Apple

To be part of something bigger, something that is changing the world.

To work on products anyone can use, to see your products all over, and to be able to be a consumer of the products you work on.

To be part of the excitement and the glamor (from what people see on the outside).

Much like sausage making, you enjoy the end product but don't want to know how it was made. There often are times that can be a lot of trash, or lack of communication that leads to more stress than is needed.

And being part of a large company (even Apple) can leave you feeling like you're just a cog in the machine some days.

Apple does not do a good job of reviews, or communicating to employees real feedback on their performance and what is needed to get to the next level. Promotions are often based more on working tons of hours or having completed a major task (much easier for developers to show than someone in QA). So often developers are promoted to be a manager not because they'd make a great manager, but because they worked really hard and did some great thing.

Continue to make great products. But also realize that you don't make those great products without talented and hard-working employees.

You've done a pretty good job of allowing most of us (that want it) to have a good work/life balance (e.g., the week off at Thanksgiving, etc.).

But for those of us not directors and above, our equity stack in Apple is nearly 0. Unless we use our own money to buy into ESPP, most of us do not have any stock, stock options, or profit sharing.

No matter how hard we work or how much time we put into our jobs and Apple, we ultimately get no financial reward or incentive (other than our paycheck, which is not enough).

That's great Steve thinks we don't need profit sharing because the focus should be on doing well and making the stock go up. If you have millions of shares, then yes, stock going up is great. If you have no shares or 100 shares, what does it matter if the stock goes up 10 points or so?

I often find myself thinking, why should I put in more than 8 hours a day? Why should I take from my family time and my time to give more to a place that isn't giving me anything towards the future? (A paycheck is for today; stock options are for tomorrow.)