First day at Apple
30 Apr 2007 |
Apple Internship
Remember back to your first day at a new job? Now,
imagine it's a company you've loved since you were 6
years old. (Yes, for me that's 20 years ago.)
Specifically, imagine that you arrive at the lobby of
1 Infinite Loop at 8 am,
fresh-faced and wide-eyed for New Employee
Orientation. Wow. That's a fun feeling.
I have to say, the atmosphere is totally low-key and casual, and it's very easy to feel comfortable, even when you're brand new. We all got some Apple swag and a whole packet of papers to fill out. It was fun to meet other new employees—including 5 other interns that came before the exodus begins next Monday—especially when you find that they're working on iPod, iPhone, multi-touch, hardware prototyping, and the like. You start to feel like everyone is doing something über-cool and top secret, which they probably are.
Contrary to popular belief, there wasn't any Kool-Aid, although I did have pastries and orange juice. (For those that may not know, I'm referring to "drinking the Kool-Aid".) Sure, we're all obviously fans of Apple or we wouldn't be working here, but hey, I love it here already. If you must insist about the "Kool-Aid", I say it tastes good. I've loved Apple through good times and bad, and any such denigration really isn't anything novel. If anything, I fit right in at Apple, which is a great feeling.
To me, the most interesting part of the orientation was Robin from Apple Corporate Security. She basically comes down to put the fear of God into new people. It's interesting to see the extremes Apple security has to go to in protecting all forms of company property. People will dumpster dive for information, fake badges, tailgate behind employees through doors, even steal laptops in broad daylight if they can. There are secure trash bins throughout Apple to prevent careless leaks, all secured with padlocks. Security sure is serious business at a company that prominently occupies a pedestal of innovation.
Anyway, John (my friend and manager) picked me up and we headed over to Caffé Macs for lunch. The rest of the day was spent in meeting people, getting my temporary laptop set up, and being on the receiving end of a major brain dump concerning my summer project. Off to a running start.
One last interesting tidbit is the scheme used for Apple badges. All of them are white with a photo at the bottom, your first name in the middle, and a colored Apple logo at the top which varies from badge to badge. It turns out that they use the 5 fruity iMac colors: Strawberry, Orange, Lime, Blueberry, and Grape. However, the color you get is determined in a way that any Computer Science nerd can appreciate: take your employee number and mod it by 5, giving you a number from 0 to 4, which determines the color of your Apple. This also gives security another way to check that a badge is legit. Slick.
I have to say, the atmosphere is totally low-key and casual, and it's very easy to feel comfortable, even when you're brand new. We all got some Apple swag and a whole packet of papers to fill out. It was fun to meet other new employees—including 5 other interns that came before the exodus begins next Monday—especially when you find that they're working on iPod, iPhone, multi-touch, hardware prototyping, and the like. You start to feel like everyone is doing something über-cool and top secret, which they probably are.
Contrary to popular belief, there wasn't any Kool-Aid, although I did have pastries and orange juice. (For those that may not know, I'm referring to "drinking the Kool-Aid".) Sure, we're all obviously fans of Apple or we wouldn't be working here, but hey, I love it here already. If you must insist about the "Kool-Aid", I say it tastes good. I've loved Apple through good times and bad, and any such denigration really isn't anything novel. If anything, I fit right in at Apple, which is a great feeling.
To me, the most interesting part of the orientation was Robin from Apple Corporate Security. She basically comes down to put the fear of God into new people. It's interesting to see the extremes Apple security has to go to in protecting all forms of company property. People will dumpster dive for information, fake badges, tailgate behind employees through doors, even steal laptops in broad daylight if they can. There are secure trash bins throughout Apple to prevent careless leaks, all secured with padlocks. Security sure is serious business at a company that prominently occupies a pedestal of innovation.
Anyway, John (my friend and manager) picked me up and we headed over to Caffé Macs for lunch. The rest of the day was spent in meeting people, getting my temporary laptop set up, and being on the receiving end of a major brain dump concerning my summer project. Off to a running start.
One last interesting tidbit is the scheme used for Apple badges. All of them are white with a photo at the bottom, your first name in the middle, and a colored Apple logo at the top which varies from badge to badge. It turns out that they use the 5 fruity iMac colors: Strawberry, Orange, Lime, Blueberry, and Grape. However, the color you get is determined in a way that any Computer Science nerd can appreciate: take your employee number and mod it by 5, giving you a number from 0 to 4, which determines the color of your Apple. This also gives security another way to check that a badge is legit. Slick.