4 ms·
The teams are mostly 1099 contract workers through a third party with no benefits and no hope of advancement or future employment as full-time employee of Apple
by doodlebugging 7y ago
The teams are mostly 1099 contract workers through a third party with no benefits and no hope of advancement or future employment as full-time employee of Apple since their contract specifically expires in one year. They make around $20/hour usually right out of college in a town (Austin) with one of the fastest growing cost of living due to the influx of all the tech companies who got tired of the California scene and decided to move to Texas for the sweet tax cuts and business-friendly environment.
I'm sure the contract company siphons most of the contract value from Apple and the dedicated workers doing all the GIS work, the turn-by-turn descriptions, business identifications, etc. updating all the things that made the original Apple Maps such a delicious joke are left with an income that barely meets expenses in a town where those expenses are steadily rising. This job for them is just a resume filler though they aren't even allowed, due to NDA, to specify exactly what they do (what software or skills they use) or who they do it for when they update their resumes so that before the end of their one year contracts they can find a real career-type job.
It is a great update to a product that did originally suck though. It isn't Apple employees who are doing the actual work. They're the supervisors.
- baggy_trough 7y agoApple gave them an option that was better than all others available to them. Otherwise they would be doing that other option instead. So thanks, Apple!
- doodlebugging 7y agoIt is very likely that you are correct. Thanks, Apple!
- arrakeen 7y agoi am a well-paid contractor who disagrees
- doodlebugging 7y agoThen you obviously are not one of the $20/hr contractors referenced in my comment. I am willing to accept that there are other contractors involved who are earning more for their efforts. Congratulations to you and I hope you find tremendous success no matter where you choose to apply your talents.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tguedes 7y agoDo you have any evidence to back up your assertion?
- doodlebugging 7y agoEvidence of what? The rate of pay? The nature of employment of those doing the grunt work? The cost of living in the Austin area? The reason(s) why tech companies that had their start out of state open facilities in Texas? The general feeling that the first iteration of Apple Maps was substandard to the point where most agree that it sucked?
- kevindong 7y agoYour phrasing is ambiguous about what those teams actually do. If it's just a data entry or "look at this picture and type down the name of the restaurant" job, then I'd say $20 is pretty good. If it's actual software engineering then yeah it's pretty terrible pay.
- doodlebugging 7y agoIt looks ambiguous to me too. Sorry. I should've read it more closely before posting as some of those sentences really get leggy.