It gets to that point in your job career when the name of the company you work for doesn’t matter. Being part of your resume is a plus but there is a limit. Most companies today want the best output, best products, best services but this could be to the detriment of the employees of such companies. Strict drives are employed, tensions are heightened and sometimes suicides are executed. Interestingly, the world marvels at both the financial and products of such companies. Some people might say sacrifice is needed to get the best results but employees of other companies like Google and Linked-in give their testimonies of how wonderfully these companies have impacted on them.
If you want to work in tech, you want the words “Apple Inc.” somewhere on your resume. That experience is widely regarded as a key that can unlock virtually any other type of employment opportunity.
Without bias, some of Apple’s employees were interviewed by business insider, But what is it really like to work at the most innovative tech company on the planet? Most people treasure their time there. As an Apple employee, you’re working on the most sought-after gadgets on the planet, alongside Silicon Valley’s brightest minds.
Apple’s secrecy is sometimes so strict it disrupts your family life.
Robert Bowdidge told Quora: I couldn’t tell my wife anything, she knew I was working in a different building across the street and pulling very late nights, but she didn’t know what I was doing. When I had to travel to Manchester UK to work with more of the Transitive folks, she asked to come along. I had to say ‘no way’ – she worked for IBM at the time, and I knew that the project lead would freak at the thought of our chip vendor learning about the move.”
Your spouse will be told “to forget everything.”
Kim Scheinberg tells this story about her husband, Apple employee JK, who invented an Intel version of Mac OSX that ran on PCs. Bertrand Serlet, the svp of software engineering, liked the project: “Bertrand sits JK down and has a talk with him about how no one can know about this. No one. Suddenly, the home office has to be reconfigured to meet Apple security standards.””JK points out to Bertrand that I know about the project. In fact, not only do I know about it, I am the person who named it.””Bertrand tells JK that I am to forget everything I know, and he will not be allowed to speak to me about it again until it is publicly announced.”
“I guess he had some kind of ‘Total Recall’ memory wipe in mind.”
“I could literally go an entire day without talking to anyone else.”
Not everyone gets to work on the Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, as former intern Owen Yamuachi discovered: “My team was located in a distant building on Vallco Parkway, a couple of miles away from the main campus at Infinite Loop. This meant that I was physically separate from most of the other interns, and also there was no cafe in that building. The building itself was also not very pleasant – it consisted mainly of dark, narrow hallways with absurdly high ceilings for some reason, and private offices for everyone. Having my own (needlessly huge) office meant that I could literally go an entire day without talking to anyone else. This has upsides (I had the longest periods of intense concentration I’ve ever had in my life) and downsides (it got quite lonely).”
“Paranoid management, disrespect, constant tension, and long hours.”
This anonymous former employee appears to have hated their time at Apple: “It entirely depends on the group that you’re in. Generally speaking it is a pressure cooker and all communication is one directional (guess which way that is).”
“Paranoid management, disrespect, constant tension, and long hours sum up most of the real culture in operations … Most of the people in SDM (supply demand management) see it as something they need to suck up for a few painful years after b-school so they can move on to a better gig with the Apple brand on their resume. Like the investment banking of tech. Culture here is strictly top down: any attempt to streamline, impact change, or even discuss a better way to do anything is strictly frowned upon when it comes from the bottom. Work longer/harder, don’t complain or try to fix any of the myriad broken systems or processes, and don’t forget that there are 10 people lined up outside to take your spot (your manager won’t forget).”
“Work here at your own risk. On the upside, cafe food is pretty good and dress is casual.”
If you’re working on a new product, you’ll be chained to it. Almost literally.
An iPad developer told a story about the lengths the company went to to ensure a prototype iPad didn’t leave the building:”The criteria was that we had to have a room with no windows. They changed the locks on the door.””Three developers and I were the only people allowed to go in the room. Apple needed the names and social security numbers of the people who had access.”
“Apple needed to be able to drill a hole in the desk and chain the devices to desk. They used those bicycle cables.”
Lastly, Cupertino.
“Cupertino is the most boring town in the south bay”.
Culled from Business Insider.