Software Engineer Interview Experience - Cupertino, California
Process
Recruiter phone screen.
Technical phone interview with two engineers.
On-site technical coding interview with approximately eight interviewers.
I thought most of it went pretty well. Only one or two of the engineers from adjacent teams weren't really helpful at all during the interview.
The recruiter said it would take a few days to follow up with feedback. I sent a follow-up email to the recruiter a while later and got ghosted. Not even a rejection notice from them.
Questions
Typical data structures, parsing, flow control, and corner case handling.
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Interview Statistics
The following metrics were computed from 162 interview experiences for the Apple Software Engineer role in Cupertino, California.
Success Rate
Apple's interview process for their Software Engineer roles in Cupertino, California is very selective, failing most engineers who go through it.
Experience Rating
Candidates reported having very good feelings for Apple's Software Engineer interview process in Cupertino, California.
Apple Work Experiences
- 4.0Too much control with managers, but a good place overallSoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesSeptember 18, 2023Pros: The work culture was really good.Cons: Too much office politics, and managers favor their own people.
- 5.0Great place to work!Software Engineer • Current EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesJune 5, 2025Pros: Pay, work, culture, benefits, and officesCons: Pay is a little under other FAANG companies.
- 2.0Like any other big companySoftware Engineer • Former EmployeeCupertino, California, United StatesAugust 16, 2010Pros: • Nice perks • Super casual dress code • Really nice people and interpersonal culture • Can actually take accrued vacation without anyone complaining • Stock has been doing very well • Heavy marketing means you can impress everyone when you say where you work.Cons: - Lots of weird managerial politics. - Endless meetings to get anything done. - Ridiculous amount of secrecy causes animosity between different teams and makes it take forever to get anything done unless it's high priority or "for Steve". - Way understaffed for software engineering in most departments; prepare to work lots of overtime. - Some senior engineers have been around for 20 or 30 years. No matter how out of touch they may be, they will have a significant say in projects tangentially related to them. - Corollary: Don't be young. - Software engineering culture is fad-driven (and we're talking weird Apple-only fads like GCD) on the desktop, and rushed and buggy on embedded.
Apple Interview Questions
