The first rule of working at Apple - No one talks about Apple.
Second rule of Apple: one button and no more. If you need more, just use the on-screen buttons.
Certainly, you must mean the on-screen button.
Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
41–50 of 99 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#42There's enough talk here about Apple, maybe not about working or interviewing there, but honestly there's just way too much talk about big companies on HN already; we don't need more. What's the point of this meta thread anyway? Are you planning to work at Apple? If so, why don't you just ask specific direct questions about that? Flagged for zero content.
> Flagged for zero content.
The question itself may not present any content but the discussion it has started has already created some.
Also, the thread currently has 70 points. Clearly, some people are interested in it, which I think, invalidates your assumption that the thread is pointless.
I really cannot see why you needed to flag it.
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#43I interviewed for Apple earlier this month. I didn't get the position, but I really enjoyed the challenging interview process and meeting the 7 people who interviewed me.
I had a phone interview with a manager, and then a three-hour process at Apple HQ in which I was interviewed by three pairs of employees from the team I was applying to work with. I was very impressed that they devoted so much employee time to talking with me. They were very friendly people, and asked an interesting variety of questions, ranging from puzzles to how I'd handle various theoretical work scenarios to technical questions of various kinds.
The gent who recommended me told me that he had to apply six times before getting hired, so I'm planning to keep applying, for other positions.
There. Now someone has posted about interviewing at Apple. Happy? :)
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#44Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#45There's enough talk here about Apple, maybe not about working or interviewing there, but honestly there's just way too much talk about big companies on HN already; we don't need more. What's the point of this meta thread anyway? Are you planning to work at Apple? If so, why don't you just ask specific direct questions about that? Flagged for zero content.
> Flagged for zero content. The question itself may not present any content but the discussion it has started has already created some. Also, the thread currently has 70 points. Clearly, some people are interested in it, which I think, invalidates your assumption that the thread is pointless. I really cannot see why you needed to flag it.
the thread currently has 70 points
Also known as the 10% effect. See point 1: http://mattmaroon.com/2010/11/23/i-quit-hacker-news/
That's exactly the reason I flagged it. I don't want such stuff on the front page. It's extremely boring.
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#46I interviewed for Apple a few months ago. I didn't get to the NDA signing part (I backed out because another opportunity came up during the process) but still wouldn't talk about the interviews I went through because I still hope to go back and try again someday (in the slim chance that our current venture doesn't work out).
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#47For the people working there, talking about it on a public forum is cause enough to get fired, and hiding behind an online alias is not going to give you enough protection. Apple is full of really smart people, who like their jobs well enough not to risk losing them so casually and for such little incentive. As for the process of interviewing: for a lot of the more interesting jobs at Apple, interviewing involves sig…
You can interview for all kinds of positions involving classified weapons and intelligence without signing an NDA , but Apple requires you to sign one? What could possibly be so special about their interview process? I guess they're worried about people gaming the system, but what stops someone from breaking the NDA to one individual going in for the interview and not online? Wouldn't that give the one individual a h…
With the culture of secrecy they have, it's not out of this world for them to want to also establish the culture from the get go and get you to take it seriously. This alone may be reason enough.
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#48There's enough talk here about Apple, maybe not about working or interviewing there, but honestly there's just way too much talk about big companies on HN already; we don't need more. What's the point of this meta thread anyway? Are you planning to work at Apple? If so, why don't you just ask specific direct questions about that? Flagged for zero content.
The point of the thread appears to be curiosity about a phenomenon of secrecy in an otherwise gossipy tech community. Whether it's Apple or a hot startup, the topic is relevant. Why would you ask a yes/no question and then flag based on a presumed answer?
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#49I interviewed with Apple last year, and I wasn't asked to sign an NDA. That said, I didn't actually see anything that would have required one.
I didn't apply to Apple - they found me. A year later, I'm still not sure how that happened, since I don't know anyone there. It could have been through a public talk about user experience that I gave (the position was for UX director of the Apple web site), it might have been through something I wrote, or it could have been as mundane as a LinkedIn search.
I went through a series of phone interviews in the usual ascending order. Everyone I spoke with was very sincere and conversational, there were no MS or Google-style "tests" to go through. We looked at work I'd done, I talked about my approach to UX, we got to know one another a bit.
Eventually, they flew me out to Cupertino (I live in NYC), and put me up at a nice hotel near the Apple campus. I spent a full day in an interview room, meeting various members of the team I would be working with, both above and below the position I was being considered for.
The only time we left the conference room where the interviews were happening was to take a stroll over to the cafe for lunch. I went with most of the team, and we talked about day to day life at Apple, what it's like working with tight security, the fancy Apple buses that take employees from SF and the East Bay to work, people's personal projects and hobbies, etc.
I got some insight into the way Apple works, and predictably, there was none of the corporate silliness that you'd find in a less confident company, none of the buzzwords or process for the sake of process. I could see that they all worked incredibly hard, but the fulfillment on everyone's faces made me want very much to be a part of it.
In the end, I didn't get the job - they ended up either not filling the position at all, changing their team structure, I'm not sure - they left me feeling very good about myself and the experience, probably the best way that I've ever not gotten a job.
The main impression I was left with was that I had just wandered back to a pre-dot com era where people worked incredibly hard to make great things, rather than to maximize profits or burn towards an IPO or whatever. It was one of the most human job interviews I'd ever been through.
Re: Ask HN: Why does no one talk about working or interviewing for Apple?
#50For the people working there, talking about it on a public forum is cause enough to get fired, and hiding behind an online alias is not going to give you enough protection. Apple is full of really smart people, who like their jobs well enough not to risk losing them so casually and for such little incentive. As for the process of interviewing: for a lot of the more interesting jobs at Apple, interviewing involves sig…
I don't recall signing an NDA (or any other paperwork) before my interview. And when I conducted interviews, I was never given any paperwork to make candidates sign.
The thing to remember about Apple is: it's really big. The interview process for an engineer working on Mac OS X could be completely different from that for an engineer working on iPhoto vs a product manager working on the iTunes store vs a finance person vs a supply chain person (et cetera). Generalizing is hard, and probably wrong.
Generally, we did a couple of rounds of phone screens, and brought someone in if we were convinced they had enough technical savvy. Once they were on campus, we'd evaluate competence (do they know what they're doing?) and personality/fit (can we work with this person?).
Given that our team was a bunch of generalists, we'd ask you about everything from pointers to dialog box design to HTML to database administration to shell scripting. We'd expect you to know a little bit about everything and be an expert on one or two things.