I Quit: What really goes on at Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#351

Post by cbsmith » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 12:54 AM UTC

kyllo wrote: post #71

I had organised a day off recently where all my family were visiting me from interstate. Despite this I had agreed to dial in to one conference call as the audience attending was ‘important’. Well it seems Important but disrespectful, as the audience never even turned up, yet I was still made to ‘dry-run’ the whole meeting from start to finish for an hour and a half as if there was full attendance and interest in wha…

There are meetings, and there are presentations. The latter often benefits from scripting & rehearsing, particularly if there is a large audience.

What's sad is when a meeting is actually just an elaborate ruse of a presentation.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#352

Post by zaroth » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:00 AM UTC

dietrichepp wrote: post #342

zaroth wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what else is a cost center? Engineering. It's perceived as a massive step up from Call Center or Customer Support or QA but it's just marginally closer to revenue generation than the sales reps and can suffer many the same issues. At a previous company I managed to end up doing my software development work under a Sales title, so I could get the quota and commissions that would come with it. All of a sudden…

> a low-base / high-commission model is proven to attract and incentivize talented reps and drive out the low performers I'm interested in hearing how this is proven. I've seen incentivized sales reps close deals that damaged the company, just like I've seen "successful" marketing campaigns that eventually killed their products. If you use bookings as your metric for bonuses and then turn around and use bookings to m…

I completely agree there are negative externalities to focusing purely on next-quarter's bookings. But specifically around attracting and retaining salespeople who deliver bookings, if you pay basically nothing before they hit quota, and then piles of hard cash as they rack up the numbers, you tend to starve out the under-performers.

It's not 'proof' by any stretch, but I was recalling this article while typing the original comment: http://www.saastr.com/a-framework-and-some-ideas-for-your-fi...

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#353

Post by jaynate » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:03 AM UTC

This doesn't aound any different from any other company on the planet if you look at it from this angle. The author seems overly entitled and disgruntled. Any job is what you make of it.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#354

Post by kzhahou » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:04 AM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #48

ctdonath wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Sounds like it acts like many (not all!) others. I've worked at a lot of places. I've been told that open-heart surgery would be counted as a vacation day. I've been in 3-hour meetings where a dozen executives bickered the whole time over how one toggle should be labeled. I've been where fully half the employees had been fired and continued working on the sheer grace/need of the owner. I've been given hard de…

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

I would fain give up my imaginary "soul" in return for the whole world.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#355

Post by classicsnoot » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:05 AM UTC

Thank you to every poster who stayed in the world of facts, honesty, and objectivity in a thread about a potentially madly divisive topic. Medals for Bravery all around.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#356

Post by andybak » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:05 AM UTC

Nicholas_C wrote: post #213

throwaway6497 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With this negative image among developers in the Valley, how is Apple able to attract top quality engineers? They probably are not. Anecdotally, I still haven't met one single engineer who would love to work for Apple though they love using Apple products. Apple is not even on the list of all top graduating kids who wants a job in top valley firms (Google, FB, Dropbox, Twitter, AirBnB, Uber, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Quor…

Not a developer but I would definitely do a 2+ year stint at Apple to get the name on my resume and find out what it's like to work at one of the largest and most profitable tech companies ever. I'm sure there's an incredible amount to learn and the pay is nice as well.

How old are you? 2 years is quite a long time to some folks.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#357

Post by andybak » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:08 AM UTC

Periodic wrote: post #321

johnward wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this interesting. How do people collaborate? Did most of your team work the same hours? Do you just schedule meetings from noon-4? I would personally hate that schedule as someone with a family.

As an engineer at Google a key difference from some other companies is how few meetings I have. I have less then 10 hours of meetings per week, and they are all scheduled between 11am and 4pm. There's also plenty of less-formal meetings when I strike up a conversation with my coworkers, usually closer to 6:00 as we start to focus less and wonder more.

10 hours... A week?

Is that considered good? I run a small company and - also as a developer - I'd really like to get meetings down to 3 or 4 hours a week.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#358

Post by oldmanjay » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:10 AM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #48

ctdonath wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Sounds like it acts like many (not all!) others. I've worked at a lot of places. I've been told that open-heart surgery would be counted as a vacation day. I've been in 3-hour meetings where a dozen executives bickered the whole time over how one toggle should be labeled. I've been where fully half the employees had been fired and continued working on the sheer grace/need of the owner. I've been given hard de…

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

There's something amusing about the idea of bringing the "soul" into an adult discussion

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#359

Post by sytelus » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:11 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #14

One of my friends used to work at Apple. After one particular grueling stint of 14+ hour days, management decided to give them a thank-you. In the form of vouchers. For frozen dinners. Meanwhile, all of his friends worked for Google, we got gourmet food every meal of the week as a standard perk, and we were usually home by 8 or 9 PM rather than midnight. It's sorta like "Your 'thank you' is really more like a giant '…

Data says differently: On Glassdoor Employee's Choice Awards for 2015 lists Apple as #22 best place to work. It's ahead of others like LinkedIn.

Re: I Quit: What really goes on at Apple

#360

Post by duderific » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 1:14 AM UTC

Periodic wrote: post #322

dennisnedry wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same schedule now. It's much better since you avoid the crazy traffic of the typical 9-to-5'ers and getting to sleep in is the best thing ever.

I made the mistake of moving 18 miles (San Jose) from where I work (Mountain View). Two years ago traffic wasn't bad but I swear it's getting worse. If I leave the house at 9:00 it takes 45-60 minutes to get to work. If there's a major accident or problem it can take up to 90 (happened once). Now I just don't leave the house before 10:00. My commute is less than 30 minutes and I regain 30-60 minutes every day. I feel…

I agree it's getting worse over the last year or so. My commute is about 8 miles, from Seaport to 92 on 101, and I never get much above 10 mph. Bumper to bumper the whole way. It didn't used to be like that.