Help Us Welcome Kevin Norris to the Foojee Team!

From Oregon Trail to OS X, Kevin (K.No to us) is all about the Mac and has a knack for evaluating the latest iOS app. For years Kevin worked in partnership with Foojee during his tenure at Apple as a Business Specialist. In 2014 he decided it was time to make the switch. He out-kicked his coverage when he landed his wife Cherise and has taken on her love for movies. Their weekends in Suwanee consist of bowling, Alabama Football, Braves Baseball and hanging out with their black lab, Toby! Enjoy our Q&A with him below!

What do you do at Foojee?

I work to ensure that our clients’ Apple technology functions at optimum capacity so that they can focus on what they do best. 

What did you do before Foojee?

I worked in partnership with Foojee as an Apple Business Specialist in the Atlanta market.

Which app could you not live without?

1Password 

Coolest place you've ever been?

Cancun, Mexico. Got tackled by a 20 foot wave.

What do you do for fun?

Bowling and smoking Daniel in table tennis.

So...what are your plans for tonight?

Got a hot date. I married her 3 years ago.

...Favorite apple?

Am I allowed to say anything but Foojee?

Help Us Welcome Daniel Kosmala to the Foojee Team!

Meet our newest team member Daniel Kosmala! As Director of Marketing, Daniel is the first hire outside of our typical mold. While helping us out with product support, he is leading the charge for Foojee as we continue to grow and set our eyes on new heights.  As a marketer, he is reviving and breathing life into all of our social media efforts as well as reworking our website, evolving our digital strategy and setting us up for future success. 

On the weekends you can find him playing pick-up basketball and spending time with his wife. We're thrilled to have Daniel, and can't wait for you to meet him if you haven't already. We thought it'd be fun to introduce him to our clients and friends with some Q & A. Enjoy!

NicoleandDaniel

What do you do at Foojee?

I am the Director of Marketing, which means I am only in charge of running our Twitter account. Nothing else. (That's mostly a joke)

What did you do before Foojee?

I worked for a nonprofit called Radical Mentoring and wondered how all the guys at Foojee managed to dress so well.

Which app could you not live without?

Wunderlist. I have a terrible memory so having readily accessible 'To-Do' lists for work, groceries, home, etc is invaluable for me. Just ask my wife how helpful this app has been in getting me to complete projects around our home.

Coolest place you've ever been?

Excellence Resorts Playa Mujeres. It was unreal.

What do you do for fun?

Hang out with my wife, watch movies, eat with friends, and I love playing pick up basketball.

So...what are your plans for tonight?

My wife is a night shift nurse and she works tonight so it’s looking like making myself a burger, watching some playoff basketball or cleaning up the house.

...Favorite apple?

The kind you can make into a fried pie. Yum.

Video: ACEs Conference New Orleans 2015

It's been a while since we've posted blogs regularly and in that time we've gone through a number of exciting changes. One change you may have already noticed is that we hired three new people to join the Foojee team! With the year getting into full swing we knew we wanted the team to spend time together bonding. Recognizing that our crammed schedules may not be changing anytime soon, Lucas decided it would be beneficial to bite the bullet and head out for two days. Part fun, part learning, we traveled to New Orleans in mid-May for the 2015 ACEs Conference. For the majority of the team, this was their first trip to Louisiana! Above is a highlight reel of our trip!

The tagline of the ACEs Conference is "For Consultants By Consultants". The conference wasn't necessarily about Apple or their products, but more of an opportunity to dive into the managing and consulting parts of our business. Some of the topics included building your business, crafting your brand, getting vulnerable with clients, and more. On top of all we learned, we got an invaluable chance to network with people in our industry from all over the country. The free time spent out with other consultants and our own team members was invaluable and made the entire trip worthwhile. We're already working to take what we learned and experienced in New Orleans to refine who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

Besides learning and networking we also got to spend some time exploring the riverfront and French Quarter in New Orleans. One of our top priorities was to eat some fantastic cajun food accompanied by plenty of laughter. We had an incredible trip and can't wait for the next Foojee team adventure!

 

 

Help Us Welcome Mónica Cottrell to the Foojee Team!

Meet our newest team member, Mónica Cottrell! Mónica has been with us for almost a month now and she has been incredible. Pitching in from her first day on the job, she brings unique perspective and touch to the team that we didn't have before and we could not be more excited to work with her. Having done some traveling in her years, Mónica always has cultural and culinary insights to help the rest of us refine our tastes. We've come to see that while she loves her Chinese (or Thai) food, she's just as happy with a smoothie.

When not serving our clients or asking great questions, Mónica loves hanging out with her husband, Michael. We're ecstatic to have Mónica on the team, and can't wait for you to meet her if you haven't already. Without further adieu, here's our Q&A. Enjoy!

 

What do you do at Foojee?

I am an Apple Product Expert.

What did you do before Foojee?

I worked with Teach for America teaching 10th grade Biology in the South Bronx. Before that, I was a trainer at Apple. If you go even further back, I was a professional ballet/modern dancer in NYC.

