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Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

aheze.substack.com

21–30 of 399 posts

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#21
post #13

Side question: Is it still true that if you work at Apple, you can't be doing side projects etc? I've heard some stories rules from Big tech companies specially Apple that they restrict heavily what can and can't be done even in your free time.

At least two years ago, yes. You're not barred from social media or blogging, but you can't do it about tech or contribute to Open Source work without very specific clearance.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#22
post #18
post #13

Side question: Is it still true that if you work at Apple, you can't be doing side projects etc? I've heard some stories rules from Big tech companies specially Apple that they restrict heavily what can and can't be done even in your free time.

Are most Applers even allowed to speak in forums like this one? Did OP follow the rules?

Based on what I know of the rules (which is out of date by roughly 10 years), no, OP did not follow them.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#23

Do Apple attract the best software engineers? If I were a talented hardware engineer, chip designer, hardware designer - I'd want to work at Apple because Apple attracts the best people in these fields. I imagine that Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon get the lion share of the best software engineers. No one has ever said Apple services, like the iCloud and Apple Music backend, or Siri, are quality piece of software en…

Best? Probably no. But the good ones willing to have high salary for sure. The best work for niche companies where they have comparable or even better conditions. Ex colleague just rejected offer from Apple and picked 30 person very specialized company.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#24

Do Apple attract the best software engineers? If I were a talented hardware engineer, chip designer, hardware designer - I'd want to work at Apple because Apple attracts the best people in these fields. I imagine that Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon get the lion share of the best software engineers. No one has ever said Apple services, like the iCloud and Apple Music backend, or Siri, are quality piece of software en…

The fact that you don’t think about them probably tells a story.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#25

Do Apple attract the best software engineers? If I were a talented hardware engineer, chip designer, hardware designer - I'd want to work at Apple because Apple attracts the best people in these fields. I imagine that Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon get the lion share of the best software engineers. No one has ever said Apple services, like the iCloud and Apple Music backend, or Siri, are quality piece of software en…

iMessage and APNS is one of the largest and most reliable webscale services run by anyone. Apple's cloud product design is crap (really, you're gonna try to sell me a $5 storage plan ten minutes after buying a $2000 phone?!) but iMessage and APNS are used by hundreds of millions of devices daily and is down less than S3. Credit where credit is due.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#26
post #18
post #13

Side question: Is it still true that if you work at Apple, you can't be doing side projects etc? I've heard some stories rules from Big tech companies specially Apple that they restrict heavily what can and can't be done even in your free time.

Are most Applers even allowed to speak in forums like this one? Did OP follow the rules?

[deleted]

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#27
I think the sort of more general point, rather than "build something great that someone at Apple notices", is that Graduate and Internship programmes are scale businesses. They get thousands of people applying and will hire atleast dozens, probably some FANG are hiring hundreds. So yes, we're all special snowflakes, but that's not what this process is for. It's about harsh rounds of easy to design problems to winnow the field.

This totally changes when you're a specific candidate with skills Apple values. What this guy experienced wasn't an interview process. They had already decided to hire him before what he described as the interview process. They already know he's good, he experienced the talent acquisition process. The bit that happens when the company has already decided to hire you and is now doing everything it can to sell you on the job.

If someone outside of recruiting contacts you about a job at a company, you will not experience a normal interview process, because they're already quite likely to want to hire you.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#28

Do Apple attract the best software engineers? If I were a talented hardware engineer, chip designer, hardware designer - I'd want to work at Apple because Apple attracts the best people in these fields. I imagine that Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon get the lion share of the best software engineers. No one has ever said Apple services, like the iCloud and Apple Music backend, or Siri, are quality piece of software en…

Apple has pockets of excellence. It used to be most of the company, something about how Jobs ran it, inspired people much overqualified to apply, and not even for very high salaries. At NeXT infamously a PhD (EDIT: in comp-sci, or physics?) worked as a janitor as he simply wanted to be around Jobs and cool smart people.

Currently entropy is getting to Apple in many ways. iTunes and Apple Music didn't use to be mediocre, but are now. Siri is very mediocre. OS quality is declining although still pretty good. Hardware division is excellent, but most hardware divisions are.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#29

When I was an intern, we had to pay $1200 a month for corporate housing, and they put 4 of us in a 2 bedroom apartment, walking distance from IL1 in Cupertino. They also gave the 4 of us 2 bikes. Apple's cafeteria may not be free, but at least they're paying for intern housing these days.

That's horrible. If I needed more reasons to not work for Apple, this'd have definitely been a dealbreaker for me. Of course, Apple with their forced RTO and, in general, disdain for remote work, provides many reasons for me not to work for them anyways.

I wouldn't take it back. It was a singular experience in my career. I learned a lot. One of the cool things they did was have monthly talks for the interns from the executives. One of these was an off the cuff talk from Steve Jobs himself.

Re: Getting a job at Apple without going to college or doing LeetCode

#30
The problem is that "leetcode" is a definitely a thing that exists in "FAANG" interviews.

The biggest stumbling block with leetcode is that you shouldn't be programming like that in real life.

"make a linked list" no, just use a library like everyone else.

"Implement addition in python but with string inputs", "no you can't use the built in x" All of that "clever" shit should be filtered out at PR/MR/diff review time.

All of this "clever shit" is exceptionally bad programming. We don't live in the 80s anymore. we don't need to make our own sort algorithms. just. use. a. Library.

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