Company: Apple
Date: 2010-09-09
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Big, popular company with secrecy issues
Pros: If you like Apple products (and you really should if you work at Apple or are considering taking a job at Apple) then it's nice to be working for a company that produces first-in-class products, that most anyone can recognize and admire.  Additionally, there is a fairly wide variety of things Apple does, more so than the typical valley company (everything from engineering to retail), so you (might) get exposed to some interesting facets of the business.

The people are, generally, nice, smart people.  Apple employees can often be a bit more passionate and/or opinionated than some at other places I've worked at, but I generally consider this a good thing.

The general benefits are ok - not great, and I've gotten better elsewhere, but I've also certainly gotten worse.  The employee discount is ok.  If you're into trendy pop music, you might spot a music star on campus or playing at a beer bash every now and then.
Cons: For a big corporate entity, the general secrecy policy really can work against the efficiency of the company.  Apple still manages to make it work, but from what I've seen, things could be so much smoother if people were allowed to be more open with information.  Mind you, I'm talking about within the company itself  - yes, I've been in plenty of situations where employees in different depts are not allowed to talk directly to each other due to this policy.

Apple tends to be very frugal, for a company with billions in the bank.  Salary and equity aside, they don't seem to really hire everywhere that's needed - only on those projects that really have the attention of upper management. Other projects and products, while still producing, suffer from limited resources, and creativity and production is stifled.

There's the usual management hierarchy problems present at any large corporation. At Apple, there tend to be middle managers who have been with Apple a long time, are happy with there lot, and have decided to impede progress for anyone below them.  Again, this is typical, but disappointing for a company that claims to 'think different' like Apple.