Anyone who has either studied or works with technology knows the drill, "hey, can you fix my computer/phone/tablet/alien healing machine?" I once had a t-shirt from a Microsoft conference that said, "No, I will not fix your computer". That wasn't entirely true because goodness knows I've fixed a number of computers/phones/tablets/alien healing machines in my day. I've fixed systems for the young and the not-so-young. I had to chuckle when I was helping an older man (over 75) whose "neighbor" had used his computer and ended up getting adult content on the system, along with some annoying spyware. I told him to not let his "neighbor" browse for that sort of content on his laptop because malicious stuff hangs out on those sites. I felt bad because the man's daughter was non-technical and his granddaughter wasn't old enough to be of use yet. I have even helped out office workers at medical facilities figure out what was wrong with their computer1 (maybe I need to obfuscate my profession when filling out documentation). Twitter abounds with tales of woe of computer science students who are called upon to fix computers.
Of course, I am tech support for my mother, and was even tech support when my father was alive, as well. Back in 2003 I remember him calling me up to ask what this "wiffy" thing was that he kept seeing everywhere. I told him I needed more context. "It's on the door at Panera and Starbucks." Ah, I thought. "Wi-Fi. It's free Internet service." Since they didn't have laptops, and phones didn't use Wi-Fi back then it didn't come up again, but "wiffy" stuck as a term and it's what my family uses to discuss Wi-Fi. If someone doesn't know the story they think I'm an idiot, of course, the way we snicker when we hear someone call an older operating system Dee-Ohh-Ess (DOS) or refer to a server-side web programming platform as though it were a snake (ASP) To be fair, initialisms are difficult and those examples are opposites.
(I wonder if other families have an insider language, such as when my husband and I use "defiantly" to mean "definitely" - we got tired of seeing "definitely" spelled as "defiantly" in numerous social media comments. Instead of "possibly" we say "possumably" and I put paramecium cheese on my pasta. If folks don't know that's on porpoise... ;-)
So, anyhow, our parents brought us into the world, did not kill us during our teen years, and may have assisted in educational expenses, so I figure we do owe them free tech support. With parents there is a quid-pro-quo that goes on and I don't feel an imbalance. One gets compensated in some fashion.
80% of all troubleshooting is cable-related.
Things change when it's not parents. I'm sure you all have heard the stories of people who are starting any sort of business and are asked by friends or more distant family members to do something for free. My husband was telling me about a photographer in his cycling group who was asked to shoot a wedding for free. An acquaintance who runs a service to coach event planning was asked to provide the service free to a friend and her entire bridal party (hmmm...there is a trend developing there....) I know of graphic designers who are asked to design logos for free, in order to get a job or project. They have a name for that in their profession: spec work, short for speculative work. The client asks for a sample or runs a contest, but the presumption is the sample is a complete design. The designer submits the work to the client who takes it, doesn't offer the job, and runs off with a free design. There is a No Spec movement among designers, in fact.
Here is a parody video that highlights how clients can de-value consultants:
(My advice when dealing with friends or family who are artisans: ask them how much their rate is. If they wish to offer a friends and family discount that is their cue to do so but do not expect one.)
Cybersecurity professionals are not immune from this scourge. I wish I had captured the tweet when I saw it, but a young cybersecurity professional was asking for advice on how to tell her uncle that she wasn't going to set up security for his small business for free. It was that tweet that inspired this blog post. What we do has value and if we give it away for free others will not value it.
Another way of looking at free work is to call it unpaid work. Traditional examples of unpaid work include domestic labor (cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare, elder care, etc.) but also tidying up at the office, taking notes, and planning parties. These services have a cost to them and it can be figured out by calculating how much someone would have to be paid to do them if there weren't a volunteer around doing them. Free or unpaid work is often viewed as low status and the people performing the work are viewed as low status, as well. This is particularly the case with women.
From a purely practical standpoint, if one gives away one's services for free one has no money to live on and can end up living in a van, down by the river, or worse.
Despite knowing that free/unpaid work is not in your best interest, if an uncle or a cousin or a parent's old college friend needs cybersecurity consulting and asks or hints that you should do that for free that is going to be an uncomfortable situation. Fortunately, other professionals have been through this and have advice:
- Saying no to friends who want you to work for free.
- What Should You Do When You're Asked to Work For Free? (this has some vibrant language, but talks about risk)
- Why are Friends and Family Always Asking For Free Service?
Really lame reference to a popular music singer
Some of you might be wondering at this point, "what about pro bono work?" That is an excellent point! There is, in fact, a difference between giving your labor away for free, which could be called volunteering, and pro bono work. Pro bono - "for the public good" - work is often associated with attorneys,
as the American Bar Association encourages attorneys to do 50 hours of pro bono work a year and some states require evidence of pro bono work to maintain licenses. One does not need to be a lawyer to offer pro bono services, but the person must be offering professional services for which they would otherwise be paid. Pro bono services can be offered without charge or at a reduced charge, but documentation must be kept under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to be considered as a business tax deduction. The language used with the recipient is important; emphasize you are doing pro bono work and provide an invoice showing the cost of your services. There is a formal pro bono program set up for providing cybersecurity to nonprofit organizations through the Crowdstrike Foundation.
Helping others is an important part of being a human. We want to make the world a better place. We need to make sure, though, that we don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. If we give cybersecurity services away without emphasizing their value - their economic value - society will not respect those cybersecurity services properly.
1I told her to watch this video when she had time