The interview process was straightforward. I submitted my resume and was contacted via email 2-3 weeks later. From there, I started the interview process, which consisted of a 1-hour technical interview via WebEx, followed by a virtual onsite with three 45-minute interviews back-to-back.

These interviews took almost a month before I received a verbal offer from the recruiter. I attempted to negotiate but was told they could only negotiate if I had a competing offer, which I did not. I accepted their offer 3-4 days later.

They wanted me to start less than 2 weeks from the day I received the verbal offer. I could not do that and needed at least 2 weeks to give formal notice to my current employer. Consequently, my start date was pushed back 1 week.

I heard nothing from the recruiter or the onboarding team about a written offer for over a week and a few days. I received an update about completing a background check, which I did and passed. A few days before my start date and shortly after completing my background check, I was told that the team processing written offers was taking longer than usual, so my start date would likely be pushed back at least 2 weeks.

I had already submitted my 2 weeks' notice with my employer when I was told this and was on my last 3 days. I figured 2 weeks off without a job wouldn't be so bad, so I wasn't too worried. I followed up every 3-4 days for 2 weeks, and the recruiter kept saying, "Working on it; I'll update you as soon as I get an update."

Well, no update yet. Overall, I accepted my verbal offer 1.5 months ago. Now the recruiter has basically ghosted me, and I am jobless thanks to them.

Given how quickly they needed me to start, I figured waiting for the written offer for just a few days would be fine, but the verbal offer never progressed to a written one.

Overall, a horrible experience. So much for Apple being a role model company in my eyes; now it's anything but.

Coding question regarding how to handle abbreviations of an array of strings. Just like how states are abbreviated.