- 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.
