My Experience at Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: My Experience at Apple

#71

Post by heimatau » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

limono wrote: post #49

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…

What org was that in? IS&T? I am thinking that this story by OP was in IS&T because that is known to be the worst org in Apple

What's their social? would be a good follow-up too.

I'm not sure you understand that Apple could bury this person's career and numerous companies only need one phone call to let this person go. Please understand that you're creating an attack vector that is too great for this person to reveal.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#72

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

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…

[deleted]

Re: My Experience at Apple

#73

Post by nakovet » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #48

Why didn’t the manager just fire this person, they could have at any time?

Some people enjoy causing mental distress in others, from the report they were not busy with work, so they wanted some other games to keep them busy. Similarly people enjoy hurting others and pain, e.g. sadomasochism

Re: My Experience at Apple

#74

Post by abhishekjha » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

ma2rten wrote: post #53

tdhz77 wrote: post #27

I must try and understand my bias towards certain tech companies. When somebody says something bad about Facebook I instantly believe, but for some reason I had to really dig into this Apple engineer and it took me longer to believe them. Truth is harder to discern than I had thought.

In my mind the reputation of Facebook is that it's more employee friendly and customer hostile, but Apple is more employee hostile (thinking about Steve Jobs stories) and customer friendly.

In what way is apple customer friendly? Definitely not in the fixing broken devices way. The hostility is across the board.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#75

Post by snickmy » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

limono wrote: post #49

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…

What org was that in? IS&T? I am thinking that this story by OP was in IS&T because that is known to be the worst org in Apple

what does IS&T stands for?

Re: My Experience at Apple

#76

Post by ineedasername » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #48

Why didn’t the manager just fire this person, they could have at any time?

They'd already fired the previous person and an intern. At some point it stops looking like the worker's fault and starts being very clear the problem is the manager. In fact sometimes the way toxic managers like this are removed is when a decent manager notices that sort of trend.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#77

Post by almost_usual » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

valuearb wrote: post #48

Why didn’t the manager just fire this person, they could have at any time?

You can’t fire an employee at any time in California without good reason. You need to build a case against the employee, that’s why they were put on a PIP.

Either way the manager is insane in this story so I’m not sure what their motivation is.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#78

Post by libria » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

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…

> - The primary lesson I learnt is that it doesn't matter if you work hard. Nobody notices, and even if they do you will likely not get anything out of it. Do your job, but don't kill yourself over it. Work-life balance is king.

I think this close, but a little off. Work hard only on what matters. Join the high visibility projects and work hard on the important parts. "Nobody notices" -> that's up to you. Document and demo your achievements every few weeks.

Work only the good jobs. If it's not good, switch teams ASAP. Never, ever wait for "things to improve". So many times after I switched jobs, I said to myself "Man, why didn't I leave sooner?"

Re: My Experience at Apple

#79

Post by Apocryphon » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #64

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…

Apple gets its share of critics as it has since its inception, but it also gets its share of loyalists where the rest of FANG don't. One quickly notices that in discussions there as much of a knee-jerk impulse to defend Apple, as there is to bash the company. Even your comment reveals an abrupt dismissal of the OP's testimony, impugning the character of its author.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#80

Post by andrewmcwatters » Fri, Jan 01, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

For anyone experiencing workplace harassment, this article is a great example of what not to do.

Instead, document everything happening to you with evidence, speak with HR about incidents as they arise, and if they don't take action, seek legal counsel.

Doing anything else will paint you in a bad light.