Finding Apple Training Options is Easy

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I started a new job a couple months ago. Back at the local university, where I should've stayed. Anyway, my job has me supporting Macs (among many other things), which I have only a little experience with. I'm no stranger to iPhones, iPads, AppleTVs, etc. I just haven't had a lot of seat time with a Mac. Most of the people on my new team haven't either. To fill that need, I volunteered to become the Mac expert for my team. I've either found a great need I can fill on my team or I've just made a huge mistake. Thus far, I believe it's the former. I was tasked with researching Apple training options for IT staff. The criteria was that it had to be more advanced than how-to-use-a-Mac. After doing a bit of digging here's what I found for Apple Training geared towards IT operations. 

Apple made it easy for 3 reasons. 1, they only offer 2 certifications so there's relatively little training material. 2, Apple's product portfolio is much smaller than that of VMware, Microsoft, etc. 3, Apple only has one authorized training partner, a company called LearnQuest. 

In the past, Apple had higher-level certifications for IT professionals. However along with phasing out all of their enterprise products, gone were the advanced certifications along with it. The Apple Certified Systems Administrator (ACSA) and Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) certifications were phased out after OS-X 10.6 and 10.10, respectively. Apple currently offers only 2 certifications. The Apple Certified Associate (ACA) for Mac Integration and above that sits the Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP). At the time of this writing, both certs are available for v10.11 and v10.12. v10.13, High Sierra, just came out last week. 

For specifics on the classes, check out the links below.

For the ACA, http://www.learnquest.com/course-detail-v3.aspx?cnum=APL-MAC150-120
For the ACSP, http://www.learnquest.com/course-detail-v3.aspx?cnum=APL-MAC101-120

For specifics on what those certifications cover, check out the links below.

For the ACA, http://training.apple.com/pdf/Mac_Integration_Basics_10.12_Guide.pdf
For the ACSP, http://training.apple.com/pdf/sierra101.pdf

For deeper training into OS-X, it seems there's nothing formal. I'm likely to be going through this training and I'm sure I'll write as much as I can about my experience.

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