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My Experience at Apple

ex-apple-engineer.medium.com

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Re: My Experience at Apple

#61

Post by parasubvert »

newbie578 wrote: post #22

I have to ask, why is it so hard to criticize or show Apple in a negative light on HN? If this was a post thrashing Google, it would already have over 300 upvotes, and "necessary" comments how there are already people who are "de-Googling" their life... I mean there are already skeptic comments regarding the author's intentions and experience? The fact is that out of all FAA(M)NG companies, work experience in Apple i…

I suspect if this were Google there would be similar skepticism about an anonymous unverified story that offers a threat at the end. There is too much bullshit out there on every topic, and it’s usually much more believable if you attach your name and reputation to a story (which is why it’s good to “believe women”, while still verifying).

Apple is a big target with a decades of history in online advocacy debates. It’s not hard to criticize Apple on HN, every Apple thread has significant critiques. There are often defenders too, however, which is also fine.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#62

Post by Someone »

loceng wrote: post #15
sokoloff wrote: post #5

It’s a long, rambling post with some fairly vague and difficult to falsify accusations. I have no connections to Apple (other than as a consumer), but I could not wade through the article enough to determine if I thought there was an actual smoking gun. I suspect the story would be much more powerful if it were 1/5 as long and stuck to the material facts.

Are you expecting them to name real names and give specific enough details where they're then identifiable?

If this story realistically describes what happened, I would expect Apple HR can identify who wrote it (Muslim with a student OPT visa, specific request to do no previous work experience, reported issues with the export license, and a case like this)

If there were tens of similar cases, we would have heard of more.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#63

Post by johnghanks »

This dude claims to have a PhD but writes like a 12 year old. For example, just read this paragraph:

> There was no code repository for our project and the page that was listed as the project page only had script names in it but no code was linked. For example, you could see name of the scripts such as garbage.py but there was no code! ...

and honestly think about the type of person that would write like that

Re: My Experience at Apple

#64

Post by sokoloff »

newbie578 wrote: post #22

I have to ask, why is it so hard to criticize or show Apple in a negative light on HN? If this was a post thrashing Google, it would already have over 300 upvotes, and "necessary" comments how there are already people who are "de-Googling" their life... I mean there are already skeptic comments regarding the author's intentions and experience? The fact is that out of all FAA(M)NG companies, work experience in Apple i…

There are many articles and comments on HN critical of Apple. Read the vitriol over the 30% App Store cut, accusing them of being a minority and yet simultaneously monopoly producer of smartphones, the MBPro keyboard fiasco (which was absolutely shitty on Apple’s part), the glued-in batteries, the touchbar, the removal of ports, soldered-in RAM, etc. I don’t particularly think Apple gets a pass here. This article is garnering skeptics in part by being a James Joyce-ian barely coherent account of slights that read as a mix of real and imagined.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#65

Post by arcticbull »

The tough part about FANGs is that being so large, the quality of your manager is basically the sole determining factor of your experience there and yeah you’ll see a few bad apples, no pun intended.

I’ve personally landed crap managers at 2 of the FANGs, both the worst managers I’ve had in my career by a long shot. I’ve also seen fantastic managers at one, and uh, mediocre at best but well intentioned at the other.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#66

Post by sillysaurusx »

newbie578 wrote: post #22

I have to ask, why is it so hard to criticize or show Apple in a negative light on HN? If this was a post thrashing Google, it would already have over 300 upvotes, and "necessary" comments how there are already people who are "de-Googling" their life... I mean there are already skeptic comments regarding the author's intentions and experience? The fact is that out of all FAA(M)NG companies, work experience in Apple i…

Hehe. You’re not wrong.

Just remember that HN is all about tribalism. The show is more important than the substance. You’ll need to fall in love with performance art if you want your points to be known. And language, for that matter.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing, personally. People are allowed to hate google but not apple, and vice versa.

But! You’re also dead wrong. The story is substantive enough that we’re both reading it. Most of the top comments are echoing the story. And we’re all having a nice round of “managers suck.”

Re: My Experience at Apple

#67

Post by Symbiote »

praptak wrote: post #18

In such situations always gather evidence and hire a lawyer. HR are there to protect the interest of the company, you need someone that you employ to protect your interest.

Or in Europe etc, join a/the union.

The union least has lawyers experienced in this kind of trouble, and they are cheap/free to use for members.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#68

Post by Apocryphon »

polote wrote: post #17

Honestly why do people think that cannot happen at Apple ? That kind of thing can happen in any company. Apple is thousands of employees, it only requires a few bad people to create a situation like that. I'm not sure though, creating a post like that is the best thing. I don't know what exists in the US, but in France, you can sue your employer for free (You don't even need a lawyer), and if you are able to show a f…

There is a tendency to give Apple a pass among the big companies. They sell actual products instead of you, the user('s data). Their logistical chain does not rely upon a system of (often fellow American) warehouse workers who are pushed to the breaking point. [The developing world workforce that actually assembles their products- that's another story, but bogus hoaxes like Mike Daisey's only add confusion and make their supply chain working conditions seem more innocuous than critics claim.] They don't actively contribute to the disruptions and dysfunctions in our society that social networking have brought us. Somehow just by being less apparently bad, people assume that means they're more automatically good. But that's a fallacy; the badness can exist elsewhere, and given a culture of secrecy and silence, can be readily hidden.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#70

Post by ma2rten »

exApple-anon wrote: post #30
exApple-anon wrote: post #9

Posting anonymously for obvious reasons. Unlike others, I actually find this story fairly believable. When I first joined Apple, straight out of college - a good program, top three in the country - I was abused similarly. I joined a team that was on a project behind schedule. Our manager was a brusque, no-nonsense sort of dude. But he clearly had anger problems. On the team were 2 senior engineers, me, and a junior e…

Some extra tidbits that didn't make it in because the edit timer ran out: - Despite the big release and herculean efforts, both of us were paid a fraction of our target bonus. This was the day I decided to move jobs. - I eventually grew some balls and told Apple to (a) pay me 2.5x during overtime (b) hire SREs for this critical service, or (c) go fuck themselves. They chose (c), which worked alright because our servi…

I got an offer from Apple. The hiring manager told me "You worked at a startup before, you'll have no problem working overtime". I didn't end up taking the offer.
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