"Talent Shortage"
Well, it doesn't sound like the author is out on the street, desperate for work. He accounts for his time at 400 pounds sterling per hour.
My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
91–100 of 295 posts
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's shorthand on Twitter to refer to a company: https://twitter.com/search?q=%24AAPL&src=typd
In this case, it's the same number of characters as the longhand.
But $AAPL is clearer, because "Apple" may refer to the record company, or the fruit!
(I'm stretching, I know.)
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#93I like the following interview style (I was interviewed for a security full time position at a well-known SV company like this):
Skip introduction...
1) start with basic textbook questions like what is authenticity and authentication or XSS
2) catch what the interviewee said and build questions (e.g. I said something about private key so interviewer asked me about pro and cons of asymmetric and symmetric encryption). Oh yeah - know your shit because they are going to catch you! It's okay to say "I don't know." Being straightforward earns respect. My interviewers didn't penalize me much (well I just graduated from college...).
3) the next couple interviews again starts with introduction, then deep dive into what the team does, what the team is building at a high level, then proceed to ask me my interest. Here i would talk about my ideal projects, show them high level how I would go about implementing my idea, challenges I face (and also why I have to build one; are there any existing solution and are they not adequate). Take caution of your words - know the things you say aloud.
Somewhere in those 4-6 interviews, add a programming sessions if you haven't done so (for me I skip that and went to onsite because of internal referral).
I didn't get an offer probably because I didn't quite know what I really want to build. My idea was too generic and probably too "child play." It was a really intense and yet fun interview. This interview process allows interviewer and interviewee to see if they are a match or not quickly and pleasantly. I always look back at this interview and believe that the rejection is just and great for me and for the team. I wasn't a match and I won't be a match any time soon. I am still exploring techniques, interests and ideas.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
In some ways they have similarities with social dates, first dates. You can feel a bit nervous, might feel intimidated; did you say the right things, did you handle yourself well. Everyone says, be yourself. It's the same for job interviews, be yourself. Be prepared, show interest, don't be overconfident, etc. And like first dates, you can do all the right things, etc. And you think things went well, but, you find ou…
"Be yourself" is misleading advice, there are a bunch of things you need to do in an interview that aren't natural for anybody.
It depends on how you want to interpret "yourself". Our selves have very many facets. We have the at-home facet, the with-friends, the one at-work, the one in front of a court. They are all our self. It basically means be natural for the face you're putting on. Don't over do it. Don't construct something overly elaborate such that it misrepresents you and it becomes apparent. Don't over think it.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies shouldn't have deadlines?
No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying it's the manager's job to secure enough time for a product to get developed by the team or reduce the scope of what's going to be developed by working with whomever is setting these deadlines. If you need to magically speed up your development to meet the deadline or work extra hours, the manager has failed at doing the above, something that's a core part of his job. In some…
I don't disagree with you that death march schedules are bad, but I don't think I was making a case for them. :)
Another way to put it is that the manager's job is also to hire the best team possible, and there is a wide variance in skill levels of engineers. All other things being equal, hiring engineers who are more adept is a big advantage to the company.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#96this is pretty close to the process we have here at And indeed, if you had to go through all this it means they very seriously considered you for the position. Now, the expenses they made mean little (even for a far poorer company) compared to the mistake of recruiting someone that did not fit. There's many reasons why someone would not be selected and sometimes it's just that people didn't "click" really. I know tha…
Why is this the case? As a hiring manager, I often lean heavily towards the "hire them and if they don't work out, let them go" camp. I've gotten a lot of great teammates that way and only one that didn't work out. But the one that didn't work out killed the interview and was ridiculously smart. All the ones that did poorly in the interview and had little experience ended up being some of my better engineers.
Because there's a prevailing idea that once you hire someone, there are huge legal and logistical barriers to letting him go. I don't know how true it is, but that's what people believe.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#97The author has an odd interest in sharing numbers that, while significant, show that the point is being missed. Sure, 700 billion is an impressive market cap for a company, but that's not what it's all about for the creative people of Apple. $6,000 of your time, meh, we all invest that much in side projects, year after year, if not more frequently than that. 5,000 miles, yeah, so you took a flight, is this supposed t…
If we're going to focus on money, which the Author did, Apple's revenue per full-time equivalent is $2.13 million. It's obvious that Apple didn't feel that he was going to be worth that.
This comment highlights why the pot should never call the kettle black.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#98The lack of explanation about why they didn't hire you is completely normal in California. Saying nothing at all ensures they don't say anything that can be interpreted as discrimination, minimizing their legal exposure. They have nothing to gain by explaining and plenty to lose if they say something stupid.
It's also just awkward. I've had a few cases where people pressed me for feedback, and I responded gently but truthfully. I thought the answers were somewhat innocuous (you don't have any experience with X), but people still got defensive.
I've certainly interviewed and didn't get offered a job. It stings, even when I knew I wasn't the best fit. It's natural to feel some bitterness.
Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#99About two years ago I was fast-tracked to interviews at Apple via recommendation. About 9 interviews later over 4 spread-out days, I was told I had done quite well during the interview process. Eventually I was not given the position because I was holding a beer in my LinkedIn picture. They ended up paying my current employer (their vendor at the time) astronomical amounts of money to do the very same service, done b…
While I would love to work at Apple, I honestly don't think I want to work somewhere that isn't happy to see a picture of me holding a beer. If they don't want my whole personality, they can't have my intelligence. I refuse to turn myself into a "corporate robot" for the sake of a paycheck.
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Re: My experience of interviewing for a job at Apple
#100About two years ago I was fast-tracked to interviews at Apple via recommendation. About 9 interviews later over 4 spread-out days, I was told I had done quite well during the interview process. Eventually I was not given the position because I was holding a beer in my LinkedIn picture. They ended up paying my current employer (their vendor at the time) astronomical amounts of money to do the very same service, done b…
While I would love to work at Apple, I honestly don't think I want to work somewhere that isn't happy to see a picture of me holding a beer. If they don't want my whole personality, they can't have my intelligence. I refuse to turn myself into a "corporate robot" for the sake of a paycheck.
To play devils advocate, Linkedin is professional profile site. Personally I would not put a photo of myself holding a drink for this reason and agree or not, its reasonable to expect people wont like this. If someone said the same cause they saw a Facebook picture of you holding a beer then I would be in absolute agreement.