Working for AppleCare (or anywhere else for that matter) as a technical support agent could prove to be quite taxing for an ordinary human being. I should know, I've been there. I was a customer service agent for a different IT company for maybe a couple of months and then I just couldn't take it anymore.

Adam Knight recounts his experiences - the good, the bad and the downright ugly - while working for Apple's support division, AppleCare, before calling it quits with the company.

After all the training you've been through, you hit the floor with so much idealism and desire to help that customer, but, after years of performing the same job over and over again, it all becomes routine. Eventually, you become something of a fixture: static.

Professional growth has always been an issue in call center jobs. So after becoming an agent for several years, where to? It could be a politics-laden managerial job (that in worst case scenarios, a transfer would beat you to it) or look for something outside of the company. Most people prefer to try their luck elsewhere.

"However, the core reason of why I recently quit my job in AppleCare is that in commodity technical jobs there's only so far you can go before you arrive at the end of the career path for the masses of technical agents and hit the lid where only five or ten pass upwards. Ever. When you get there, you have two choices for moving ahead: wait for the person in the cushy job you want to leave or die to make room and pray that it's you among the masses that applied that gets it, or move ahead elsewhere. After waiting for someone to bite it in a freak keyboarding accident for four years, it was time to go with Plan B."

The whole nature of a call center is to receive calls from customers and resolve their issues as fast and as efficient as possible. In other words, being a technical support agent could be more of, how to troubleshoot the customers rather than the hardware.

"Some folks have two cars so that one can be in the shop. Some folks have a spare room outside their home for guests and for staying in should the house need work. Some folks have a backup of their data and another computer to use it on should the primary one fail. All of those folks are prepared. Everyone else will get it in the ass one day and yell at me for their lack of planning. It's part of the job, I discovered."

There are always two sides to a coin, so working for AppleCare can't be all that bad. Aside from a very relaxed environment there are also the real benefits like great health care, a gym and an on-site cafeteria.

"Apple is such an incredible place to work, it really is. You're surrounded by great people and great products. Sometimes you get the inside scoop on a product or issue or feature or whatever, and it really feels nice to know that. (Often, we're clueless about such things, as JC mentioned in his Rumors at the Bar article at Mac Geekery.) If I want to know if there's a bug on something, I look. If I want to know how something works, I have places to ask. If I want to test some issues, there's a lab full of hardware to test it on. If you ignore the whole emotional scarring and limited career bits, it's a really great little place to be."

So does AppleCare really care?

"I am no longer an Apple employee, and while part of me regrets that, I'll always have Apple on the brain and will run this wagon until the horses die, God willing."