Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

So I had submitted my resume and applied for the positions at Apple. My research had me thinking that it was going to be a fairly lengthy hiring process, with probably months of time elapsing, so I had my head wrapped around the concept that it would take probably three months for things to happen, if they did at all, with Apple. Boy was I wrong!

On Friday, I made up my mind to apply for a position with Apple. On Saturday, I went to the local Apple Store and met with the Store Leader, and filled out my application online. On Sunday morning I went to church with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. As we were driving there I brought them up to speed on my Apple intentions and Deb said they’d pray for me. After a lovely service, I paused to greet the Reverend. I had been a frontrunner for a Communications Specialist position with the church a few months prior, so she knew a bit about my search for work. I told her that I had just applied for a job with Apple and asked her to pray for me, which she warmly agreed to do. As I walked out, Deb was smiling at me and I said, “I’m pulling out all the stops to make this happen! Can’t hurt to have God on my side too. 🙂 ”

We went out to a nice breakfast, as is our usual post-church procedure, and then I went home. Just as I was logging into my computer to continue watching Season Three of House of Cards, my iPhone chirped with a new gmail announcement – it was from Apple. It was titled, “Robert meet Apple, Apple meet Robert.” The email asked me back to the Apple Store for an interview tonight! Talk about fast moving – there I was, expecting it to take some time, as these things usually do. Not only did it happen quickly, but they contacted me the very next day – a Sunday, no less – to schedule an interview for the following day. BAM!

So today is all about preparing for the interview. I have some other obligations – therapy, work, and working out – but the bulk of my time is going to be spent online getting up to speed and researching all I can about Apple Stores and processes. I’m doing everything in my power to manifest this opportunity and not let it slip away. Thanks for the well-wishes and support. They’re working so far, keep em coming! I’ll keep you posted… 🙂

Yesterday my father, through my brother-in-law, suggested that I investigate whether the local Apple store was hiring. Kevin’s friend had just gotten a part time position there, and they thought it would be a good fit for me. As I considered the possibility, I got more and more excited about it.

I have always been an Apple guy. I got my first computer, and Apple ][e, when I was about 13 and have been a user ever since. I learned to code on one, used to type papers for classmates in college on one, learned graphic design on one, produced video and animation on Macs, created games, and was an early adopter of the iPhone. I’ve used Apple products for the last 33 years and have always loved the experience. They just work. They do what they’re supposed to do, and things work the way you think they should. Luv luv luv em.

I had never seriously considered working for Apple before. I thought that most of what they’d have to offer at an Apple store would be a sales position, and although I’m good at customer relations, I’d always been stopped by the thought that I didn’t want to do sales. However, I worked as a Sales Associate for Sears when I was down in Pueblo because I needed a job – any job – and working in the Consumer Electronics department was a good fit for me. I went through training and was on the floor selling lots of televisions in no time. That position didn’t last long, as I relocated back to Denver shortly thereafter, but it gave me some more current sales experience than my time at American Eagle Outfitters back in high school and reminded me that sales isn’t so bad after all.

As I lay in bed trying to go to sleep, my mind started working through the possibilities of working for Apple. The more I thought, the less I could sleep, so I got up and did some research. I browsed the jobs page at apple.com to see what sorts of positions were available locally. I found several openings at the two closest stores: Genius, Support Engineer, Service Specialist, Creative, and Managers. I then did a little research on YouTube to see what was out there in terms of training, reviews, and what it’s like to work for Apple. I got more excited the more I found. I also reached out to my friend Fred, who has been a Genius for Apple for close to 20 years now, about getting more information about how I would fit and hopefully a referral or recommendation. I fell asleep vowing to go to the local Apple store today to meet and greet and begin the hiring process.

So today I got up, printed out a copy of my resume, got all spiffed up, and went to the Apple store at Aspen Grove to see what was cooking. I spoke with Eric, who told me that (naturally) all the hiring is done online these days, and we talked about the various positions and how I would fit in. True to form, he was very helpful and encouraging. After giving him my resume and promising I would fill out the application online, I returned to my car and read the message I got back from Fred. He said he thought it was great I was looking at Apple as a career choice, promised to support me however he could, asked for a copy of my resume, set up a time to call him on Tuesday to chat, and said he’d give me a referral. Good stuff! More things a-poppin!

When I got home, I briefly considered waiting until I spoke with Fred before continuing the process, but surmised that I’d have to go through the online process anyway, so I filled out applications for a Service Specialist and Genius positions. Geniuses are the tech guys behind the bar who help customers resolve their difficulties and re-establish relationships between the customers and their devices. I have a good bit of experience doing support, I used to build all my computers, and I think it would be a good fit with some training to get up to speed on current Apple products. (My MacBook is seven years old and running ancient OS). Upon further investigation, I’m thinking the Service Specialist position would be a better fit out of the gate. Specialists work with customers on both the sales and technology side, not only supplying products and information, but doing support as well as training customers on their products. With my varied skill set, this seems like it would be a better fit for me – drawing on not only my technical expertise, but my excellent customer relationship skills. So I applied for that one too.

On Tuesday, Fred and I will talk, and we’ll see what he can do to help me get going. The process is a fairly lengthy one, as there are a series of interviews, starting with a group interview and Q&A, then with a team, then one on one, then a two week training boot camp to learn the Apple way of doing things. One of the things that appeals to me about Apple, as opposed to other big corporations (which I’ve typically shied away from) is that they encourage you to branch out and learn and work in other areas. Big companies have tended to pigeonhole me as a designer or a developer and not let me use my other skills if I’m in a particular role. Apple likes to Think Different. It would be a great fit for me, and I hope a long-term position arises from all of this. I don’t really care what I do to begin with, I just want to get in the door with them and let my talents and skills take me from there. Wish me luck!

I just returned from a productive meeting with my old boss. We sat in the atrium at the DTC Marriott and chatted for about 90 minutes about his business idea, Social Media and UI integration, and next steps moving forward. Things are starting to pop! There’s a lot of opportunity starting to become available, and we’re going to tap into that and try to make some bank along the way.

There was no need to sell him on the importance of a Social Media plan or strategy, that’s what he came to me for in the first place. The UI work is more of an added bonus on how I can contribute to the venture. So it would seem I have a new job now. There’s no pay at the moment, but it is the opportunity to get in on the ground floor for what could become a good, profitable business – with ownership. And it gives me a real reason to get to work, to expand my skills and apply my expertise – if nothing else, it’s good resume material. Add to that the contacts he has in the consulting business and his connections with large media companies and there are other opportunities in the pipeline as well.

I’ll post more specifics about the company when we’re ready to launch to the public, right now things are in private beta and, while there is no official NDA in place, we need to be careful about releasing details before we go into public beta, which should be in about two months. It’s a good fit all around, it’s the type of work I want to be doing, and I’m looking forward to getting to work on the project.

This will also give me cause to get out of the house and go to my other “office”, the local Starbucks, on a daily basis once things get underway. Right now I’m figuring that it will be next week before I get to start the real work. The rest of this week will be getting things in place, administrative tasks, account setups, email addresses, etc. My laptop is configured and ready to rock; I’ve spent much of the last year working from it. I still prefer working from my workstation, as I’m a bit of a keyboard size snob and really don’t care for typing on the laptop – or using its trackpad instead of a mouse, but such are the sacrifices one must make to move forward. 😉

I’ll need to brush up on responsive web design so that the site can continue to be mobile-ready. It’s been a few years since I’ve coded specifically for mobile and a lot has changed in the interim. Still, it’s just a matter of implementation rather than a whole new learning curve. I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again. Hello YouTube!