Senior Software Engineer Interview Experience - Cupertino, California
Process
Applied online.
The recruiter contacted me the next day. We had a brief conversation about my current work and expected salary.
The hiring manager called two days later to discuss my background and the position they were trying to fill.
The recruiter called back, stating the manager liked me and would like to give me a coding challenge to complete at home. The question was easy to do, as I perform that type of coding every day in my current job.
The recruiter phoned back with positive feedback and scheduled an onsite interview for Monday.
I met with nine team members, including the hiring manager and his boss. The discussion primarily focused on technical and behavioral questions, along with a reasonable whiteboard coding problem, but nothing excessive.
The offer came in on Tuesday. It was quite generous, significantly beating my other offers in hand. I attempted to negotiate a little more, but could not.
Questions
Given a string of parenthesis symbols like [], {}, and (), write a program to return True if the symbols are complete. For example, {} should return True, while }{ should return False.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 40 interview experiences for the Apple Senior Software Engineer role in Cupertino, California.
Success Rate
Apple's interview process for their Senior Software Engineer roles in Cupertino, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having good feelings for Apple's Senior Software Engineer interview process in Cupertino, California.
Apple Work Experiences
- 5.0Apple! It really whoops a donkey's ass!Senior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesJune 17, 2008Pros: The challenges are unparalleled. The environment is fast-paced and quirky. Cool, cool people abound! The Marcom folks have unequaled taste in hipster music and the latest fashion trends. It's APPLE! What more could I possibly say?! The cafeteria is awesome, too (especially the sushi!).Cons: I would say that there are two. The first is that the work/life balance really *can* suck. Part of this is an individual employee's responsibility -- you need to fend for yourself and unplug when you can. Part of it, however, is a culture of workaholics and burning out. The other downside is the top-heavy management and proliferation of needless meetings and email. It's a drag on everyone's time and a constant annoyance.
- 4.0A very product-focused companySenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesSeptember 27, 2014Pros: As an engineer, it feels great to make contributions that have a visible impact on Apple products. People love it or hate it, but they never ignore it. Even the negative user comments just show how much they expect from Apple. Engineering is well respected, and the thing I like most is that the rest of the engineers are very grounded and like to make an impact on a product level. In some other big tech-focused companies, engineers often end up building an entire new compiler in order to get done with their project. This seldom happens at Apple, and it is a good thing.Cons: There is a lot of secrecy and silos in order to keep company information on a need-to-know basis and extremely confidential. This is a good thing from the perspective of PR and marketing, but sometimes it hinders learning, sharing, and effectively working on new things. It also has a tendency to foster a culture where more senior employees can effectively shut off newer employees.
- 4.0Passionate people succeedSenior Software Engineer • Current EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesDecember 31, 2024Pros: Everyone is passionate about the product. If you are, then you'll succeed at Apple. Your work tends to have extremely high impact when compared with similar roles.Cons: Work-life balance isn’t great, and managers tend to expect employees to pull crazy hours to meet self-imposed deadlines. Apple does not invest much in employee education.
Apple Interview Questions
