Company: Apple
Date: 2008-06-17
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Everything is great except the salary.
Pros: I get to work on cutting edge products that I really enjoy and am proud of.   Working on products that millions of people use gives a good sense of satisfaction.   Overall I think management is competent and has been leading us in the right direction. It's a good, relaxed working environment.  There's no dress code, the hours are flexible, and the people who work there are mostly very intelligent.  I haven't perceived any kind of discrimination from anyone at Apple.  In terms of stress, some people have to do death marches before major deadlines, but I wouldn't say that it's a way of life.  Most people can go home whenever they want.
Cons: The major downside is that the salary is low compared to my peers whom I graduated with, who now work at other companies.  Bonuses are on an ad hoc basis and also usually less than what my peers get.  The benefits are not good either, in terms of health care and vacation time, etc.  The stock purchase plan, and sometimes stock options, are nice, and the stock has really gone up, but that doesn't make up for everything else.  Another negative aspect of working at Apple is that communication with the outside is very limited.  We don't have any blogs or anything like that(aside from Surfin' Safari), and generally nobody outside of Apple knows who works on what.  The engineers are sort of a faceless mass.