The "computer guy" is a term that I hear alot when people refer to people like me. While this can feel good, that people look at you as an authority on technology, it also can get requests that are outside of your field of expertise. For example, I get a lot of requests for people that are having computer problems. While I was a computer technician many years ago, I have not been an active technician for at least 6 years now. Which in the technology world is forever.
Here are some examples of the seperation of "computer guys" that will help you find the right person to help you.
Internet Marketing: This person is someone you want to talk to when it comes to improving your search engine rank, improve website traffic, putting ads online, and things of this nature. There are many services and technologies that can be utilized in internet marketing and not every internet marketing person or company will be an expert at all of them, but these group is where you are going to want to start.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization: You will generally find this group in an amongst internet marketers and website design people. SEO is more specific to the crafting of a website to improve indexing by search engines and also page and content structure to improve conversion of site visitors.
Website Designers: This description is fairly straightforward, but does leave a little bit of room for error. A website designer is someone who handles the creation of the style of a website. In modern times, they generally can handle many features and integration of features, but they do not develop features from scratch.
Website Developers: These are those that develop applications for the internet. They tend to lack style and creativity, but all the cool things we now enjoy, were at some point created by developers. This group will overlap with application developers.
End User Support: While this is a vary general term for people who help you use your computer and applications, there is also a very wide variety of support providers. It will heavily depend on what you need help with on which type of support person you will need. To help with definition, if you need training on software you have installed, this group will be the most helpful. PC or computer maintenance will fall under this category.
Computer Technicians: A computer technician will help you with virus issues, computer optimization, data migration, and general computer issues. The biggest differences in this field are Mac or PC and virus experienced or not. Mac and PC are very different platforms from a technician standpoint, plus virus removal can be very tricky and it is best to have someone that specializes or regularly and successfully deals with virus issues.
Network Technician: For making computers talk or setting up a home or business network is where this class of computer guy is best to contact.
Application Developer/Programer: This is also very dependant on what you need to accomplish, but when it comes to integrating programs and making databases talk, then you are looking for a developer or programmer.
Graphic Designer: Graphic designers are for graphics, logos, marketing layouts, and things that are generally graphics oriented. Some graphic designers can also do video or motion based items, but not always.
I hope this has helped give a bit more insight to the "computer guy" tag, so you can find the right person for your needs.
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