End of an Era
Abingdon Computing Essentials
ceased to exist from 31st March, 2021.
I started my business back in August 2009 with nothing but the hope I could make it work and to help folks along the way. I have managed to survive for nearly 12 years so now it’s time to retire and hand the business over to Steve Chester. I first met Steve back in the early 90’s when he was a student of mine at Waiariki Polytechnic, as it was back then. Over the years Steve and I have bumped into each other and worked alongside for a while too. I am confident Steve will do a fine job of helping you with your computing needs as he has a business similar to mine and is well versed in providing computing solutions. Steve sports grey hair and knows how to relate to folks older than himself.
I need to take this time to thank you for allowing me to assist you in solving your computing woes. It has been an interesting journey for me and hopefully you are a bit more computer savvy than you used to be. Please make sure you have all you User Names and Passwords written down somewhere, and definitely not on your computer as a file.
Back in the 70’s there was an ad on TV basically saying “Don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country”. In New Zealand we were going thru a worldwide fuel crisis and at that time and the government shut down petrol stations over the weekends. That killed motor racing in New Zealand, so we packed our bags and headed to Canada where racing was still going. I worked on two race teams up there for three and a half years till we came home. Now, I have a huge amount of our beaut country to see in my little motorhome.
Breakfast alfresco . . .
Steve Chester
I’ve been working in the IT industry for 31 years, half my life, starting my computer career as a full time student at Waiariki Polytechnic- - now Toi Ohomai. Wayne Parkinson was one of my tutors in a yearlong course, which I enjoyed and which gave me a good foundation for my future career.
I went straight from being a student at Waiariki to being a member of the staff and have since always worked in the computer industry, my employers including Hawkes Bay Health, Goodman Fielder, Freedom Air, Houston Technology, Talk Tech Now, AdvancedIT and several smaller IT service companies.
This has given me experience across a diverse range of technologies. I have worked in depth with every version of Windows, some Apple products, all sorts of printers, the Internet since its infancy, email since it started being used commonly, smartphones, tablets etc. Not quite every sort of IT technology, but most!
Five years ago I started to work for myself, looking after home users and some small businesses and charities. I enjoy the more personal nature of working with people directly rather than working on big systems.
When I first started working with IT, it was almost exclusively a business tool. Since then it has crept into everyone's life, whether as Internet banking, TradeMe, Zoom calls or just as email or social networking tools like Facebook. It will continue to do so - some bits you will be able to avoid if you want to, like an Internet capable fridge, but others will take over their traditional methods as Internet banking has taken over from face to face banking.
Although I have been in the business a long time, I still enjoy making technology work well for people, because in the end it's only a tool and should do what its users want - not the other way around.
I am looking forward to offering to continue the personal service that Wayne has provided you for just on twelve years.
My phone number is: 020-4068-6278
My email address is: [email protected]
My website is: www.commit.net.nz
Take care and stay safe
Steve
