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JayTi · Feb 28, 2003, 03:16 PM

In about 20 minutes. I decided to quit my other job and work at Apple full time, thats means as a tech and as a Mac Genius part time. I'm not usually worried about how an interview may go, anyone have any ideas? I'm well versed technically, but anyone want to fathom any other questions they may ask? Cool, thx.

I Bent My Wookiee · Feb 28, 2003, 03:18 PM

Do you have any clue how much they pay?

JayTi · Feb 28, 2003, 03:18 PM

I've been told several numbers. If I get the job I'll tell ya guys, but last figure I heard was $47k/year

ThisGuy · Feb 28, 2003, 06:17 PM

have any of you taken the Mac OS Service & Support exam? if so, how difficult was it? anything specific i should study or pay more attention to?

Zimphire · Feb 28, 2003, 06:26 PM

47k isn't bad, depends on the price of living where you live.

marusin · Feb 28, 2003, 06:33 PM

Wow, I've heard it was much less... If anyone knows for sure (ala willing to share how much they make as a Mac Genius), please share...

Originally posted by JayTi:
I've been told several numbers. If I get the job I'll tell ya guys, but last figure I heard was $47k/year

Oneota · Feb 28, 2003, 06:52 PM

Originally posted by marusin:
Wow, I've heard it was much less... If anyone knows for sure (ala willing to share how much they make as a Mac Genius), please share...

I've heard $70K/year quoted by someone who was offered the job in MN.

gorickey · Feb 28, 2003, 07:02 PM

No, no, no....it's $35-40k MAX!

fireside · Feb 28, 2003, 09:04 PM

good luck.

gorickey you live where i live :o

gorickey · Feb 28, 2003, 09:05 PM

Originally posted by fireside:
good luck.

gorickey you live where i live :o

Hey there, where city?

fireside · Feb 28, 2003, 09:10 PM

Munchkinville, Oz. I'm their leader cause i'm so tall.

gorickey · Feb 28, 2003, 09:19 PM

Originally posted by fireside:
Munchkinville, Oz. I'm their leader cause i'm so tall.

Sweet, being the leader is great!

And where would this "city' be located again?

fireside · Feb 28, 2003, 09:47 PM

follow the yellow brick road backwards

JayTi · Feb 28, 2003, 09:52 PM

They want me full time for 40 hours...ain't happenin. I'll just apply for the plain ol' specialist. This isn't so much for money, I make ~$90k as an L3 tech, this is just something to take up more time, I only work 25 hours a week otherwise

gorickey · Feb 28, 2003, 09:54 PM

Originally posted by fireside:
follow the yellow brick road backwards

Aww, Kansas City....cool.

denim · Feb 28, 2003, 11:01 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
They want me full time for 40 hours...ain't happenin. I'll just apply for the plain ol' specialist. This isn't so much for money, I make ~$90k as an L3 tech, this is just something to take up more time, I only work 25 hours a week otherwise

You make 90K/year part time??

Boca Raton... IBM?

Mac Zealot · Feb 28, 2003, 11:10 PM

What gets me is how almost all the people I've met at apple are very rude, and have bad attitudes, this is true with both the apple store and the support line.

But I do find some really pleasant people, those I look forward to, sometimes I hang up on the nasty ones and try for a good one

engage1000 · Feb 28, 2003, 11:16 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
They want me full time for 40 hours...ain't happenin. I'll just apply for the plain ol' specialist. This isn't so much for money, I make ~$90k as an L3 tech, this is just something to take up more time, I only work 25 hours a week otherwise

Jay,

I am very interested in knowing what an L3 tech is. I'd love to hear back from you. Thanks in advance!

finalfantasy · Feb 28, 2003, 11:18 PM

90k is really good. Where is that?

daimoni · 08:48 PM

.

JayTi · Feb 28, 2003, 11:38 PM

daimoni, couldn't agree more

I'll probably be behind the genius bar when somebody is busy, considering I'm already AppleCare certified and A+ Certified...

