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Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

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Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#291
I suspect we are going to see some turmoil in the tech hiring space with stock prices taking a beating in recent months. Large companies have gotten away with paying under market price for talent because employees have seen massive gains from stock appreciation over the last decade. If total comp starts going down year over year, suddenly the more traditional, no-frills system at places like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon isn't going to look nearly as attractive, especially compared to companies one tier below that are already offering higher comp and more flexible work options.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that matters is death rate for those that are vaccinated.

I remember when we used to care about hospitals overflowing.

There is hardly any threat of that at this point. At least not in areas with high vaccination rates.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#293
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They seem very rooted in the past for lots of ideas, which is ironic given the image and culture they try to project. For example, I've heard at least one story of someone being asked lots of irrelevant CS questions for a front-end role when they interviewed there. He did fine, but he said he felt like the interview somehow felt fifteen years out of date, which really stuck with me.

What CS questions would be irrelevant for front end? I don't quite follow.

I imagine they're complaining about the technical interview. For the record, when I did the technical interview I didn't find it too onerous -- mostly a more advanced sort of FizzBuzz to check you could do some intermediate math and handle basic data structures and logic flow.

My understanding is that at Apple this can vary quite a lot in difficulty or depth depending on what team you're looking at, and who is interviewing you.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#294
post #37

Like I've said before, they need to justify their multi-billion dollar campus. Barring that, I think we'd be seeing quite a different situation.

Apple Park doesn't even house the majority of Apple employees in the Bay Area. They could easily keep that campus at 100% occupancy if it was just about justifying that investment.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#295
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They seem very rooted in the past for lots of ideas, which is ironic given the image and culture they try to project. For example, I've heard at least one story of someone being asked lots of irrelevant CS questions for a front-end role when they interviewed there. He did fine, but he said he felt like the interview somehow felt fifteen years out of date, which really stuck with me.

What CS questions would be irrelevant for front end? I don't quite follow.

Deep questions about data structures and sorting algorithms that are perfectly addressed by the standard library in JS iirc. I understand that virtually anything in CS is or can be relevant, especially for such a competitive role. I don't think one should limit their knowledge wholly to a specific domain, but it seemed like there was so much emphasis put on these kinds of concepts that there was very little time left to put emphasis on things that actually might be relevant in the day to day. Beyond that though, I can't say. That's all I got out of it.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#296
I really hope this date sticks. As a single person, along with many of my single colleagues, we don't get much social interaction and being stuck inside for the past two years has really hurt our mental health. I am all for heads of families working from home to be with their families, this is beautiful, but I can't do that.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#297

Maybe it's me, but I have yet to experience 'innovation' result from a conversation held over coffee or a chance encounter. I've had better luck creating connections with other parts of the business and exchanging ideas over the infrequent cocktail party where it's a mission of the night. Say all you want about open floorplans and irrelevant quiet encounters. Having said that, every situation is unique.

I feel like not everyone works well remotely. Meanwhile if you can work well remote, you can probably work well at a desk. So the rest of us must suffer especially at these larger firms.

> Meanwhile if you can work well remote, you can probably work well at a desk.

This is sadly not universal. I’d wagger there’s a decent number of people who could only barely work in an office.

I’ve memories of people who had issues keeping themselves and/or desk clean, and it wasn’t some cute story to laugh at, it had a direct impact on their performance and if their managers found any good excuse they’d be out pretty quick.

Then all the IRL office harrasment stuff, the one that looms at a level HR doesn’t give a fuck but you still deal with it every fucking day. Going remote makes it weirdly easier on both sides, I guess some people just couldn’t help it and now they have a private space where they can do what they need to calm down.

I’d say there’s a infinite number of circumstances, up until now we’d just think these people are just not fitted to work at any place. Working remote changes a lot of these pre-requisites.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#298
post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just exposing the lie that "following the data" meant "following the polling data." That's fine, that's how democracy works. But it erodes trust in the political bodies that made all these rules and then just overturn them on a whim.

If the public are also "following the data", then the polling data and scientific consensus are likely to be highly correlated. I don't think it is nefarious at all that the general public and political leaders come to the same conclusions at about the same time when both are reacting same set of factors.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." - William J. Casey, CIA Director (1981)

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#299
post #291

I suspect we are going to see some turmoil in the tech hiring space with stock prices taking a beating in recent months. Large companies have gotten away with paying under market price for talent because employees have seen massive gains from stock appreciation over the last decade. If total comp starts going down year over year, suddenly the more traditional, no-frills system at places like Apple, Microsoft and Amaz…

Can confirm, Google was really stingy with their RSUs compared to Apple, but the perks really aren't that good with the exception of the food, which, when speaking to current Googlers, they say the food quality has fallen precipitously. Google at the time I worked there seemed to lean heavily on its reputation to reduce total comp.

Re: Tim Cook tells employees the return to offices will begin on April 11th

#300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woz to HP management: "Hey, I know we already sell computers, want to have a look at this one? If not, can I sell it myself?" HP to Woz: "Sure, go for it, good luck." Apple to their own employees: "Uh, let's see here.... how about 'No.' Does 'No' work? Good, then we'll go with 'No.'" Gotta love the Valley. You either flame out early, or you live long enough to become the face on the telescreen.

I don't understand what this is supposed to mean.

They have not only become exactly what they fought against, they've refined it to perfection.
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