Hi,


Just curious if anyone has taken any of the Apple Pro exams? Are they worth taking? How hard are they?


ccuk

I havnt but my friend who has assures me they're easy enough to pass. I'm planning to do mine after I get some more money in the bank

Which are you planning on taking?

Whatever one will get me into an Apple Store working in the Genius Bar. I'll get the exact name in a bit

Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) is your base requirement, however without the System Administrator (SA) I don't think you will even get close to the Genius Bar. The requirements for those individuals is astronomical, you'd be amazed that the level they are held to.

I myself have everything including the Apple Certified Trainer (ACSP/ACTC/ACSA/ACT) and can tell you that though the entry level exams aren't all that hard, by the time you get into your SA training you'll realize how much UNIX you need to know in addition to simple Mac OS to accomplish anything!

I am looking more at the creative ones myself, maybe aiming for the Final Cut Studio Master certification...

Where can I find more information on these exams? Are they held in Belgium too?

Please forgive my lack of knowledge on this subject, but why does one take such an exam?

For the reasons I mentioned above. To work in an Apple related environment.

I would love to Work in a genius bar, simply because then i'd have a valid excuse for my constant ramblings of being such a Genius.
Genius like Washu that is.

Thanks for the heads up Cara, i'll look into those exams. I'll do anything to get them. I like to think I already know a fair amount about Unix but have much to learn.

Jeez, is that what you need to achieve to be a certified trainer or technician? All the people at my local Apple store I've dealt with when I had problems with my notebooks have been absolute muppets. For example, I had the inverter problem with the Rev. A. MBP and told them it needed replacing as suggested but no, they just replaced the freekin mobo instead, which didn't solve the problem. Oh and they scratched the display getting the mobo out.

I could have done a better job myself.

Ouch, sorry to hear about the screen, you should have had it out with the Store Manager on that one, they know better.

As for the Techs seeming bad, they have a very detailed course of action to follow for certain problems as mandated by Apple Engineering, thus sometimes their hands are tied as to what they are allowed to do for the first report on a device.

As for the Certs, in my job, I prefer to have them all.

*sigh* Why are my avatars always ripped?

It sucks, yes. However, isn't your avatar from the iStickers pack of icons?

The genius bar ppl have been helpful at my local store, but the "normal" people there are usually retarded.

Here in England the Apple Staff really dont know what they're doing, +1 for the Genius Bar. Had a issue with Leopard after upgrading (too complicated to go into) and they suggested sending my MacBook in for repair, I declined and my issue was fixed in 10.5.1.

I guess Apple really concentrate on giving a good impression in the US but in Europe they're just another company that makes PCs. I remember going into an Apple Store in Spain and all the iMacs were bootcamped into Windows, I asked the manager why and he said "windows is better" I told him I hope he loses his job and he didnt take that well

Regardless, Exams booked wish me luck

http://training.apple.com/

I am unsure if they are in belgium...





They are proof of knowledge in a given area related to Apple equipment and software. So something good for companies to show off if they have a certified employee but also if you are looking for a job in an environment which relies heavily on apple equipment... also quite helpful.



Best of luck Vegetunks.

Indeed but I do give credit to D. Lanham in the "Your avatar & signature thread". I bet the other person saw mine, saved it and uploaded it. A pity because avatars do somewhat give identity some way or the other to a user.

Anyway, another one. Last chance, once again thanks to David.


Apple has a great job open in Belgium here.

Well sorry to burst your bubble but I actually downloaded the pack myself from iconfactory.com...

I don't care where you got it from, I was only pointing out that someone was one step ahead of you.

Semi back on topic, speaking of unintelligent apple employees.

I went into my local Apple store about 6 months ago looking for a 7200RPM external firewire HDD and the guy had no idea what I was talking about. I ended up just having to look for it myself, and it was like $300 too much.

$300 too much?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TR727ZM/...mp;mco=Njg3NTE0

I have one of those at home and love it, great product for the price.

They didnt have that one in the store.

The only ones they had in the store were like $400.
Not exactly $300 too much, but I can get a nice G-drive for less or a WD on newegg for way less.

It really just made me angry that they employee didnt even know what I was talking about.
And it's happened before.

I always tell people, if that type of thing happens in the store, don't hesitate to talk to the Store Manager, they have no tolerance for their staff giving bad information as if it happens to a 'Corporate Shopper' it can be taken out on the Store Manager for not keeping their staff up to date.

Indeed Cara. When you are confronted with someone who doesn't do his job as he should you should tell someone higher up. Not because you don't like the person giving the bad information but because you want the service to be 100% accurate. It's in yours, and everyone else's, best interest to do so. It's sad that, in a world like today, no one dares to step up anymore because they are afraid of the consequences but actually, they should step up only to avoid another moment of doubt.

Indeed. Apple is truly a place where Managers are held to task for the actions of their employees, more on the retail side than I've ever seen before! I'd rather offer friendly advice to a store manager than have it come down on them the next time they are 'shopped' by Apple.

Don't be afraid to step up, if you're nice and polite you will get it right back 9/10.

I've been a windows guy all my life and have hated on and bashed Apple for years until I understood them. My job got me a macbook one day and the rest is history. I fell in love with Apple products SO MUCH to where I purchased the machine you see in my sig and I"m apple only in my house. I have this machine and a Mac min with no complaints (other than this weird bug I'm having in Photo Shop) ANYHOW I say all that to say that I fell in love with Mac's so much as to want switch my career path totally and start support Mac's... I want to quit the windows environment all together and become and all Mac support guy. Only problem is at my level of Windows support it seems that I would have to take a significant pay cut (40k+ cut) to switch over to Apple because at that point even though I have all this experience in general in the tech world (8+ years) once I become Apple Certified I will still be just that... a fresh NEW certified Apple tech. Kinda sucks because I'm REALLY fed up and tired of what I do and would love to switch over to the Apple side of things.

Money isn't everything... however it counts for a lot. Ultimately you have to be happy with your life.

Whichever way you go I wish you the best .

I found the Apple exams to be very straight forward and easy to take. They do not try to deceive you like Microsoft exams.

+ 1 - Down here in Aussieland they are the most clueless bunch of zealots i've ever seen, although I know this is because they are not 'real' -Center's, it kinda sucks for us .. So i hear they are opening their first -Store in Aus but, ITS IN SYDNEY!!

Still, when I took my laptop for service I was trying to convince them to let me into their service area and fix it myself, solely because they just don't know wtf their doing. (took it there like 3 times, told em what's wrong, what needs fixing and they changed parts completely irrelevant to the issues)