Apple reviews

It is a high stress job involving travel to China. Since Apple products are assembled in China, thats where most of the action happens from a Supply Chain and Operations perspective. My days started early with calls with teams in Europe. During the day i was working with teams in US. From evening until night, I was on calls with teams in China as you get a lot of requests. It was a 24x7 thankless job. If you have time to manage two projects, you'll always have four. You are not innovating or designing cool products in Supply Chain. You are only making sure these products are ready when customers want it. The only differentiator in performance is the number of hours you put in. 1. There are not many people with great backgrounds here. Most of the folks are from supply chain backgrounds from random less reputed companies or business schools for whom having Apple on the CV is a huge uplift. Some people with good background are at senior positions who joined Apple in the early days and they are enjoying their million dollar valuation of stocks. 2. Leadership: Apple loves engineers. Most people in managerial roles got promoted from IC engineering roles and do not have an iota of aura or leadership qualities. They are very arrogant and don't care about people. 3. The work is very stressful with aggressive targets and you have to always be on top of China. I have seen people break down in meetings. Many people had health issues and were always looking to exit. Having alcohol on your table is common. There is no time for personal life. When you join you are given a paper that says 'the work you will do is so great that people dont mind spending their weekends here'. Thats a hint. LOL 4. Average employee turnover time is ten months. It is just not sustainable and that is why you can always find tons of open GSM roles on the Apple website. Apple is now a big organization and it is tough to move up and steer the politics. 5. Culture: There is no culture. Every person is on his/her own. There is no collaboration. No one likes to share anything and people keep fighting to prove their point. You'll be doing everything yourself from scratch everytime and that will add to the hours and frustration. In my team, people fought for air time and tried to make loud conversations with team mates when manager was around. It was fake environment. The director would come to happy hour in team area for two minutes and take a mental head count of who all were present and who all were not participating in this 'team event'. 6. Even with Apple salary, you'll just make your ends meet as this is one of the most expensive part of the world. You will never be able to afford to buy a house. You'll shell out all your money on rent and survival stuff. 7. Career Opportunities: Depends on your relations. However every project is secretive and that limits your opportunities. Also, you can only move within your vertical. Moving to Applecare is not possible. Also, my manager dint help me in any way to find a new role when i wanted to change roles. Thats common. Also, you'll be hired because you can do the job well. Apple will not invest in your to develop new skills. You'll be doing the same work your entire life. In short working at Apple involves high stress, all your hours, no new skills development and little savings. The only thing you get is an Apple name on your CV. Is it worth it? You decide for yourself. International folks with MBA, this role is a trap and its tough to get out. There are better options out there. Check out how this role is rated on transparentcareer and you'll get more data points.

- Work from home. Because you work from home, Apple excepts you to me flexible. They probably see this as luxury or perk. I.e. I worked a 2nd shift schedule and it was completely changed a week prior to the new schedule change date. It was changing due to my team being selected to test out a product. It was completely changing to an much earlier shift. It was an issue as I had other commitments in place and worked a 2nd job. *This happens across the board; happens to several other people I know of. - Little work for advice: If working from home, there are limited opportunities to advise. All opportunities will be based working in at home call center environment/role. I.e. AHA Tier 2, Team Manager, Area Manager. If you want more up in other areas, it would require a move to CA or TX. - The job role is stressful: Apple has been ranked the best customer service award for 14+. Although they whole culture is much different than most traditional call centers, their matrix system is out of this world. - Work days are long: As an AHA you get the opportunity to select from 3 shift types; 4x4, 5x8, 4x10. The 4x4 is where you work 4 hours, take 4 hours off, come back finish 4 hours. You work this shift 5 days straight, with 2 days off. The 5x8 is where you work 8 hours and work 5 days straight, with 2 days off. The 10x4 is where you work 4 days straight for 10 hours with 3 days off. If you work from home, I would highly recommend the 4x4 shift. The calls can be stressful, long, and on top of this you have to meet your matrix. Having the 4 hour break in between the 4x4 really helps. The 5x8 and 10x4 feels like punishment. You pretty much don't have a life working on these type of shifts. - Shift bidding: Is based on your matrix performance. Matrix performance is based on the following: - having great surveys based from the customers (this is mainly if you were able to solve their problem), low call handling time (very impossible based on the type of calls have), low after call work time, calling a supervisor for help (the lower the better), call resolution. If you do have good stats based on these areas, your shift selection will not very limited. - You are monitored like a hawk: They monitor every little thing you do while on a call. They can even view what you are doing while on break and in between calls. - The Apple perks: I was surprised to learn of the apple discounts offered to their employees. For employees you get 25% off on 1 type of OS X system, 1 type of iOS system, accessories all per year. Employee family and friends receives 15% off 10 type of OS X systems, 10 type of iOS systems, accessories all per year. Also the employee gets a $500 EPP credit towards OS X or some iOS systems, and $250 on lower priced products every 3-4 years. The 25% off plus the $500 or 250 credit is not bad every 3-4 years, but other than that it's still expensive. Especially at an AHA pay rate, when it's your role to know and trouble shoot the product. Look at Google, they actually gifted their employees with their products. Very little discount, nothing to brag about. Apple is very cheap. - Working OT - Working OT is a killer. You won't get back for OT too if you don't 'work' your 40 hours per week. I.e. I worked almost 20 hours OT and was only paid OT for 7 hours. This is because my 40 hour work week were on days that the department was closed. Still received pay for the holiday off, but because I didn't 'work' my 40 hours, they took it off my OT. Although I technically worked almost 60 hours that week. They expect you to stay and be a lifer: Because it's 'Apple' they expect their employees to stay and make a life with the company it is build this way at the beginning of training.