[no2pencil]

During his four-year career with the St. Louis Rams, former NFL defensive end Victor Adeyanju would help his teammates out by fixing their computers.

That planted the seed for Adeyanju, 31, for his first post-NFL job: Working on the Apple Help Desk.



Now that his stint in the league is over, Adeyanju has settled in nicely with his new career. During the NFL lockout of 2011, Adeyanju decided to study more about his computer passion and turn it into a profession. He became A+ certified and would bring programming books to parties with family and friends.

"I have an obsession with computers, and the only way to feed my hunger was to get a job in the IT world," Adeyanju said in a profile written by Justin Breen on DNAinfo.com.
So if you called Apple about your computer a few years back, there's a chance you could have been talking to a man who started 20 NFL games and collected 94 solo tackles and three sacks. That was Adeyanju — and he's not above the same kind of work he once offered his teammates for free in the locker room.

Knee injuries led to rehab in 2011, when he had to "[learn] how to walk again," Adeyanju realized his football career likely was over. It took him a while to realize what he needed to do.

"Retiring and sitting at home for six months trying to figure out what I was going to do, I felt like a loser," Adeyanju said. "I felt like something was missing."
The rehab happened in Phoenix, where Adeyanju recently moved on from Apple and took an IT job with the Best Western corporate office in the area. He was promoted twice and never has looked back.

He credits his Apple job with helping him get his start in IT.

"I decided to take the lowest-form job to pay respect for the process and learn from the bottom up," he said.
Adeyanju made a six-figure salary in the NFL. He's making much less with his new gig, but the important thing is that he enjoys what he does.

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So this is interesting to me for a few reasons. Firstly, this guy is willing to start at the bottom & work his way up. The experience & education is the real payoff. Secondly, he's also breaking stereo-typical boundaries.

Would you walk away from six figures to work at the Apple Help desk? Both ego & pay wise. What carrier move would you be motivated enough to move this far towards the bottom rung of the ladder & start a new future?

[Martyr2]

Well first of all the guy kinda crashed and burned out of the NFL. The teams waived him so he was essentially laid off by the NFL. Second I don't think any job at Apple would be "at the bottom". Even helpdesk I am sure gets a decent wage. Probably being an NFL player helped him even get a job interview with them.

But anyways, good for him and I hope he has a fantastic future career in computers.

[ybadragon]

I did apple support. For tier 1 it was 10-10.25/hr. If you worked from home (Tier 2) you made ~$15/hr. Apple Helpdesk is pretty low, and I for one will never go back to it...

[lilVaratep]

Let's hope he had money saved from the NFL and didn't blow it all in one place.

[astonecipher]

Several pro athletes have the for thought that their bodies can't be doing it forever. Impressive, but I know the other side of the story as well, is Pat Tillman. Left the NFL for the military. Their is a millionaire going to a thankless low paying position.