Which app could you not live without?

Foursquare! My husband and I live by this app on date night so that we can find the right places to go.

Coolest place you've ever been?

Tahiti. The lagoons are crystal clear and the beaches are beautiful. The fruit stands on the street are out of this world.

What do you do for fun?

I love to explore, dance, and eat good food. I love to be a part of the city in happenings with We Love ATL, Streets Alive, and the Indie Craft Experience.

So...what are your plans for tonight?

I’m gonna go home, order Chinese food and watch cartoons with my husband.

...Favorite apple?

Pink Lady.

We're Hiring a Mac and iOS System Administrator

We're looking for an Apple-esque sys admin to join our team. We're especially excited about this next hire, as it will be the sixth person in the company! Right now, Lucas and Brandon are doing most of the advanced implementation and support for our business clients. You would be both managing current, and spearheading new server-based and MDM projects alongside Brandon as Lucas continues to focus on the growth of the company.

Environments you would be responsible for range from 5-person companies needing in-person monthly maintenance visits, to large enterprises needing a 2500 iPad or Mac rollout. We work together on a lot of these projects, but each person has their deliverables they are responsible for.

Position Specifics

With each person that joins our team, we look forward to how they can influence the rest of us, and make Foojee’s offering even stronger. While we love to hire based on character and core values, we also need a certain baseline skill set for this position, of which we’ve outlined below. (We do need to make money with the mad skills we have, after all).

These are the skills we’re looking for:

  • Extensive OS X Troubleshooting.

  • Familiarity with OS X Server and Open Directory.

  • Familiarity with basic scripting, and command line administration in OS X.

  • Intermediate experience with networking including firewall configuration, DNS, and DHCP.

  • Extensive iOS Troubleshooting.

  • Familiarity with at least one MDM, and an understanding of iOS’s MDM features.

Beyond these, we hope you’re as hungry to learn, because that’s a big part of our job. I mean, have you checked iOS’s and OS X’s annual changes lately?

What it's like to work at Foojee

It turns out that we love our jobs. It’s got its challenges and its perks, and while it's hard to explain in a bullet list, we want to give you an idea of what this position will look like.

  • Remote work from home (or wherever) about 30% of the time.
  • On site work at the client’s office the rest of the time. (We meet weekly at Roam for our team meetings, too.)
  • You’ll do lots of driving. Don’t worry, we try to schedule meeting times that avoid traffic, and we get to listen to podcasts like Serial and The Talk Show between appointments.
  • You’ve got to love people. That’s one of our core values. We are here to serve.
  • This doesn’t mean you have to be an extrovert, but just know that you’ll also be in front of people quite a bit.
  • Sometimes we’re called to fix problems, and sometimes we’re called to create amazing solutions. You should feel comfortable with holding the weight of our clients’ problems and being able to deliver a confident solution.
  • We are only as good as our people. We believe each one of us makes our own impact on the company. So we do a lot of listening, debating, and reiterating to improve on our company's approach and processes.
  • We're a small business, so things can move quickly, and sometimes we need to band together to get something done, even if it's outside of our typical role.

How to Apply

We love cover letters, and examples of environments or projects you've done in the past. If you think you're the right fit for this job, not just any job, let us know by sending an email to sysadmin@foojee.com.

We're hiring our next Apple Enterprise Specialist

We’re excited to announce that we’re looking for our fifth team member, an Apple Enterprise Specialist.

We love what we do, and our customers know it. So we’re looking for someone who appreciates a challenge, likes to be recognized for his or her accomplishments, and wants to be a part of something that improves lives.

So what is it like to work at Foojee? It’s challenging and exciting. We get to work at a place where we enjoy our teammates and we're constantly improving our craft. While we work closely together on all projects, we'll rely on you to be independent, self-motivated, and disciplined to deliver your part of the project.

Our Enterprise Specialist will be focusing primarily on SMB, enterprise, and education related projects. These projects will involve intermediate networking, OS X Client, OS X Server, and iOS deployments. You’ll be using OS X and iOS management tools like JAMF Software’s Casper Suite, MaaS360, AirWatch, and MobileIron.

We’re currently doing about 70% of customer work on site, and 30% of work remotely for both residential and business in Atlanta and a few parts of the southeast. Our remote work is performed from either our home offices or Roam, a co-working space with multiple locations in Atlanta. We’re looking for someone who can communicate clearly over the phone and in writing, since it's a significant part of what we do.

While our clients rely on us heavily for our technical chops, our top notch customer service and desire to do things the right way are what make our team so great.

Please send an email to jobs@foojee.com with the following:

  • Why do you want to work in Apple IT?
  • What is appealing about working at Foojee?
  • A description of a solution that you have put together for a customer in recent past, and what made the solution right for them.

Also, include these two writing samples:

Scenario: A client of ours just submitted a new ticket. The only line in the email states that her VPN is not working, and she needs it to access her files remotely. Assume your schedule is currently free, and you have her AD username and password on file. Use any resources you have to assist her.

