Pros

The best discount ever in the world

Cons

Working on the weekends, no matter what you have to

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Smart people, good products, competence and focus in abundance. Certain pride you feel working there is warranted. Get to work on/with OS X all day every day.

Cons

You may find you're so flattered to be asked to join Apple, the "it" company of the moment, that you'll ignore the red flags. Does everyone talk about relentless work hours? Do they seem enthused? Happy?

The power of the Idea of Apple is so strong that even rational engineers get lost in the meta. "Are you worthy to work at Apple?" is the unspoken question that permeates the atmosphere, inciting, especially in the newer hires, a manic desire to prove themselves. Its power is amplified by the state of the economy. Employees voluntarily give away large swaths of their time and life energy, essentially subsidizing a corporation that is quarter-to-quarter hoarding billions in cash.

I can only speak for my small slice of the Apple pie, but I found it a tense, unfriendly place, with few glimpses of unguarded humanity.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

A place for a lot of growth, great experience with peers, and management. A lot of information is available through peers and training.

Cons

The cons were sometimes I felt that management was very biased on who was to get promoted and it got some people mad.

Advice to Senior Management

Instead being biased on who to promote, look at the numbers, examine the people on the floor of how they treat , and handle customers. Also , to look how well they are doing the other stuff like merchandising etc.

Pros

Fabulous products that you can be proud of
Some great colleagues (not all)
If you're an engineer, great products to build
If you're a designer, great products to design

Cons

Least empowering place I've ever worked - all decisions go upwards, great if you're Steve Jobs, but not so great for anyone else.
Mediocre/poor performers are rarely fired.
Incredibly siloed.
Executives are so indoctrinated in the Apple way of doing things that they're not open to new approaches.

Advice to Senior Management

Push decisions down whenever possible. Get rid of people who aren't at least really good, and make sure you only hire outstanding people.

Pros

Discount on some of the best products on the markets.

Cons

No commission available on sales.

Advice to Senior Management

Strong management team.

Pros

exposure to leading edge technology, intelligent co-workers, generous employee stock purchase plan, on-site fitness center, excellent food-pellets at Cafe mac

Cons

no internal job alternative process, management makes no effort to find ongoing projects for employees when re-structuring occurs - employees are on-their-own

Advice to Senior Management

promote teamwork rather than pit employees against one another for opportunities - share project information across teams and respect the integrity and honesty of the staff

Pros

Apple places a very large priority on innovation
The people I work with day to day are very smart, creative, and highly motivated to produce killer products

Cons

Secrecy makes it hard to do my job
Isolated nature of product teams means that more often than not multiple teams are producing nearly the same product

Advice to Senior Management

Better coordinate amongst the senior management layers so that we place all efforts behind one or two contenders for a solution rather than having our resources spread across 6 or 7 efforts all working in secret.

Pros

-great opportunities to advance
-relaxed, calm atmosphere
-relaxed dress code
-discounts and in-store advantages
-interesting and fun co-workers
-lots of great learning experience

Cons

there really aren't any bad things to say.

Advice to Senior Management

thank you.

Pros

* Readily available knowledge
* Enthusiastic work environment
* Very Selective Hiring Process
* You for the most part can actually believe you are selling something you believe in
* 25% off is a nice discount
* Supervisors are looking to you to grow yourself

Cons

* The salary for the income you generate is negligible
* Very limited openings to advance up to
* If you let managers talk to you like a child they will take advantage of it

Advice to Senior Management

Deliver the goods to your people in a higher discount so that they can actually afford the products they sell on the salary they are paid.

Pros

There is an employee discount of 25% on Apple products and 10% on third-party accessories. The 25% discount can be used once every three years on laptops and computers, within-reasonable-quantities on accessories, and once a year on everything else (iPods, etc.) This discount does not apply to phones but you do get a 20% discount off AT&T.

The cafeterias are good: They are reasonably priced, have many organic and vegan options, and use compostable containers and utensils. In addition, they host beer bashes every milestone or product launch, and other fun events.

Cons

The corporate culture for the engineers is to stay until at least dinner, with no overtime for salaried workers. The other con is the strange culture surrounding Steve Jobs. When he walks into and out of the cafeteria or around campus, the standard is to keep talking and ignore him, but discuss his health immediately after he is out of earshot. It seems as if the future of the company is uncertain and largely dependent on SJ's health and well-being.

Advice to Senior Management

All of the managers I met while at Apple seemed very competent. In addition, it seems as though they've subscribed to the "beehive mentality" I've heard described and seen in action. I appreciated the fact that management at Apple gained respect through the ability to stay organized and get things done.