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Mac Daniel's Advice

Getting a Mac Job

- 2000.09.07

Julie was one of the first Mac Daniel writers. She got a real job in Mac support earlier this year, which has kept her too busy to write here regularly. We're glad she found the time to write this.

Q: How did you get that Mac job?

A: I've gotten this question several times from both online and "real life" friends and acquaintances since I became the Network Coordinator for the University Relations office at The University of Kansas. I think the Mac nerd in all of us sometimes yearns to have a job where we get to play with Macs all day. Since I'm not so competitive as to be unwilling to share my secrets, here's how it worked for me.

Having a college degree never hurts, but it's not always completely necessary. Some places won't even give your resume a second glance without a degree of some sort, some require a computer science degree, and some don't really care as long as you know your stuff. I happen to have a degree - in Music Education. I played up my teaching experience and hoped for the best.

If you're still in college, take advantage of your university's job board. I worked as a "lab rat" at our Computer Center for two and a half years, eventually working my way up to doing telephone support on everything from Mac connectivity in dorm rooms to printing problems with PeopleSoft. The pay may not be as good as waiting tables at your local Applebee's, but the experience is invaluable. If you play your cards right, you'll get to use and support lots of different equipment, you'll learn how to give good technical support, and you'll get to spend a lot of time around lots of smart people. Having good references from a job dealing with technology never hurts either.

Incidentally, I also did a year and a half stint as a customer service desk jockey at the local Walmart. Having that job gave me perspective - that is, no job I could ever have could be as lousy or as stressful as that one was. If you can survive two Christmases at the Wally World service desk, you can definitely survive any challenge that could be thrown your way as a Mac tech support guru.

Having your own Mac never hurts. I learned so much when my mother brought home an LC 580 that her school had foolishly jettisoned during a district-wide move to Compaq PCs. I took it apart, put it back together, formatted the drive, and set it up about a million times, searched for any scrap of information I could find about it on the web, did every upgrade I could afford and that was cost-effective, and joined Quadlist. Even if you're on a budget, a solid Mac can be had for well under $300 - lots of them seem to be going on Dan's new Swap List.

Probably the most important part of the entire process is being willing to spend lots of time "playing," reading, and asking questions. If you are not interested in learning new things, doing any kind of tech support will probably not be your bag. While a lab rat, I did a lot of reading, both on the web and in print magazines. Low End Mac was my second home on the web, and I read all the Macworld and MacAddict magazines I could get my hands on. (I still do a lot of reading, just so I can keep from getting buried under all the magazines Ziff Davis showers my mailbox with. Egads.)

My least favorite part of the entire process was the job search itself. Explaining away my degree was always fun - sometimes I felt like people misinterpreted my dislike for teaching as a dislike for children in general.

Where I live in the Midwest, there aren't a lot of all-Mac shops looking for their own personal tech support person. From what I could tell by searching Monster.com, if I would have been willing to relocate to one of the coasts, I would have had quite a few more prospects than I did here in Kansas. Depending on your locale and your willingness to relocate, it may behoove you to learn more about Windows, UN*X, databases, HTML, etc. Obviously, the more skills you have, the more marketable you will be.

The process doesn't happen overnight, but it was a worthwhile venture - at least I think so. I get paid to buy, set up, and support shiny new Mac hardware and software. My coworkers appreciate me and aren't afraid to ask for my help. Honestly, most of the time it doesn't even seem like work.

As someone who also "fell into" a Mac support job, I can vouch for Julie's advice. Learn and keep on learning. Dan Knight, publisher

Julie Fugett is a network administrator for an almost 100% Mac department at a large Midwestern university. Her favorite movie of all time is Tron, and she still can't come up with a decent name or theme for her personal website.

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