Apple

One thing I’ve learned from talking to people within Apple is your experience will greatly vary, depending on your organization. I’m a software engineer in the Core OS organization within SWE, so my review only applies to that.

People outside Apple like to poke fun when senior leadership publicly says they’re trying to be customer-centric and “do the right thing” while making decisions that go into products. After being here, I truly believe that is the case! Tim and Craig have proven to be very thoughtful, honest, and effective leaders.

We work on some tough technical problems and some really innovative technology.

At the end of the day, as an individual contributor, I am enabled to put my head down and do my best work. Apple can be demanding; expect to receive emails and pings on nights and weekends. You have to learn to set boundaries and stick to them. If you enjoy your work, like I do, it’s very easy to accidentally put too many hours in.

As with lots of tech companies, there are many different personalities to deal with, and some can make your job miserable. It sounds like being in middle management is extremely political, and there are management movements and re-organizations pretty often.

Apple culture can be difficult to navigate for some. There’s very little documentation (this is improving), and the company is entirely built on making relationships and hallway conversations. This can make working in remote offices difficult, from what I’ve heard. Introverts beware!

Keep doing what you're doing. The company is doing very well.