Why is Apple SWE behind Facebook and Google in terms of quality?
Aug 11, 2021
30 Comments
I have only ever worked at Apple (3 yoe after PhD in non-cs field) and do not have an informed perspective of the SWE industry in general. I see a lot of “tier” polls where Apple SWE is rated consistently lower than Facebook and google. I am curious to hear why this is the case (notwithstanding quality of hired candidates) and if jumping ship to google (not going to FB unless culture improves there) makes sense for me.
Additionally, I am also interested in understanding what Apple SWE does better and what I will miss if I leave.
Tc: 320k
comments
This introduces a culture of secrecy, even in software teams. Secrecy is common in the hardware industry.
As a result, teams constantly reinvent common software tooling and practices. It’s difficult for teams and orgs to collaborate and develop state-of-the-art software methodologies.
Source: worked at G and Apple
Personally I have found lot of reinvention of tools. I have worked on building things that I know exists in a different org. It's a shame Apple encourages this.
Another aspect is disclosure culture. Manager makes you work without giving context which definitely sucks as a developer. You end up doing things you are told to rather than doing things that are right.
On the other hand, the WLB is pretty good at Apple (at least AI/ML) in comparison to those 3.
From my experience at Fb, Amazon and Apple, I can say that as a swe I have much more freedom at Apple (again read AI/ML) than those two.