I interviewed with Apple for a college position.

The technical interview went well; there were no trick questions. One question involved writing C code for string manipulation. The interviewer also asked if I used Mac OS and what I found annoying about it. We had a good discussion about the technical and user-side limitations of Mac OS X.

The HR interaction, however, was a disaster. Right after the interview, the HR person gave me an iTunes gift card for one dollar. I thought it was a joke and told the person to keep it. I wasn't an iTunes user anyway, and I found a gift card for a single dollar to be borderline insulting. It would have been better not to offer anything.

After the interview, I waited for a response. I received a call stating my interview had gone well and they were interested in bringing me on-site to Cupertino for further interviews. Then, I received a conflicting email stating that on-site interviews wouldn't be required. This was for an internship, and most Bay Area companies don't require onsite interviews for summer internships.

Meanwhile, I had interviewed with Google and they offered me a position. I emailed my recruiter at Apple but received no response. I accepted the Google offer.

A week or two later, I received a frantic call from a different Apple recruiter expressing their strong interest in hiring me. Alas, by then it was too late.

I suspect Apple expects candidates, especially college students, to wait for them.

Write a routine to determine if a linked list has a cycle.