This article is coming from someone in the tech world to those who just are not that familiar with it. I’m filling it with all kinds of love for you. This is probably the BIGGEST mistake that most people make trying to deal with automation that leaves behind a terrible taste for the whole thing – ‘phone a friend’.

Maybe it’s the neighbor’s kid. Maybe it’s the friend you know works at that computer/software place. Maybe it’s the person you see with the latest gadgets so you figure they probably know. But somehow or another you got involved with someone in tech to help you implement a technology thing… and sometime along the way you realize this person might not know what they are doing. Once in a long time ago, the computer industry was not that big. Like… a decade or two or three ago.  However, now, it is very, very big. And VERY VERY specialized. So, before you take on any help, I’m going to list a few job titles below and what they do in ‘computers’ so you will know whether that ‘good friend’ actually has a clue. Also, secretly, as that good friend, I’m hoping you stop calling me about some of these issues… because the best I have is an educated guess. 😉

Manager/Director/Lead/Project – If any of these are in the title, back away slowly. This person works with deadlines and people all day long. They are ON computers. They see lots of computer problems. They might even delegate some to be solved. They might even have seen the solution go down. In their time, they may have been a maverick. However, keeping up with this environment and their skills fresh takes full time focus that is really hard for these guys. So unless this friend is also actively on projects… they can usually just recommend things or make their best educated guess.

IT/Networking – This person can help you out with networking. That means, they can check your internet. They can often help with viruses or malware, but you should pay them at least a steak dinner for this work… because it takes hours sometimes. Not a small ask. They can setup VOIP. They can make your computer in your office talk SECURELY to your home computer. Please don’t ask anyone other than these guys to do this work for you. This is complex work. There are a lot of settings and things that you really need to know about before you just go connecting things. Especially if you are dealing with a register that accepts credit card information. Hire a pro in that case. You cannot afford the liability of a hacker breaking into your network because you didn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on a pro.

Web Developer vs. Designer – There is a KEY difference here. If you need a website to look great, you want a designer. If you need a website to ‘do things’, like schedule appointments or sell products or basically any functional thing outside of collecting contact details, you need a web developer. ABSOLUTELY contact the web developer BEFORE the web designer. Developers will be VERY particular about the kind of technology they use to develop their code. They might not be happy about the designer’s choice. The designer will be able to work with anything. SOMETIMES you’ll find a 2 for 1 deal here.

Developer – Just so you know, this is a really generic title. And these folks usually have all kinds of side-hustle. 🙂 So, I’m going to break down the types of developers you want to look for depending on what you need. The reason it is important is that many of the programming languages used in these environments do not transfer to another. So it is hard for those developers to do anything ‘quickly or easily’ outside of their wheelhouse.

1. Mobile/App – This developer builds functional software for mobile devices.
2. Web – This developer builds functional software for the web.
3. Application – This developer builds functional software that you install on a computer or a specific kind of hardware device. If it is just ‘developer’, it is probably this kind of developer.

Quality Assurance (QA)/Product/Business Analyst (BA) – This person will know a lot about computers and a lot about what will and won’t work. They likely won’t have a lot of experience actually coding or building anything. However, they can probably configure just about ANYTHING you purchase pretty quickly. They can also help you evaluate between different kinds of pre-packaged software that you might be considering.

Now that I’ve broken down these roles a little more, I hope this helps you evaluate how your friends and family could potentially help with your projects. It is important to note that these are not black and white boxes. In technology, it is not uncommon for someone to have experience in lots of different things. Your developer neighbor might have networked his entire house and could help you a lot without a problem. However, you might be better off building a relationship with someone who does that for a living. You know… just in case you have problems.

In all cases, if you’re reaching out to a friend or family member, always offer something in exchange. They do this all day long and they help out more than just you. So, like a good neighbor, a gift card/thank you note or whatever you think they might appreciate is often well deserved. Most of these things will take up half a day minimum.