I applied through a recruiter. The entire process took two and a half months.

It consisted of:

• Two phone interviews
• An extensive written exercise that took several days to complete
• An onsite interview at Apple

After the onsite interview, the recruiter called to make the offer, and I accepted.

This was early December, and Apple preferred to wait until January 7th to start, after the holiday break. In the meantime, I went through the background check process and signed the contracts.

On the start date, the recruiter called to say that Apple had decided to cancel the offer. The recruiter insisted that this had nothing to do with me; the exercise and interviews had received strong praise. It was just a problem with not getting sign-off from someone.

At this point, nearly a month after signing the contract, I had turned down other offers and interviews. The recruiter told me he had explained this to Apple, and they were "sympathetic".

My advice to anyone applying at Apple: Don't.

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