Ask YC: Software developers at Apple?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181591

by pchristensen • 18 years ago

34 27 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

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.

simonseto2• 18 years ago

It'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• 18 years ago

Wanna hear more! :)

simonseto2• 18 years ago

That 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• 18 years ago

simonseto mysteriously disappears

menloparkbum• 18 years ago

does it pay better than 'market rate?'

wehriam• 18 years ago

Pure speculation but I'm guessing not.

pistoriusp• 18 years ago

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• 18 years ago

Every 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

The future is here and screams in our face. Do you dare heed its call?

oaklybonn4• 18 years ago

This 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.)

spolsky• 18 years ago

Joel who?

oaklybonn4• 18 years ago

I admire you, even if I can't spell your name.

jmzachary• 18 years ago

How much Objective-C software is written at Apple?

oaklybonn4• 18 years ago

It doesn't matter. ObjC is just C with []s.

alaskamiller3• 18 years ago

They work 12 hour days. Lots of clashing personalities, particularly with lifers.

utx002• 18 years 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.

alaskamiller3• 18 years ago

People work at Apple to change the world. Seriously.

Steve Jobs is a genius at imbuing the concept of revolution into computing.

aschobel• 18 years ago

At least they get weekends off, unlike the startup life. :P

tlrobinson• 18 years ago

Apple 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.

pchristensen2• 18 years ago

I 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.

Ask YC: Software developers at Apple?

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