Apple technician training

[dayzd]

Greetings

 

I've been given the opportunity to get some official training on Apple Macs and OS X Server (only a year after we bought them in) and wanted to ask what training other people have undertaken and found useful.

 

I'd really like to complete the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) course, but wonder if the Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) course would be enough to push my skills forward. I'm leaning towards the former, as I've been managing OS X Server and 15 clients for about a year and have picked up quite a lot of the basics already.

 

Are there any other courses you know of that I should consider? What are your thoughts on the ACSP and ACTC qualifications?

 

Any input would be appreciated; as these courses are quite costly compared to our training budget, I wanna make sure I make the right choice!

[bladedanny]

I'd go for the ACTC because if you do support essentials and get ACSP then you're already halfway to been technical coordinator. Also I personally found the server essentials easier than the support essentials.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Dan ACTC

[mac_shinobi]

I'd go for the ACTC because if you do support essentials and get ACSP then you're already halfway to been technical coordinator. Also I personally found the server essentials easier than the support essentials.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Dan ACTC

 

whats the difference between them and are those the only ones available - any links ??

[Ben-BSH]

What is the "Mac for idiots" equivalent?

 

i can use one, just, but would like to have some proper training, and the ACTC course you speak of seems like it may be expecting me to have more experience than i have.

[dayzd]

Thanks for your responses, guys.

 

I've been looking at this Training and Certification page and confused myself about what course leads you to which qualification... (I can be surprisingly dumb sometimes!)

 

To gain an ACTC qualification, I have to do both the Support Essentials and Server Essentials exams (101 is a pre-requisite of 201, yes?), and by only doing one or the other I'd get an ACSP, right?

 

Pretty sure I'm going to go with the Server Essentials course, as that's the area I'm lacking knowledge in (I've used Macs at home for years, so I'm pretty familiar with them), just waiting to hear back from our bloke at Jigsaw what he recommends.

[Tony_Mc]

Hi

 

I completed the Mac Snow 101 Desktop essentials last week, it was a 3 day course with an optional exam at the end.

 

I found it quite tough but came away with a lot, including a proper certification, something I had yet to get for anything Microsoft based!

 

great course!

 

Tony

[Robbocop]

I'm going to put a plug in here, and I apologise if that's cheeky, but it's not a plug for Jigsaw, I promise!

There are Apple accredited training centres all over the UK, and they all deliver the same training courses. Some of these are outstanding, and for abullett the one I'd recommend is the NTI in Birmingham. It's a really good, comfortable training centre - very modern - and the trainers they use are first class. All our techs are trained there, and I know they do training for most of the other resellers in the area, including RM.

 

There was a question about other types of training too, and it's worth everyone knowing that JISC and NTI Birmingham have a set of very education focussed one day courses called Taming The Mac aimed at Windows users wanting to adapt to Apple. They are not meant to go in depth like the Apple ones do, but they're a really good starting point.

 

Get in touch with their training coordinator, Neil Emery and he'll tell you what you need to know. He's honest and knowledgeable. NTI Birmingham : Apple, Adobe and Avid Accredited Training Courses

 

I hope that helps.

[Tony_Mc]

I'm going to put a plug in here, and I apologise if that's cheeky, but it's not a plug for Jigsaw, I promise!

There are Apple accredited training centres all over the UK, and they all deliver the same training courses. Some of these are outstanding, and for abullett the one I'd recommend is the NTI in Birmingham. It's a really good, comfortable training centre - very modern - and the trainers they use are first class. All our techs are trained there, and I know they do training for most of the other resellers in the area, including RM.

 

There was a question about other types of training too, and it's worth everyone knowing that JISC and NTI Birmingham have a set of very education focussed one day courses called Taming The Mac aimed at Windows users wanting to adapt to Apple. They are not meant to go in depth like the Apple ones do, but they're a really good starting point.

 

Get in touch with their training coordinator, Neil Emery and he'll tell you what you need to know. He's honest and knowledgeable. NTI Birmingham : Apple, Adobe and Avid Accredited Training Courses

 

I hope that helps.

 

This is the place I went.

 

awesome course

[DMcCoy]

I did the support and server essentials courses for 10.4. They were quite good but suffer from the same rose tinted view that happens with MS courses, avoiding any areas that we, and Apple/MS know are broken or don't really work too well.

[AntonioRocco]

Hi

 

I have to agree with DMcCoy. Many years ago I also did the 10.4 Courses and I found the same thing. Luckily I was familiar with some of the bits that were broken and how to work around them. The ACSA Courses on the other hand don't pull any punches and cover far more ground at a much deeper level. However they come at a price in the mental investment required to not only complete the course but to pass the tests of which there are many (depending on the track course taken). If you think the ACTC Test is/was hard the ACSA Course is harder still by a factor of 10 (at least). Mark required to pass is higher.

 

Things have changed since 10.4 as there were multiple track courses you could take. Apple began to ring the changes with 10.5 and now 10.6. No such thing as ACHDS anymore or even ACDT or ACPT. The 'rules' regarding re-certification are also changing although for hardware you're still required to re-certify yearly. I would not be surprised when 10.7 (KiteKat perhaps?) comes out it will all change again?

 

Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

Edited February 26, 2010 by AntonioRocco

[Guest theeldergeek]

Hi

 

I completed the Mac Snow 101 Desktop essentials last week, it was a 3 day course with an optional exam at the end.

 

I found it quite tough but came away with a lot, including a proper certification, something I had yet to get for anything Microsoft based!

 

great course!

 

Tony

 

Hi Tony, got any links to further details about this course? I support Mac's myself, much of which has been a huge and steep learning curve, but I'd like to polish what I know off with something formal.

 

Not looking for a 'heavy' qualification as I'm not at a level which I think I would do too well if it involves Unix command line knowledge etc, but general support is something I'm comfortable with.

 

I know my limits!

[str]

I'd recommend is the NTI in Birmingham. .... Get in touch with their training coordinator, Neil Emery and he'll tell you what you need to know. He's honest and knowledgeable. NTI Birmingham : Apple, Adobe and Avid Accredited Training Courses

 

I hope that helps.

 

I also highly recommend Neil and as a starting point, the "Taming the Mac" courses he can arrange.

[macsit]

I also highly recommend Neil and as a starting point, the "Taming the Mac" courses he can arrange.

 

I agreed.

[Boon72]

i did both courses last summer and yes you need to do the 101 ACSP and 201 to get the ACTC, the other 3 courses make up the ACSA