by , 10:20 AM EDT, July 13th, 2006

Monster.com advises that if you are looking for a job as an IT pro, you better brush up on your Mac skills. Thanks to Mac OS X, mixed platform networks, and the iPod "halo effect," Macs are becoming more common in the workplace.

Brian Vaughn, executive vice president of network support and IT solutions provider Dataprise, says "The Mac will be coming soon to a company near you, if it hasn't already."

System administrators, network engineers, database administrators, programmers, and support professionals all need to have some level of Macintosh expertise.

The Monster.com article shows a trend towards acceptance of the Mac in the corporate world, which has historically been fairly hostile towards Apple hardware and software. Many Mac users have stories about being ridiculed or shunned by their company IT department.

But don't expect to get warm cuddly hugs from your IT staff yet. Many of these people are still locked into a Microsoft-only mentality and may not be too happy about the the Mac's intrusion into their sacred realm. In the long run, however, technology pros that have the flexibility to service all of their users, regardless of platform, will have the greatest chance at success.

Thanks to TMO reader Michael McKinney for turning us on to the Monster.com article.