Mac Daniel's Advice

Getting a Mac Job

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: New 2008 iMac 2GB $42 / iMac Intel Core2 DUO & MacBook Pro 2GB $36 - 1GB $20. MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94 -- Free shipping available.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FW400/800/USB2/eSATA Portables High Performance A/V Rated, **Bus Powered** **Up to 500GB in the Palm of your Hand** Macworld Editor's Choice, CNET 'Very Good' - from $75.99!

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

New iMac 800Mhz Memory 4GB $90, 2GB $45 - Click to Maximize your Macs...

- 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.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.