  • Sample 1: Reply to her via email setting expectations of when someone will be able to assist her, and any other questions you may need that will help you resolve the issue.
  • Sample 2: Explain to us, in writing, your troubleshooting steps to resolve her issue. Explain the reasoning behind each step you would take.

Features:

  • Full Time.
  • $45,000 – 55,000 annually.
  • Health benefits available for you.
  • Phone and computer reimbursement.
  • Progressive work environment.
  • Work with a team that loves doing what they do.

System Requirements:

  • At least 2 years experience with support of Apple products.
  • OS X client certification.
  • OS X Server and/or MDM certification preferred.

Is it you? Let us know. 

VIDEO: Macworld / MacIT San Francisco 2014

From the the early months of starting Foojee, it had always been a goal of mine to take the team to Macworld one year. Part fun, part learning, it's the largest conference/expo for Apple enthusiasts and IT administrators. For the first time since our inception, we were all able to visit the West coast and have a blast in San Francisco! Above is a highlight reel of our trip!

Even though Apple themselves weren't in attendance, there was plenty of excitement for the company's successes and sentiment for what the future holds. Apple continues to build a platform of seemingly simple products, which creates entire product segments for 3rd party developers and accessory makers. The community behind Apple has always been a special part of the company and it's products, and Macworld is as concentrated as it gets for the general public. (There's WWDC that Apple hosts every summer, including June 2 this year, but that's primarily for app developers.)

What doesn't make headlines much is the community of IT administrators that are supporting hundreds and thousands of Apple's products in schools and organizations around the world. This part, called MacIT, was equally fun. We met people from organizations ranging from Facebook to Meredith to several universities, and several startups that use Macs in the majority of their environments. In doing so, it was great to learn and share methods of management, scripting, reporting, and support that helped each other. We're already putting some of those learns into play for our clients back home. We also got to spend time with fellow Apple consultants from other parts of the US, and dear friends like the guys as watchmanmonitoring.com (who are the magic behind Foojee FAST)!

Needless to say, it was a freaking blast. We learned a ton, and got to spend some time sight-seeing in SF. Thanks to the amazing team we've built, what started as an idea on the couch with my great friend Gene, has turned out to be a thrill that I look forward to everyday.

VIDEO: The Most Valuable Service

Have you lost your iPhone? Is your Mac stolen? What if you need help finding your iPad?

Remember the old days when these were actually a huge deal? Well, getting something stolen is still a pretty big deal. But Foojee takes a deeper look at Apple's FREE iCloud service, and more specifically the Find My iPhone feature, that's super easy and can help you in these tight situations.

We're looking for our next Apple Enterprise Specialist

We’re excited to announce that we’re looking for our fourth team member, an Apple Enterprise Specialist.

We love what we do, and our customers know it. So we’re looking for someone who appreciates a challenge, likes to be recognized for his or her accomplishments, and wants to be a part of something that improves lives.

So what is it like to work at Foojee? Justin says, “It’s challenging and exciting. I get to work at a place where I totally believe in the leadership and the focus of the company.” While we work closely together on all projects, we'll rely on you to be independent, self-motivated, and disciplined to deliver your part of the project.

Our Enterprise Specialist will be focusing primarily on SMB, enterprise, and education related projects. These projects will involve intermediate networking, OS X Client, OS X Server, and iOS deployments. You’ll be using OS X and iOS management tools like JAMF Software’s Casper Suite, MaaS360, AirWatch, and MobileIron.

We’re currently doing about 70% of customer work on site, and 30% of work remotely for both residential and business in Atlanta and a few parts of the southeast. Our remote work is performed from home and our office in Midtown using remote support software, phone calls, and emails. Therefore we’re looking for someone who can communicate clearly over the phone and in writing.

Although designing solutions and configuring new Macs and iOS devices are the technical aspects of what you’ll do, our top notch customer service and desire to do things the right way are what make our team so great.

Please send an email to jobs@foojee.com with the following:

  • Why do you want to work in Apple IT?
  • What is appealing about working at Foojee?
  • A description of a solution that you have put together for a customer in recent past, and what made the solution right for them.

Also, include these two writing samples:

Scenario: A client of ours just submitted a new ticket. The only line in the email states that her VPN is not working, and she needs it to access her files remotely. Assume your schedule is currently free, and you have her AD username and password on file. Use any resources you have to assist her.

  • Sample 1: Reply to her via email setting expectations of when someone will be able to assist her, and any other questions you may need that will help you resolve the issue.
  • Sample 2: Explain to us, in writing, your troubleshooting steps to resolve her issue. Explain the reasoning behind each step you would take.

Features:

  • Full Time.
  • $38,000 – 48,000 annually.
  • Health benefits available for you.
  • Phone and computer reimbursement.
  • Progressive work environment.
  • Work with a team that loves doing what they do.

System Requirements:

  • At least 2 years experience with sales or support of Apple products.
  • OS X client certification.
  • OS X Server and/or MDM certification preferred.

Is it you? Let us know.