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My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

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Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#11

Post by rscott »

joslin01 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, why the title 700 Billion? What is the purpose of this in how it relates to the article? Regarding the article, yea, seems pretty standard. Sorry you didn't get the job

"A few people asked me to write about my experience of interviewing for a job at Apple—the 700 billion worth company—so here it is."

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#12

Post by GuiA »

ryanSrich wrote: post #5

"Talent Shortage"

I feel like that's a big misunderstood thing in our community. There is a talent shortage - in the sense that companies are always ready to hire someone in the top ~10%. That's what talent means in this context. Google and Facebook will always be more than willing to hire the people who build frameworks in their spare time or contribute to the Linux kernel. There is however no shortage of one trick pony PHP developers, because by mathematical definition they are the bottom 90% (see http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html).

(the question of whether companies actually need employees of that caliber for building mobile apps is a entirely different one)

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#13

Post by samdk » 

    Note: after 25 minutes answering questions for a job you really
    want it’s kinda hard to shift to a question-asking mode.
When I was looking for a job I found that it helped enormously to write down a set of questions ahead of time.

Some I liked:

What does a typical day look like for you?

What projects do you work on?

How long have you been at $company? How has your role changed since then?

If I were hired for this role, what would my first day/week/month look like?

Is there anything about $company that some people really like, but others might dislike? (For example, having an open-plan office.)

What tools do you use on a regular basis?

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#14

Post by joslin01 »

sb8244 wrote: post #4

Idk. Flaunting how much the process cost and how much income it lost was sort of put off for me. It's great to see insight into interviews, in general, but that just left a weird bitter note to the article.

Same here. I always cringe a little bit when I see people breakdown their time to an imaginary monetary loss. This way of looking at things comes with a pretty heavy dose of narcissism if you ask me. It says "People would be paying me money for what I'm doing for free right now; look how much I'm sacrificing." While there might be quite a few people out there who could get away with billing their time at any given hour of the day, most of us have to establish relationships that facilitate a mutually-beneficial value exchange.

Luis might have very well been looking for work during this time, but by phrasing it as an outright monetary loss, he exaggerates his sacrifice and gives an appeal to the reader to condemn what Apple "did to him."I believe this is the reason also for the "700 Billion". Oh well. Sucks to be rejected. Natural reaction

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#15

Post by joslin01 »

rscott wrote: post #11
joslin01 wrote: post #7

Out of curiosity, why the title 700 Billion? What is the purpose of this in how it relates to the article? Regarding the article, yea, seems pretty standard. Sorry you didn't get the job

"A few people asked me to write about my experience of interviewing for a job at Apple—the 700 billion worth company—so here it is."

I still don't understand, but ok, thanks. That's a great descriptor of Apple (of which there are many), but doesn't point anywhere toward a rationale for titling an interview experience as "700 billion". I'm not trying to say titles need to make logical sense, but they usually should make some sense

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#16

Post by RandomBK »

This all sounds like a typical 'cultural fit' screening process. I can't speak to SV firms, but many consulting/banking firms use the same technique. It can be very frustrating at times, as you never get to find out what went wrong, especially if the interview itself felt like it went very smoothly. I just finished a long string of interviews for consulting and product management positions, and there is nothing worse than to get a 'no, please try again later' without any feedback as to how you can improve.

At the end of the day, it comes down to being able to truly connect with your interviewers and breaking out of the typical question-answer format. It sounds like you almost reached that point - I'm not sure if the lunch was a standard thing they did with all applicants, but it did seem like they were really interested in you. It could be that the process came down to a handful of equally desirable candidates, at which point luck plays a large role in deciding who gets the job. I would definitely keep in touch with everyone you met, and apply again at the next opportunity.

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#17

Post by pkaye »

My own experience from a few years back. I had relevant skills for some technology they were ramping up and got an call from them 1 hour after I submitted my resume. Next day did a phone screening and they wanted to interview me in person. The interview was for two days with 18 people. Most were coding and problem solving questions with engineers and then some management. I did correctly one all questions except one I got incorrectly and one I stumbled a bit. In the end I didn't get the offer because I was not enthusiastic enough. Apparently because I also mentioned I was interviewing at a startup. Honestly I felt I could contribute more to the startup than be a cog in the wheel at a big company. In hindsight the startup was more lucrative for me as an individual...

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#18

Post by jeffbush »

samdk wrote: post #13

Note: after 25 minutes answering questions for a job you really want it’s kinda hard to shift to a question-asking mode. When I was looking for a job I found that it helped enormously to write down a set of questions ahead of time. Some I liked: What does a typical day look like for you? What projects do you work on? How long have you been at $company? How has your role changed since then? If I were hired for this ro…

I always find it a little funny as a manager when a prospective individual contributor asks me what a typical day is like for me. For me? I sit in meetings all day, thanks for asking. Would you like to know what a typical day would be like for you? :)

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#19

Post by bevacqua »

samdk wrote: post #13

Note: after 25 minutes answering questions for a job you really want it’s kinda hard to shift to a question-asking mode. When I was looking for a job I found that it helped enormously to write down a set of questions ahead of time. Some I liked: What does a typical day look like for you? What projects do you work on? How long have you been at $company? How has your role changed since then? If I were hired for this ro…

My favorite question to ask is "If you could change one thing about $company, what would you change and why?"

Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple

#20

Post by presty »

joslin01 wrote: post #15
rscott wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"A few people asked me to write about my experience of interviewing for a job at Apple—the 700 billion worth company—so here it is."

I still don't understand, but ok, thanks. That's a great descriptor of Apple (of which there are many), but doesn't point anywhere toward a rationale for titling an interview experience as "700 billion". I'm not trying to say titles need to make logical sense, but they usually should make some sense

it refers to Apple's current Market Cap
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