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Skills You Never Meant to Learn as a Consultant (and Why They Matter Beyond Consulting)

When you run a consultancy, you think the job is about your expertise—the thing you’ve been hired to do. But very quickly, you realize the role demands a whole set of skills you never set out to master. They sneak in over time, and before you know it, you’ve become fluent in things you once thought you’d avoid. The funny part is, you don’t even notice you’re learning them until you look back and recognize how much your approach has shifted. These are the skills that never appear on your...

automation macos tips

10 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Apple Configurator (That Save Mac Admins Hours)

Most of us treat Apple Configurator like a fire extinguisher: break glass, DFU, restore, move on. But it can do a lot more, and when you know the edges, you can turn a bricked morning into a ship-it afternoon. Below are ten things I regularly use (or wish I’d used sooner). 1) Retro-enroll Devices into Apple Business Manager (iOS/iPadOS) If a Mac wasn’t purchased through your ABM-linked reseller, you can still claim it. Adding it via Configurator means you get Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) on next setup, assignment to your...

articles business rants

What Does It Really Mean to Be “Senior” in Your Job?

I have a lot of friends in the job market right now, and we’ve been having some interesting conversations about a title that comes up again and again: “Senior.” It’s one of those words that carries weight when you first hear it—implying a certain level of mastery, trust, and authority—but the more you look at how it’s used in practice, the more slippery it becomes. Some job postings call for senior-level expertise and years of experience, yet the salary barely clears what you might expect for a mid-level role. Other...

automation macos jamf

The Power of Scripting App Updates Without Deploying Packages

Keeping macOS environments up-to-date in a seamless, efficient, and low-maintenance way has always been a challenge for IT admins. Traditional package deployment workflows can be time-consuming, prone to versioning issues, and require extensive testing and repackaging. But there’s another way—a more elegant, nimble approach: scripting. Scripting app installations and updates allows you to skip the packaging step entirely. Instead, you leverage trusted sources, automate installation logic, and let Jamf do what it does best—run policies and execute scripts. Below are three real-world examples that demonstrate the power of scripting app...

automation macos jamf

Detecting Invalid Characters and Long Paths in OneDrive on macOS

Microsoft OneDrive is widely used for syncing documents across devices, but on macOS, it can silently fail to sync certain files if they violate Windows filesystem rules — like overly long paths or invalid characters. This creates frustrating experiences for end users who don’t know why files aren’t syncing. To address this issue, I created a script — check_onedrive_paths.zsh — which detects common pathing issues and logs them to a file for JAMF or local review. 🔍 What the Script Does This Zsh-based script is designed to scan a user’s...

automation macos jamf

Using a script to Enable FileVault via JAMF: A Word of Caution

Enabling FileVault is a critical step in securing macOS devices, particularly in managed environments like schools, enterprises, and remote teams. For administrators using Jamf Pro, automating this process can simplify device onboarding and ensure compliance with disk encryption policies. One such script, Add_FV_Prompt.sh, helps automate the addition of users to FileVault by prompting for credentials via osascript and passing them to fdesetup. While it’s functional and useful in certain edge cases, there are security caveats to be aware of. ⚙️ What the Script Does The Add_FV_Prompt.sh script enables FileVault for...

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