's blogs about work life as an agent on their website. It sounded fairly hectic. I don't think I could do their job - I don't do uniforms and the day I have to go back to wearing ties is the day I go looking for a new job. Their catchy TV ads also portray the agents as miracle workers. That's something I wouldn't want to always be faced with living up to for the end user consumers from an expectation standpoint. Let's face it, not all computer problems have a happy ending and we can only do so much with what we have to work with.

Best Buy is/was one of my favorite stores. But since the Geek Squad was purchased by Best Buy, they seem to have a mark on themselves now. I don't know if it's truely due to poor service or bad feelings surrounding corporate exploitation of an operation that was previously decent.

No company is perfect. Mentioning the words CompUSA is what will make my blood boil. I'll take Best Buy over CompUSA's prices and return policy any day of the week. I have given Comp a few chances to do right by me but I've never been happy with my experiences at that store. Their customer return policy makes Guantanamo Bay prisoner treatment look good. Needless to say I haven't set foot back in that store for many years.

Maybe I'm just a sour puss.
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[kadavul]

You're right, it hurts small businesses that depend on general PC repair, but I think it just might provide more jobs to entry level PC techs. I'm looking for a starting PC tech job myself, but I haven't sunk low enough to degrade myself by applying for a job with the word "Geek" in the title.
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