The L3 tech are the guys you don't talk to much. I'm the guy you'd to talk to, say, if your Apple powerbook AC Adapter got so hot that when you picked it up it scortched an Apple logo in to your hand. I authorize replacments for machines, do a lot of the "behind the scenes" action. Its fun...it can be a bit of work but I enjoy it.

JayTi · Feb 28, 2003, 11:53 PM

Also I don't really mind not being the genius, after all most people who come in to an Apple store are "PC switches" so they're not going to go up to one of the sales people and be like "hey, where is your Mac genius?" I think that its just one big ego trip to be honest, but hey--to each their own

denim · Mar 1, 2003, 02:16 AM

Originally posted by JayTi:
The L3 tech are the guys you don't talk to much.

To put it another way, L3 == Level three.

As in, the first person you get when you call Tech Support is a Level 1. If your issue is too much for them, they hand you off to a Level 2. The L2 person knows more than the L1. If the L2 person is lost, THEN you speak to a L3 person. He knows it all, you rarely need to speak with him, but if you do, you've got Real Trouble.

This L1..L3 thing is not limited to Apple. It's pretty generic across customer service organizations.

Clear?

Mac Zealot · Mar 1, 2003, 02:21 AM

So you quit your job at CI? Does this mean we can talk again?

I kinda missed talking to you. it was fun.

The existence of L3 techs has been proven. They are there, more or less known as floor managers. You only get to speak to them if your g4 is to be replaced, has damaged something else, have a complaint ,have requested to speak to their manager, or otherwise.

starman · Mar 1, 2003, 02:23 AM

Originally posted by Mac Zealot:
What gets me is how almost all the people I've met at apple are very rude, and have bad attitudes, this is true with both the apple store and the support line.

But I do find some really pleasant people, those I look forward to, sometimes I hang up on the nasty ones and try for a good one

Which stores?

The Short Hills store screwed me out of my "Double your RAM" promotion, but the Menlo Park store was VERY nice and offered to do it for me.

MIke

JayTi · Mar 1, 2003, 12:07 PM

denim,

Thanks for explaining that, one less thing I have to

Yes, Level 3 Techs you talk to in serious issues. Lets say you drop your powerbook down the stairs. First you speak to a level 1, they get your information, find out what happened and in the above case they would want you to send it in for repair not covered by warranty. If you refuse and you want it covered by warranty then you'll talk to me

Mac Zealot · Mar 2, 2003, 05:38 AM

So, why ya leaving?

Mar 2, 2003, 09:39 AM

Originally posted by JayTi:
They want me full time for 40 hours...ain't happenin. I'll just apply for the plain ol' specialist. This isn't so much for money, I make ~$90k as an L3 tech, this is just something to take up more time, I only work 25 hours a week otherwise

Christ, no wonder Macs cost so much...

daydreamer · Mar 2, 2003, 09:52 AM

+ he probably gets the macs cheaper

JayTi · Mar 2, 2003, 12:20 PM

daydreamer,

Mac Zealot · Mar 2, 2003, 08:37 PM

Originally posted by JayTi:
daydreamer,

I ask again. Are you still pissed off at me?

tooki · Mar 3, 2003, 03:36 AM

Alas, my impression when I interviewed for a Genius position was that they were more interested in seeing how well I can fit the Apple mold than how well I can actually help the customer. I think they figured out by the end of the interview that my loyalties would lie with the users and not Apple, so they didn't hire me. Their loss, everyone that knows me says. (Including the one bright light that works at the local Apple store.)

tooki

P.S. I agree that Apple hires a lot of rude nitwits for both retail and phone.

Liquidity X · Mar 3, 2003, 11:23 AM

Hey I had my 3rd interview for genuis position on thurs (27th) and both of the peopel I was meeting where very nice. They where head of retail hiring. They couldn't give me $ cause of NDA butsaid it was very comprimal to IT work for a private busness. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and maybe i'll hear back from them in a week or so with an offer. regaurdless it was fun to go threw all the interview and the phone tech quiz which i smoked, missed liek 2 Q's cause I was on medication and it was making my "loopy"... damn pnemonia, but irembered them as soona s I hung up the phone, so it was kind of frusterating, but oh well good luck man, I hope you get called back for the 2nd and 3rd interview liek I did. And If i get offered the possition and can let yah know about $$ I will, but if i can't I can't., good luck agian bud.

daimoni · 08:49 PM

.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 3, 2003, 12:23 PM

Well, you would be working FOR Apple...

