In the Sponsor Spotlight – Authorized Computer Repair

(We continue our series honoring our intern sponsors.)

There seems to be no end to the kinds of computer problems that can aggravate us–a possible virus, a blue screen, the computer won’t turn on/off, network issues, a software glitch.  Or perhaps we need a backup system or the motherboard repaired or data recovered.  Authorized Computer Repair, located in the heart of Berkeley, handles this kind of thing every day, servicing businesses and homes all over the East Bay.  They work on laptops and desktops, running Mac-OS and Windows.

So obviously, this is a wonderful place for CTP student interns from the Network and Technical Support Training program to apply and expand upon all that they learned in the classroom.

“Enthusiasm–that’s the main quality I want in an employee,” says Jonathan Santeramo, owner of Authorized Computer Repair.  “It’s important that they care about what they’re doing.”  Reliability is important too, he says, along with the basic skills that Jonathan can then “fine tune” while they’re working for him.

The two CTP interns he’s had so far have worked out well for him.  Garec Bartley and Ken Maes worked alongside the regular ACR technicians, diagnosing what was wrong with the computers and then fixing them.  They cleaned up viruses and other malware, upgraded operating systems, added RAM and hard drives, and solved slowness issues.  Even though Ken and Garec worked under deadlines, they had a lot of support from Jonathan and the other techs.

Garec said the unexpected problems he encountered extended his learning beyond the classroom.  “That’s what made it exciting, the variety of problems, different types of computers, new things.”

Beyond the technical subjects, Ken said the “soft skills” taught at CTP were also valuable in his internship, things like how to act professional, not to get upset with people and to always be on time.

Garec values the time he spent working at ACR as “a stepping stone to the real world.  I was doing everything the other technicians were doing; it was a real work situation.  They were pretty great there.  It was fun.”

So a big and heartfelt THANK YOU to Authorized Computer Repairs for supporting our students by providing them with such wonderful and challenging internship opportunities!