Contractor @ Apple
My wife is considering a contractor gig at Apple, but has heard/read some horror stories. Could someone that is currently or has been a contractor at Apple weigh in here? Does Apple hire contractors as FTE? Are contractors able to take advantage of any campus perks? Anything else you can share, good or bad.
What horror?
conversion is case by case, prove yourself as an important asset to the team and they can try and get a full-time position opened for you
The use of contractors is abused by all of these big companies. You're not considered an FTE for any of them nor do you get any of the benefits. Usually the firm that places contractors will offer something, but nothing from the company hiring the contractor. This shit needs to be regulated. Supposedly nearly all of the job growth over the past decade or so has been via temp/contractor roles.
We will end up like Japan where many people have to perma-temp for their whole career.
I went from contractor to FTE. Your benefits come from the contracting company as does your paycheck - so it depends who you work through. If you’re average or below average at your job you won’t get an offer, or if they simply can’t get headcount allocated. Like most things - it just depends. Overall my experience was just fine as a contractor, and now FTE software engineer for 3 years.
Beer Bashes yes, employee benefits and perks like fitness, medical, etc., no. It’s an employment law issue around California Coemployment. (Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/13/business/technology-temp-workers-at-microsoft-win-lawsuit.html) Tl;dr Contract and temp employee positions can not resemble FTE too closely. In my experience, it is not likely that a contract position will be insourced from a Contract position, though it does happen. She shouldn’t look at it as a road to FTE, IMO. My experience as a contractor was just fine with those expectations.
Which perks contractors do and don't get depends more on company culture than on specifics in the law. I worked at a company the SF Bay Area that lets contractors join the fitness center for a fee. I couldn't participate in employee wellness challenges, but I could use the fitness center and even hire a trainer there. I've also worked at a company (not in California) where contractors could not use company shuttles but did get a bus pass paid for by the company.
Certain roles are never meant to be fulltime and are always outsourced through contractors. Some roles can be temporary contractor roles until the managers gets additional headcount and able to convert a contractor. Certain teams can’t have any contractors at all and only hire fte, but their hiring bar is usually higher. Sometimes contractors stay in a different building and only come over to their fte counterparts for meetings. A personal trainer I knew was fired after she took a pair headphones - apparently only ftes can get an equipment and she either forgot or didn’t know, her employer didn’t care and just fired her (I don’t know if Apple even knew what happened).
I work in Maps and we usually get quite a few contractors every year for our team. Conversations to FTE do happen but the competition is tough. I recently heard that Apple or maybe Maps have adopted a policy where they let the contractor go after 1 year if they can’t convert him/her into an FTE ( Not sure if this is an actual thing. Please confirm before you make any decision) Other than that I would recommend staying away from IS&T. Few people I know who work there have horrible experiences. Perks: Last I heard contractors don’t get any employee discounts on devices, medical, espp etc.
The one year limit is actually California Coemployment law. There are exceptions, but not important in detail for this discussion.
The limit applies to *independent* contractors, or 1099s. It doesn't apply to contractors on the W-2 payrolls of vendor staffing agencies.
Yes apple hires contractors as FTE. Contractors can use shuttle. Good - depending on contracting company can get OT. Bad - not co seated with other employees.
Contractors get ot by law unless a lawyer or accountant.
What kind of horror?