Funny story about my tryst with Apple. I graduated my Masters degree in May and I was job hunting from February to June. In this time period, I got calls for 7 different positions from Apple. All positions being (Embedded Software/Firmware engineering) and exact match to what I was looking for. Out of 7, Cleared 2 phone screens Got ghosted by 1 after phone screen Got ghosted by a recruiter before even an interview could happen Got rejected in the remaining 3 I appeared for 2 virtual on-sites (5 interviews each). And I am quite confident that I aced both, except for minor niggles here and there. The result - rejected from both without a proper reason. When I followed up for feedback the recruiters conveniently ghosted me. So I wonder, what the hell is going on? I appeared for 17+ interviews with Apple and this! FYI There might not be a problem with my skills neither am I delusional because I got 4 other offers in the same time period (2 Amazon, 1 Samsung, 1 Qualcomm). Here are some key observations that I have about Apple - First, Apple doesn't have a streamlined interview process. Every team starts your interview from scratch irrespective of the fact that you have already cleared phone screens for a similar role. (Amazon does much better here and they share feedback across teams). Second, Apple recruiters will simply ghost you at any stage they like. Few of the recruiters had such condescending attitude, one literally feels like Apple is doing one a favor by giving them a chance to interview! Third, Apple interviewers lie to your face and tell you how well you did in an interview (whether you ask or not). They be extra-nice to an extent that you start believing that you're on the right track. And then they back-stab and reject. To make an interviewee comfortable is one thing, but this is an extreme. Some of my friends have experienced this too with Apple. Example: One of my friend was interviewing for SWE in NYC and he was shown the door after 3 on-sites. This is what he was told in the last interview - "oh you don't know much about X? No problem it is not required for the job". And he is confident this was his reason for being rejected, because he did ace every other question. P.S. I am still quite fascinated with the hardware/firmware engineering Apple does. But this experience has definitely lowered that respect I had. Plus it's sad to see how entitled some people might be over there and think they're doing you a favor by giving you an interview! #offer #tech #apple #amazon #firmware #sde
Same experience here. 2 virtual onsites and after more than 12+ interviews and got rejected to both with no feedback/reason. Apple seems to be struggling with their hiring activities.
Same happened to me years back. Very similar story. Not gonna lie I feel very bitter about it with the little amount of respect they showed me.
Sorry about that. I had horrible interviewing experience at Google. I have been rejected by Amazon. And screened 5 times, failed once at Apple. Before getting an offer on my second on site interview. One thing you have to realize is Apple is big. And each team as a different interview/feedback process and things they are looking for. So don’t expect that a successful screen in a team by reused in another team. I admit, I hate when people ghost you, independent of the context. But it’s apparently what everybody is doing. Long time ago, I went onsite for EA. Never got any feedback. Not even a single word like “No”. I just moved on..
So your justification is that Apple is big and hence feedback can't be shared? Well, Amazon is bigger, they still do it well. Plus their hiring process is very similar across the board. So not like Apple can't do it.
You should see Apple as a collection of small compagnies. With a common CEO. Each team is responsible for their own processes.
To be honest, it's really hard to know how well you did. I've interviewed loads of people for Amazon and I'm sure most of the ones that failed also think they did well. The interviewee is absolutely not a good judge of how well they did as they don't know what we're looking for. Most good companies will want to make you feel good about the process
What I have heard about Apple is that they would reject even if 1 person on the loop thought you were a bit flaky. And in hind sight, I cannot pin point even 1 person who would have thought so! Its very unlike Amazon where they have debriefs and try to convince everyone for a unanimous decision.
That's interesting that one person could have veto power at Apple. Last loop I did at Amazon we were equally split 3 for and 3 against. HM was on one side, Bar raiser on the other. BR ended up changing vote as HM was keen. Ended up 4-2 in favour of hiring. Guess the candidate will never know how close he was to being rejected!
Sorry to hear this! It’s possible you didn’t do as well as you think. Every team controls their interview process which imo is a better way to do it, as the team hiring you knows what they want best. They don’t rely on previous interviews because you are interviewing for a new team with new people, it would be unfair to judge you on a past interview. If you look at this a different way, it would suck if you had a bad day and did poorly on an interview and other teams only looked at that feedback instead of giving you a fresh slate. Also the recruiters do try to make everyone feel good about themselves not like shit after an interview but that may translate to false hope if one performed poorly. Also sorry to hear about the condescending recruiters that sounds like a few bad apples :(
Thanks for this perspective! Every process does have it pros and cons, and you never know which one will work for you.
lol my recruiter blatantly told me there’s no leveling system at Apple, everyone is the same level and are just individual contirbutor...I know that’s not true cuz I have seen levels.fyi... I ended up in a lower level so I pressured my manager for a promo soon after joining. Now I just want to leetcode and gtfo since I’m not getting along with the team and goal is very blurry
Yeah levels are imaginary, everyone is an IC. Your recruiter got too philosophical lol
Apple’s hiring process is horrendous. People saying the problem are the teams. No the problem is HR. All these problems are structurally related to HR and their failures.
Have you considered the possibility that you did great but Apple had more strong candidates?
Most of recruiters are contractors. But in general, recruiting team in Apple sucks
Not much invention from Apple after Steve Jobs