[KuraFire]

For the people working there, talking about it on a public forum is cause enough to get fired, and hiding behind an online alias is not going to give you enough protection. Apple is full of really smart people, who like their jobs well enough not to risk losing them so casually and for such little incentive.

As for the process of interviewing: for a lot of the more interesting jobs at Apple, interviewing involves signing an NDA. Hence, whether or not they end up getting hired, they’re contractually prevented from talking about the interview process.

Having worked there in the past myself but not anymore, I can speak only _somewhat_ freely about it all. The interview process can be intense, taking up to several weeks and with a minimum of 4 interviews, but usually 7 or 8. Often, for practicality reasons (travel to Cupertino), all those interviews are done in a single day, and if it's more than 8 it'll be done across two+ days. As for the specifics of an average interview itself, I can’t really say anything.

And as for working there, my own experience was largely fantastic, but it wasn't for me in the end. Apple's campus is by far the nicest I've seen of all the major companies (and I've seen all the ones in Silicon Valley), and though there is always a constant pressure, stress and a major (and insane) deadline to make, working there is incredibly satisfying. Unless, perhaps, you're at MobileMe. But maybe that was just me.

[paulschreiber]

I don't recall signing an NDA (or any other paperwork) before my interview. And when I conducted interviews, I was never given any paperwork to make candidates sign.

The thing to remember about Apple is: it's really big. The interview process for an engineer working on Mac OS X could be completely different from that for an engineer working on iPhoto vs a product manager working on the iTunes store vs a finance person vs a supply chain person (et cetera). Generalizing is hard, and probably wrong.

Generally, we did a couple of rounds of phone screens, and brought someone in if we were convinced they had enough technical savvy. Once they were on campus, we'd evaluate competence (do they know what they're doing?) and personality/fit (can we work with this person?).

Given that our team was a bunch of generalists, we'd ask you about everything from pointers to dialog box design to HTML to database administration to shell scripting. We'd expect you to know a little bit about everything and be an expert on one or two things.

[whogivesashirt]

I left a few years ago, and once I left the reality-distortion/no-disclosure zone I was amazed at how paranoid we all were over computer accessories. When you're in the mix, it feels like the most important thing in the world. And yet, since leaving, I haven't been able to find a job that challenges or stimulates me anything near what Apple did.

[nihilocrat]

Apparently, neurosis begets job satisfaction? People who take their jobs "way too seriously" tend to get a lot of enjoyment when they see success in said job.

[krschultz]

You can interview for all kinds of positions involving classified weapons and intelligence without signing an NDA, but Apple requires you to sign one? What could possibly be so special about their interview process?

I guess they're worried about people gaming the system, but what stops someone from breaking the NDA to one individual going in for the interview and not online? Wouldn't that give the one individual a huge advantage?

(Though I got fingerprinted and background checked before I could even sit down for those interviews)

[KuraFire]

As I said below, it's about the secrecy of the products & plans they're working on. Keeping those secrets is worth anywhere between $200 and $300 million of free advertisement a year (a conservative estimate, these days), so it shouldn’t really be such a shock they’d like to keep secret things secret.

[PakG1]

With the culture of secrecy they have, it's not out of this world for them to want to also establish the culture from the get go and get you to take it seriously. This alone may be reason enough.

[jashkenas]

"Unless, perhaps, you're at MobileMe" -- sounds like you've got some gossip to get off your chest. Anything you care to share?

[KuraFire]

Not at all. It was just difficult to find the same kind of satisfaction in your work when other parts of the product fail so spectacularly. The MobileMe launch was a widely known failure, and the effects of that (and the problems) went on for a long time. Still today, there are many (legitimate) complaints about MobileMe, and such things impact one's satisfaction quite a lot.

[reelgeek]

Well job satisfaction with a department really depends on if you're actually doing the work requested and the terms on which you left (or were terminated, right?) Not that I had a love affair with MMe at the end of my job, but that had to do with the policies that Apple employs in terms of mass communication of pre-release products, and not with the level of talent in the existing team.

[KuraFire]

Oh for sure, the teams I worked with at MMe were all super talented and fun, and I still miss them. The problems were largely with the infrastructure and lack of vision for (or understanding of, perhaps) the product itself. Mostly details I can’t go into, of course, but it was nothing to do with the level of talent in the teams.

[mmatey]

Ok this is the answer I was looking for - but a bit unexpected. I can certainly understand an NDA for working there, but interviewing? ok...

As for comments farther down, it's a case of curiosity like I said - corporate/company culture, not their products. I think that's relative no matter what the company size is.

[KuraFire]

Imagine interviewing for a job position as baseband engineer in 2006. Apple had no iPhone in the market, why would they have needed a baseband engineer? Even a simple interview can sometimes reveal a lot about their product plans, hence the need for NDAs just for that early process.

[Remccainjr]

I would think there would be some misdirection involved with the interview process anyhow.

... Apple interviewed a baseband engineer, nuclear physicist and a satellite communications engineer last month... This month they are asking for quotes for satellite launch... WTF is Apple up to?