I don't understand why it would be hard to be loyal to Apple.

Can you name something that you would have an issue with where you would side with the customer? I guess if they wanted a CRT monitor or didn't want to buy Microsoft Office etc.

tooki · Mar 3, 2003, 11:18 PM

Things like knowing a solution to a problem but not being able to offer it since it's not an "official" solution. Not being allowed to acknowledge problems that you know about, but Apple corporate hasn't acknowledged (the recently-acknowledged 10.2.4 modem bug would be an example of this). Not being allowed (!!) to spend appreciable time helping customers with non-Apple products (even those sold in an Apple store). You're supposed to tell them that it's a third-party product and to talk to the manufacturer. (That's not what I though SJ said when first unveiling the retail stores. I thought I heard mention of offering "one place" where Mac people can go.) Note also that the Geniuses spend most of their time in the back (60% according to the manager I interviewed with) fixing machines, not in the front with customers! They "found that the sales staff were just as good at looking up information on the internet," and so they man the Genius bar instead. I guess that explains why the Geniuses (or sales staff, I guess!) at 2 of the 3 retail stores I've visited offered bogus info.

(None of these are fictitious examples. I take full advantage of the fact that interviews should be two-way roads of communication, and asked lots of questions, including some that led to those answers.)

I've been told that there's a "One Apple" mantra tossed around within the company, roughly stating that you are to act as a pro-Apple-corporate person even when not at work, that is, that there should be no distinction between "you" and "you the Apple employee." I for one couldn't do that -- I will see, and acknowledge, fault when I see it, certainly when it involves my employer, and most certainly when it harms the customer (and MOST certainly when it involves an irate customer and I'm at the front line!) .

tooki

P.S. I guess that if Apple ever reads this, they'll make sure I never get hired there, LOL!

finalfantasy · Mar 3, 2003, 11:43 PM

I went to the Genius Bar just to say hi and they charge 70 bucks an HOUR!!

Oneota · Mar 4, 2003, 12:02 AM

Originally posted by finalfantasy:
I went to the Genius Bar just to say hi and they charge 70 bucks an HOUR!!

To say "Hi"?!?

tooki · Mar 4, 2003, 12:43 AM

Well, his user name's not "finalfantasy" for nothing!

But there is a good chance that you'd have to wait at the bar for 70 minutes for someone to actually acknowledge you.

tooki

pyrocat · Mar 4, 2003, 03:07 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
Things like knowing a solution to a problem but not being able to offer it since it's not an "official" solution. Not being allowed to acknowledge problems that you know about, but Apple corporate hasn't acknowledged (the recently-acknowledged 10.2.4 modem bug would be an example of this). Not being allowed (!!) to spend appreciable time helping customers with non-Apple products (even those sold in an Apple store). You're supposed to tell them that it's a third-party product and to talk to the manufacturer. (That's not what I though SJ said when first unveiling the retail stores. I thought I heard mention of offering "one place" where Mac people can go.) Note also that the Geniuses spend most of their time in the back (60% according to the manager I interviewed with) fixing machines, not in the front with customers! They "found that the sales staff were just as good at looking up information on the internet," and so they man the Genius bar instead. I guess that explains why the Geniuses (or sales staff, I guess!) at 2 of the 3 retail stores I've visited offered bogus info.
...snip...

tooki

P.S. I guess that if Apple ever reads this, they'll make sure I never get hired there, LOL!

Welcome to CORPORATE AMERICA!

Everything you say is more or less true, and Apple is one of the better companies. As an Apple rep, before the Apple stores, I found that the "right" answer depended on my location, my superior's insight, customer attitude, and the specific task. If your boss [at any job] is insecure and/or paranoid, you have to constantly watch your back and play by his/her rules. A secure, creative boss allows lots more freedom. Problem is that you don't know which you're working for until you're hired, unless you have a friend who's already there. That's true anywhere, even if you're self-employed.

pYrOcat