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Ask YC: Software developers at Apple?
Apple gets so much great attention for its hardware, design, vision, taste, etc, but I was wondering what it's like there for software developers. They write OSX, embedded (iPod, etc), applications, utilities, etc that get lots of acclaim, but you never really hear about them. Does anyone know Apple hackers, what it's like, if it's a sought-after job (I'm sick of hearing about how everyone wants to work at Google and Facebook) or just an option, etc.
- simonseto 19y agoIt's a high stress, demanding job. Great work is usually rewarded, but Apple does have its politics. Talented engineers I know are well rewarded and recognized internally, but other engineers have been shafted due to politics or the bozo-ness of their particular department or team.
- suboptimal 19y agoWanna hear more! :)
- simonseto 19y agoThat gossip is best left unsaid, but my advice if you are looking to work at Apple - choose the team you join carefully. Apple's most secretive teams are also the most talented and brilliant folks I've ever met. But they work hard to be friends of Steve.
- jpeterson 19y agosimonseto mysteriously disappears
- menloparkbum 19y agodoes it pay better than 'market rate?'
- wehriam 19y agoPure speculation but I'm guessing not.
- pistoriusp 19y agohttp://www.folklore.org/ http://www.folklore.org/ has stories about Apple from their early days, I couldn't stop reading it, and you learn a lot about the hackers from back then.
- ovi256 19y agoEvery time I feel burned, I read a bit of folklore.org about how the masters of yore did their stuff, and get to work again! Oh and also "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald: http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/thedjinnswife.shtml http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0704/thedjinnswife.shtml The future is here and screams in our face. Do you dare heed its call?
- oaklybonn 19y agoThis is what Apple looks for in software engineers: Smart, gets things done. (I think Joel Splotskey said it first.) 99% of the software written at Apple is in C or some variant thereof. If your C code isn't up to snuff (EDIT: fixed lousy contraction. English skills aren't as important!), you might be able to get a job working in the build farms, but even those people are good coders doing shit work until they can move up. All that being said, we have a really hard time finding people that can code their way out of a paper bag in C - so much so that we'll even take people without direct Mac OS X experience if they're talented coders. (I'd still prefer to see true macheads, though.)
- alaskamiller 19y agoThey work 12 hour days. Lots of clashing personalities, particularly with lifers.
- utx00 19y ago.. and one needs the aggravation because? with all the easy pickings (that pay well) out there. i say take advantage that 80% of people don't know anything, and take it easy. 8 hr works days, and i'm at the lake.
- alaskamiller 19y agoPeople work at Apple to change the world. Seriously. Steve Jobs is a genius at imbuing the concept of revolution into computing.
- ardit33 19y ago"People work at Apple to change the world. Seriously." -- or just making Steve Jobs even richer. Unless you get paid really really well, I don't see any real upside for hackers to work at Apple. You are just a cog in their machine (or cult, as fake seteve jobs said). You can change the world, and try to get fair amount of money out of it by doing something on your own, or working in smaller companies.
- alaskamiller 19y agoYour personality clash makes you sound like you should work here.
- utx00 19y agoi guess ... but that sounds silly to me. i guess i shouldn't lurk here anymore.
- pchristensen 19y agoFeel free to continue lurking. I can enjoy Steve Jobs' plenty as a customer without having to work for him.
- tlrobinson 19y agoApple is a large company, so there's a large range of software development jobs, some more "glamorous" than others. One interesting thing to note is that the average age of Apple devs is higher than those at say Google or Facebook. Of course that's probably mostly a product of Apple being a much older company. Certainly that must affect the company culture.
- pchristensen 19y agoI would have thought it was the systems/hardware focus. The kids nowadays just assume the hardware is magic and try to ignore it as much as possible while writing their billion dollar websites.