A great place to make a difference - Senior Software Engineer Apple Employee Review

5.0
31 Dec 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You get to make a difference on products that people love to use. You might have more influence on the overall product at a smaller company, but you can have a significant impact on products that millions of people use and which set the direction for entire industries. Nothing compares to the thrill of having a product you've worked hard on being announced at Macworld or WWDC to glowing reviews, and then seeing people all over the place using it. Also, unlike some other large companies, Apple's teams run small. This means that nearly everyone's working on something really important to their product, and that at least within your own area of influence it's pretty easy to get things done.

Cons

The company's expectations are very high. Product schedules are aggressive and the quality bar is high, so pushes to get releases out can be tough. Management is often willing to let you work as hard as you're willing to, which in retrospect can be more than you really wished you'd worked. Apple doesn't offer quite as much vacation time as some other companies (though Christmas through New Year's is a free vacation every year), and a bit more time off would help. Also, the company is very fast-paced, so things can change quickly. Get used to decisions being made one day and changing the next, but on the plus side the final decision is nearly always the right one.

Explore other reviews about Apple

5.0
19 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people and great benefit.

Cons

Can be challenging to move up within the organization.

4.0
28 Aug 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

We work with geniuses - in every department, We create innovative products that thrill our customers and create new product categories - who else can say that?

Cons

ZERO ZERO ZERO work/life balance. Execs have been saying for YEARS that they understand and will make it better. But in actuality, it gets worse every year! It is obviously top management LIP SERVICE because if they meant it, they could fix it tomorrow. They have hundreds of BILLIONS in the bank. If they REALLY cared about employee work/life balance, they could bring aboard the right number of folks to make that issue dissolve. Sick of hearing the lies. Just don't lie about wanting to fix it, when they clearly DON'T care

1501
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