Data Science applicants have rated the interview process at Apple with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 73.7% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Oct 2017
Interview
Initial interview steps were quite straightforward. Good conversation with the hiring manager, lots of alignment between my skills and their needs. Moved forward to technical screen, 1 hour of Python exercises and general data science reasoning. I'm not a brilliant coder but I was able to talk through my solutions and their shortcomings so I got invited to a full day on-site.
That's where things went sideways. Apple is incredibly secretive about the interview process, so not only did they not tell me who I would be meeting with, they refused to even tell me what subject matter would be covered. Naturally, I prepared in line with what I had discussed with the hiring manager and given my understanding of the role. I was then blindsided by interview after interview of highly technical machine learning and software development practice interviews, none of which focused on the actual application areas that were at the core of the role (NLP and dataset management). It was almost as if I was suddenly interviewing for a different job. Needless to say, things didn't work out.
Oh and then Apple refused to reimburse any of my expenses related to the onsite visit.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe for me in detail the difference between L1 and L2 regularization, specifically as regards the difference in their impact on the model training process itself
I applied online. The process took 6 months. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Jul 2017
Interview
Initial phone screen from recruiter, phone interview with hiring manager, technical interview, onsite interview. They were extremely slow at every step. I had to follow up several times between each step just to make sure they were still considering me. It's been a few months since I did the onsite interview and I still haven't heard a definite yes or no even after following up with every person on the recruiting team.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Every interview was a relaxed conversation. I asked as many or more questions than they asked me.
I applied online. I interviewed at Apple (Austin, TX) in May 2017
Interview
The interview process was very lengthy. I talked to 9 different people on the phone, presented a case study onsite and had 2 hours of lunch/interview on site. At the end, I did not hear from them for almost two weeks. I sent an email to follow up and after 3 days, the recruiter sent me "no thank you" email with no feedback. I asked for greater feedback as I had gone through almost 10 hours of interview with them. I never heard back. It is very disappointing to see the hiring process is a "one-way" road for Apple: when they need you, they keep calling you. When they don't, they disappear. Very unprofessional.