How to become an Apple/Mac admin

15 March 2016, 05:00


Rich Trouton, author of the Der Flounder blog, offers some interesting and useful advice about how to get a job as a Mac admin. See below. This is a specialized and therefore potentially lucrative vocation, and with the boom in the use of iPhones and iPads within business things only look set to get better in terms of employment opportunities.

Here are some snippets of Rich’s advice:

If you’re looking to figure out if this is what you want to do, getting an internship or an entry-level job in the field is a good way to learn. Working at an Apple store, with an eye towards getting on the Genius Bar, is another entryway that a number of new Mac admins have emerged from in recent years. […]

We all get along with a little help from our friends, and the Mac admin community is pretty friendly. Asking questions in the MacAdmin Slack community, on the MacEnterprise mailing list, or on Twitter via the #macadmin or #macadmins hashtag, has helped me out a lot. […]

Whenever possible, use virtual machines when testing – Picking up a copy of VMware Fusion or Parallels and running your tests inside VMs running OS X may be what saves you from hosing your own Mac when something unexpected goes wrong. […]

You have to be able to pick up which direction Apple is signaling that it’s moving to, and adjust your tools and solutions to match that direction. Sometimes that may mean you have to stop using a tool that’s worked for you a long time and pick up a new one to learn from scratch. Be prepared for that possibility and embrace those changes when you see them coming.

I’d add a couple of resources. Firstly, the following books are considered standard bookshelf items by Mac admins I know. Both are the only official Apple-certified books and prepare you directly for Apple certification:



The following sites and/or blogs are also invaluable and should be bookmarked:

If you’re a Mac/Apple admin then mention in the comments any other advice you’d offer. Thanks!



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