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My Experience at Apple

ex-apple-engineer.medium.com

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Re: My Experience at Apple

#41

Post by opportune »

polote wrote: post #17

Honestly why do people think that cannot happen at Apple ? That kind of thing can happen in any company. Apple is thousands of employees, it only requires a few bad people to create a situation like that. I'm not sure though, creating a post like that is the best thing. I don't know what exists in the US, but in France, you can sue your employer for free (You don't even need a lawyer), and if you are able to show a f…

From this and a few other random posts I've seen on Blind and Hacker News, the closed/secretive nature of Apple seems to allow it to happen more frequently than at other companies.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#42

Post by greesil »

reactordev wrote: post #21
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…

Sadly, you can fill in the blank with any FAANG company with this story. I’ve heard it a thousand times. Toxic management. Sorry you went through that, sorry that was your first taste of engineering out of college. Glad you stuck with it. It’s a tough spot to be. Do you roll over and do the job your being yelled at to do even though you know any concessions are BS? Or like the senior folks, do you walk? It’s a really…

Some companies have a more open and transparent review process. I'm not sure if it would help with a clique, but at least people have to put information in writing which when push comes to shove can be verified. And, reports can review their managers. If your management chain doesn't care then yes, senior people walk.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#43

Post by valuearb »

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.

Maybe because after every paragraph you ask yourself, why didn’t they just fire them? They could have done it at any point.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#44

Post by adjkant »

vr46 wrote: post #10

This sounds like an absolutely terrible experience. I hope that a decent writer or journalist takes this story on board and digs a bit deeper. Companies’ internal behaviour should absolutely be of public interest.

This is a case where a good journalist could do wonders - to synthesize this beyond the extensive length and to force Apple to investigate and respond. IANAL but it sounds like some of this could get near a workplace harassment suit too and publicity could attract pro-bono representation, especially in the current anti-tech political climate. It'd also validate some of this, as this thread is already littered with doubters of the story. While I generally believe most of this, I think a full picture adds a lot more teeth to some of the crucial parts here.

Any journalist reading this - please engage with this person and help them.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#45

Post by jb1991 »

My wife -- not a current or ex-Apple employee -- had a very similar experience as this, at a different company and in a different geographical location than Apple.

It's unfortunate that workplace abuse is so easy to do and hard to fix. She called their bluff when they told her they could easily replace her, after she spoke up about the treatment. They were shocked that she would actually leave. I was so proud of her.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#46

Post by j45 »

polote wrote: post #17

Honestly why do people think that cannot happen at Apple ? That kind of thing can happen in any company. Apple is thousands of employees, it only requires a few bad people to create a situation like that. I'm not sure though, creating a post like that is the best thing. I don't know what exists in the US, but in France, you can sue your employer for free (You don't even need a lawyer), and if you are able to show a f…

It’s less about disbelief than it being unacceptable.

If the company can be the biggest and most profitable, and build the best products, it sure as hell can figure out how it expects people to be treated, since there is already such a culture of controlling what information is leaked to the public.

Edit: I hold Apple to a special standard because it creates some of the best products that I pay a premium for. I expect the people and culture to be no less and unimaginable best of breed like the M1 chip and the A14 chip.

Re: My Experience at Apple

#47

Post by [deleted] »

systemvoltage wrote: post #24
bredren wrote: post #20

No way to say if this is a legit story, but I have seen this kind of thing at Intel, a subsidiary of comScore and a subsidiary of Siemens. Toxic workplaces exist, and toxic teams within divisions exist. When I saw this stuff, I was too young and inexperienced to recognize bad behavior and recognize my own power to go fish for something else. I did not have immigration issues to think about though, which adds a whole…

Nation states and adversaries can also fabricate these stories, especially since the damage to western brands is best done at the root - attraction of talent and sowing doubts. On the other hand, it sounds believable that these things happen in a big Corp like Apple. Not trying to be conspiratorial, just to keep in mind - what you see on HN should be taken with a clear headed mind that some of this public information…

[deleted]

Re: My Experience at Apple

#49

Post by limono »

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
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