I'm 21, and most people trust me. They think I'm part of the "computer" generation who "knows everything about computers". I'm trained as an electronics tech, I got an EET degree for it, but people still say "Oh, you are into computers?". People do trust me to fix their expensive equipment, but all I've ever been offered to do is fix the pesky problems with windows and it's adware/spyware and hook up things for people. Right now, being a tech and having a shop where people bring in their electronics for cd/dvd players, stereos, modern tvs, etc just won't work because most electronics are digital, cheap, difficult-if not possibly to dianose and fix, and a real pita, even with the limited service data that is available because electronics companies think everyone will steal their designs. I hate it how people would hand me a dvd player and expect me to magically get it working again thinking it will require no effort at all because I'm "smart" when in reality the dvd player was made for $20 over in china and the no-name IC is fried, or the drive mechanism broke and I have no way to get it calibrated so the mechanisms move the way they should. Not to mention the surface mount stuff is impossible to diagnose problems with it, as well as desolder it too.
Infact I was handed a bill acceptor from an arcade machine which has some problem with it. I was told it "displays 3", probably meaning some error code that's used in the game it was connected to. Without any service documentation, test jigs, pc software, calibration procedure, etc I'm expected to pull a magic wand out of my ass, wave it around the bill acceptor and have it automatically fixed. Then they ask what was wrong with it and I tell them what's wrong and they have no clue about what I'm talking about... Unfortunately, this is the only way to make extra money fixing things for people. But I should look on the bright side, because I'm so "smart" and I know "computers", people trust me!
Jonathan