Pro Bono Advice from a True Pro

Because he’s not a “Lounge Lizard” and rarely answers Premium Questions, Joed911 can be easy to overlook. That is, he’s easy to overlook for those who don’t need help with their printers (or computers, computer accessories, PDAs, routers, and wireless adapters). For those who have come to FixYa because they do need assistance with one of those products, Joed911 is their knight in shining armor, a beacon of hope, and an unmistakable presence on the site.

Joed911 has been on FixYa for just about eight months now. In that time he has assisted an amazing 1764 users and has earned Brand Badges from HP, Acer, Apple, Belkin, Canon, Compaq, Dell, Kodak, Lexmark, Linksys, Toshiba, and Brother. It’s no surprise that Joed911 is a professional technician. What is surprising is that this business owner gives away the vast majority of his advice for free.

Joed911 is a Puerto Rican who was raised in New Jersey and now makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee. He served 11 years in the US Navy and did a tour in Vietnam. He received most of his electronic training while in the Navy and recalls working on computer mainframes “back when they were programmed from the front panel by setting a row of 64 switches.”

Following his military career, Joed911 worked with a well know computer manufacturer as a Field Service Tech. He gained experience servicing anything and everything associated with computers and peripherals. He wonders if anyone else remembers “the days of DOS [and] SCO Xenix, before Windows came along.”

After 18 years in that field Joed911 and his wife, an expert software consultant, started their own company- Core Technologies LLC. They do computer repair, web design, and host websites, databases, email and file servers. According to Joed911, “technology is not only my business but it is also one of my hobbies. Since 1976 it has been a part of my life and I must say, it has been good to me.”

Joed911’s other hobbies include racquetball and volleyball (he especially enjoys besting 20 and 30 year olds) as well as travelling. Speaking of far off places, one of Joed911’s favorite FixYa moments was when a grateful user from Serbia thanked him for his assistance. He says that he thought to himself, “WOW! All the way from Serbia!”

According to Joed911, “it is great to be living in this ever-changing technological world, where every day one is faced with a challenge, whether it is to fix a mechanical or electronic problem or try to figure out why the software went rouge. I have been blessed with this knowledge and I am glad to be able to help out the FixYa community.”

Thanks Joed911, for all your hard work and for embodying the FixYa spirit!