Is it worth negotiating?

It's 100% worth negotiating, especially if the offers are from high-integrity, large companies like Apple (where you are), Google, Meta, etc. Three things to realize:

1. You should negotiate only after you have the offer. Once you have the offer, you're one of the few people who has made it through the interview process, and the company has already invested time + effort in vetting you. It's irrational for them to reject you simply because you're negotiating in good faith.
2. Generally at a big tech co, your manager or teammates won't know you've negotiated. That's something that happens with a recruiter.
3. You may be surprised how quickly a company offers you an extra $50K or $100K, which is trivial for them, but life-changing for you.

The only time I know where negotiating backfired is with an exploding offer, like the way some finance offer.

For internships, it might be worth trying to negotiate, but it's generally not possible, and it's anyway not very consequential since you won't get a sign-on bonus or equity.

More details in this and this YouTube video.

If I told you that you could spend 15-30 minutes writing some emails and potentially get $10,000+ for it, would you do it? Probably yes right? That's why you should always negotiate. There are very activities on Earth that are this high ROI. Here's an excellent video explaining this mentality more in depth.

As Rahul mentioned, there is the edge case with an "exploding offer", but in all other cases, there's really nothing to lose as long you're polite about it. Given how competitive the tech industry is, especially with the search for talent, you won't be perceived negatively for trying either - It's sort of expected.

For tactics on how to negotiate, I recommend these Taro videos:

• Why You Should Always Negotiate Your Offers
• The #1 Rule Of Negotiation - How To Avoid Giving A Number

Lastly, if you need negotiation support, we're happy to help craft communications for you there as a part of Taro Premium.