Anyone an Apple certified technician?

[Am3r1ca16]

I am wanting to get my Apple certification for Hardware which includes the Hardware exam and OS X Troubleshooting exam. I see that just the exams are 150 a piece.

What route did you go to get certified? I have been working on Apple computers for a while now, and I am pretty familiar with OS X. Did you even study or train for the exam?

I took a apple certified technician class back in high school a few years back but never was able to to take the test since the way the school managed the class was a disaster. Now 3 years later I'm seriously considering paying and taking the test to become certified. I'm familiar withy eh whole mac eco system. Back then I was clueless with macs which kind of made it difficult to understand since I was a PC person back then.

Anyone know the average pay or start pay for being a technician?

Thanks!

 

[sevoneone]

How to study is up to you, your knowledge and experience level. The training and tests are designed to drive home Apple's brand of split-half troubleshooting which is pretty straight forward. If you don't have a lot of experience in a support environment, a class would probably be good.

You can also do the Mac Management and Mac Integration associate exams online now for $65 and it is actually a great way to learn the format and questions Apple uses on their certification tests.

That said, I think I would make sure you pickup some additional general IT certifications in the process of getting the Apple ones. In my experience, the Apple Hardware certs are icing on the cake, your overall experience and training matter more to employers. Most businesses will ave a mixed environment of Macs and PCs with the Macs bound to a Windows AD server anyways. So it is best to know all sides.

You might even consider doing the other certs first as being being an ACMT does not let you repair any Apple hardware until you are employed by an authorized service provider.

 

[Mr Rabbit]

I've been ACMT (Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) certified since around 2008.

ACSP (Apple Certified Support Professional) & ACTC (Apple Certified Technical Coordinator) since 2012.

I got my ACMT when I was hired on at Apple as a Mac Genius. I did my training in Austin over a two week time period where hardware troubleshooting, software troubleshooting, support theory and customer interaction were presented. Ever since then I've maintained it by completing yearly recertification exams, for both hardware & software, though these recerts are now a thing of the past as the exams qualify you for life and you only complete periodic exams as new hardware is released.

Most AASPs and, obviously, Apple if you are hired to be a Genius will both pay for the testing and provide you with GSX access. GSX access is crucial as this is where the official study materials are located. Your background of repairing Macs will surely be helpful but definitely won't be enough to guarantee your passing. The hardware exam has a section on technician safety and a section on ESD precautions, both of which require perfect scores (in addition to a passing score on the rest) in order to pass. In addition to those sections the rest of the test is littered with obscure, generation specific, questions about many different Macs. Stuff like "In what order should you tighten the screws on a Mid-2010 15" MacBook Pro logic board", which obviously requires the official service manual to know. The tests are closed book (meaning no checking GSX or service manuals) but the training material does touch on all of the questions in the test, even the oddball Mac questions.

The other two certifications (ACSP & ACTC) don't help too much from a break/fix support scenario but are pretty helpful if you anticipate helping businesses or working in a networked / server Apple environment. Along those same lines, knowledge of Microsoft Active Directory is helpful as most businesses still rely on this environment even though they are bringing in more and more Macs.

Hopefully that's some good food for thought.