Best Buy Cuts 650 Geek Squad Techies 143
tripleevenfall writes "Best Buy has cut approximately 650 jobs from its Geek Squad division, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The cut represents about 4% of Geek Squad's total workforce. The consumer electronics giant said the workers primarily service televisions and appliances in consumers' homes. Best Buy's performance has struggled to keep up with changes in consumer electronics, as the weight of its big-box format inhibits it from fending off competitive pressure of online retailers."
Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:4, Informative)
Then GeekSquad is like the rest of the IT field.
Remember back in the good old days when a System Administrator who had 7 years experience pulled in $120,000 a year? Now if you make over $40,000 you are eyed to be axed. After $45,000 you have to walk in water and know everything to justify to keep your job. They can find some guy with 1 year experience in help desk to always replace them for $32,000 a year to manage their mult million dollar IT infrastructure ... rolls eyes.
I guess cost centers are always treated like crap even if they generate revenue and actually hurt the company when cut
Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:3, Informative)
Most are certainly not random.
My guess is those that sold the least amount of protection plans. All BestBuy is based is upon sales metrics like 80% of the rest of retail. Credit card sales and protection plans are YOU OUT OF THERE.
Re:Which technicians were cut? (Score:3, Informative)
Uh, thanks for the offensive reply.
I do contracting and I am not a sys admin. I have seen all too many times some young 28 year old who was help desk do sys admin for 1200 computers with outdated domain controllers with stale OUs all over the place because the senior guys who made 70k were let go due to economic times etc.
I have not seen any respectable sys admin make more than 55k in years which is shocking since having a crappy help desk costs little compared to having the network down!