David Silvester : Qwerty IT Services Ltd

David Silverster grew up in Barnehurst in Kent, but it's Perth he now calls home with wife Alison and his two young daughters.  A computer whizz - he was a Senior IT Engineer working for a small business IT provider in England before he moved to Scotland - he owns Qwerty IT Services which sees him doing everything from one-on-one training with clients on how to better use their systems to logging in remotely and sorting out the stuff that makes the rest of us shriek in horror! 

"I do like getting out and about though. I often find myself visiting local customers in and around Perth to fix various computer problems – this is my escape from the office. The typical issues I deal with in this role are servicing and upgrading slow computers, removing viruses, setting up new printers, transferring data from old to new computers and even giving one to one computer lessons.

When he does escape the office he likes nothing more than a day out in the car with the family on a magical mystery tour!

"We like to see where we end up – sometimes we head north to Pitlochry where we like tea and cake in Hetties Tea Rooms, or sometimes we head for a day trip to Tillicoultry - which I can’t even say without doing a Scottish accent."

Hours spent hunched over a desk - or laying flat in a loft (see below!) - take their tole and David likes to stretch things out at the Perth College UHI Gym...  followed by a Costa Coffee of course, where he's nursing a possible coffee addiction!

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

Although the work is often the same, day to day i find myself doing lots of different things. I spend a lot of time working in the office handling business maintenance support requests – this involves logging in remotely to clients and servers belonging to business clients that I look after, and it could be anything from showing users how to perform a particular task to installing security patches on client servers

I once spent all night in someone’s loft repairing their server – the loft space was so small that me and my colleague had to repair the server whilst lying on the loft floor. We also do website work and so I'm now spending more time updating client websites with information that they send over to me or managing the SEO by tweaking the on-page data, optimizing AdWords campaigns or working on outreach campaigns to increase the websites exposure to a targeted audience.

In amongst it all I do try to make sure that the Qwerty IT website has plenty of new and interesting content for people to read. 

Tell us the weirdest / funniest thing that has ever happened to you at work?

Recently a customer in Perth called me up with a very strange problem – their computer was switching on by itself and it seemed to be completely at random. After some investigation it turned out that the computer was being switched on when their next door neighbour unlocked their car.

I managed to resolve the issue by removing the wireless card from the computer (As it was not being used) and that solved the problem.

That’s one of the strangest issues that I have come across recently, but a few years ago I spent all night in someone’s loft repairing their server – the loft space was so small that me and my colleague had to repair the server whilst lying on the loft floor. We managed to get everything up and running for Monday morning but were very tired, and aching by the end of it!.

What signals the start of your days off?

In the lead up to my days off I normally try to complete (or postpone) everything on my to-do list and then I try to avoid the computer at all costs. Once I manage to get away from technology for an hour or two, I can really get into holiday mode.

What might people be surprised to know about you?

I’ve been learning Kung-Fu for the past 2 and a half years. (Yep - we were surprised! - N)

What is at the top of your bucket list?

I've always wanted to have a day out on the track at Knockhill. 

What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

Working in a call centre for a debt collection agency. 

Who or what inspires you?

Jason Belfort and the “straight line persuasion system”.

Tell us about the day you’d love to live again?

Going to see Beyoncé and Jay-z in Glasgow.

What’s the best part about your job?

The best part about my job is being my own boss – I love knowing that I am building something long-lasting for myself every day that I go to work. I love being able to work extra hard and perhaps work all weekend when something needs to be done and equally, I love being able to stop at 1pm on a Monday for example and decide to take the rest of the day off.

Complete this sentence; the best things in life are….

The best things in life are those moments that you have with family and friends and you reminisce over for years to come.

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David is the owner of Qwerty IT Services Ltd.  Find out more in his Directory Listing >

Read Davids Small City Family Article where he gives us his top tips on 'Keeping Kids Safe Online' >