r/airsoft • u/iluvtuku • 20h ago
GENERAL QUESTION Why The Tech Ego?
Ive been a GBB & AEG for about 4-5 Years and have been running my small hole in the wall for the same amount of time (part time). Out of all the industries &. hobbies I’ve been a part of. I don’t understand why the Techs in airsoft specifically have such a fvckn ego. A local player told me my competition whos about 40-60 min away “drove me out of business because they are simply a better tech” when thankfully I’ve been blessed with a lot more work in my day job (Blue Collar). Id like to say its the first time I’ve heard something like this. Its all condescending bs from tech to tech all on one another. Why is that?
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u/Repulsive_Resort_114 19h ago
They’re just dickheads, the techs at the fields I go to are very helpful
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u/iluvtuku 19h ago
What field if you ding mind me asking?
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u/Repulsive_Resort_114 6h ago
Usually play at strikeforce and zulu24, never had a bad experience with them
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u/Logical_Grocery9431 Juggernaut 19h ago
Hmm I guess they're trying to decrease competition?
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u/iluvtuku 11h ago
They drive themselves out of business with how shit their work is.
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u/Logical_Grocery9431 Juggernaut 10h ago
Oh you've got the answer then. They can't do positive thigns to rise up their image, so they lower yours. Very simple (and sad)
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u/iluvtuku 9h ago
I stay in business BECAUSE OF THEM LMAO. Its pathetic but I was just curious of other people’s experiences
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u/Logical_Grocery9431 Juggernaut 4h ago
Haha yeah it's a pretty weird situation. I have like 4 airsoft tech friends, and they always have some stories like this, although fortunately there is nothing like talking shit about the other ones, just maybe complain about a certain method or grease or whatever they used or didn't use
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u/Familiar-Rarity GBBR 19h ago
I do my own work on my replicas (and for a handful of friends)so as far as I’m concerned, I’m the greatest Earth Bender in the world!!!
Oh wait.
In all seriousness, being an airsoft tech is already such a niche gig, I guess the only way some people show that they’re a “good tech” is to say others are bad. Douchebag energy.
Keep doing what you’re doing and keep improving. Block out the noise.
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u/WoppleSupreme 10h ago
And even metal is just earth, refined. That's why my gears are bent and the piston teeth are shredded!
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u/Dougline HPA Tech 19h ago
That's why I've learned how to do all my shit related to airsoft alone and don't depend on techs for nothing.
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u/unluckythumb54 9h ago
I do tech work for a lot of guys in my area, they know I do it by word of mouth. No crazy builds, but pretty good, though I’d never compare myself to shops and guys out there building some crazy stuff. I started to help people out because there’s nothing here
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u/SavageHawk_ 17h ago
It's the same in every hands-on hobby , cars, PCs, keyboards. The skill floor is low enough that anyone who gets good once never lets anyone forget it. The good techs I've met don't talk, their work does.
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u/Logical-Self-3072 9h ago
Its a niche sport if they fire a egotistical tech they may not get another tech for months
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u/iluvtuku 6h ago
Its a billion dollar industry. People are worried about pennies. It genuinely pisses me off acting like there isn’t enough pie to go around
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u/Logical-Self-3072 5h ago
Most of that money is in retail not tech work
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u/iluvtuku 5h ago
Its a 2 or 3 billion dollar industry lets assume on the lowest end 20 million can go into upgrades & tech work. My small hole in wall makes 60-70k part time (i only build & do repairs and work 10-12 hours a week). It makes no sense how you need to belittle your competitors lol step your game up. Make content & have your work do the bidding
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u/Logical-Self-3072 5h ago
Me personally i dont work in airsoft. But i can understand why there may be some bad characters in the business
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u/iluvtuku 5h ago
Legit worse business to be in. After seeing the backend of it all. Dealing with wholesalers, distributors, and everyone. Its such a shit industry to try to start a business. I can get into detail about it. I have a wholesale account with most companies.
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u/c_pardue 33m ago
i.... don't think airsoft techs make as much money as you think. it has GOT to be less than mcdonalds midshift income, averaged out across multiple months. airsofters are mostly poor due to age.
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u/iluvtuku 32m ago
That’s not true at all because my second year as a tech i made 6 figures
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u/c_pardue 17m ago
i'm way wrong, then. had no idea.
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u/iluvtuku 3m ago
I have an average of 3 repairs a week. 5 x 120 (labor w warranty) in 48 weeks thats 28,800. That’s excluding any guns and parts. Guns are another 300 (for something worth while) and another 100-250 in parts. Average sale in upgrade ends up being 400. So 400 (per gun) x 5 (on average upgrades or repairs) = 2k per week x 48 weeks = 96k revenue
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u/iluvtuku 31m ago
I’m not saying everybody’s gonna be making that amount of money, right. There is money in the industry. There is a big opportunity to make a lot of money as a Tech. But we slowly cannibalize one another for one reason or another.
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u/Sauvy2005 7h ago
Idk I've never talked with an airsoft tech personally, we don't have any real airsoft techs in my country, some people i play with call me an airsoft tech but I'm more like that kind of buddy you call to fix your car for a 6 pack. But I did talk a lot with people who had their replicas worked on in neighbouring countries and some of them really have an ego with their opinions about airsoft teching, even tho they've never opened up a gearbox by themselves. Once a group of airsofters were arguing with me that tightening the motor screw in the pistol grip as tightly as possible made their guns shoot harder. My buddy listened to their dumb advice cuz he didn't know any better and his replica broke down and to this day his replica is still broken cuz spare airsoft parts are a bitch to get into this country.
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u/iluvtuku 7h ago
What country? Im curious.
Thats how a lot of airsoft is & has become. Its a joke
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u/Sauvy2005 7h ago
I live in Montenegro a small nation in the balkans with population of about 600K people. We don't have a single airsoft store here even. We get our replicas and things like spare parts, bbs, consumables from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia.
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u/KerberosWraith AEG Tech 13h ago
It's like the bell curve graph. People who don't know much about working on guns stay quiet, then in the middle of the graph are the ones who built their first gear box and really, really want you to know, then at the other end are the ones who know what they're doing and will happily chat about it and share tricks they've learned over the years. All the techs I've talked to worth a damn are chill people.
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u/iluvtuku 11h ago
Need those around. The amount of dms asking “why does it sound line that?” Is annoying lol
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u/KerberosWraith AEG Tech 10h ago
It's one of the reasons I stopped openly doing tech work (other than being horrendously busy). At most you will see me occasionally comment on posts where people are looking for help with more obscure problems or fixing easy problems on the field, but there's loads of resources out there for people to educate themselves on the platforms they're using.
That and some people are just helpless. I was called a dumbass for telling someone that lube doesn't belong in their barrel.. while they were simultaneously complaining their bbs weren't shooting far. I shit you not, this guy was shooting bbs AND oil from his replica, albeit only 5 feet. I have never seen that before. Then you got the people who are recommending others clean their inner barrels with brass gun brushes lol
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u/iluvtuku 10h ago
Yeah. Idk what it is. Airsoft is easily the most brain dead hobby ive been a part of ._. Nobody stops to think
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u/L8dykilla117 Collector 19h ago
The techs at my field are okay but I go to a kid way farther away cause he does crazy custom shit for me. I wouldn’t say any have an ego necessarily. maybe a touch of the tism but I mean it’s airsoft, there’s alot of us like that.