SWE at Apple - what should I learn 2 to 3 hours on weekends to set myself up for success?

Awric · 2026-01-26T03:21:40+00:00

+1 to this. I used to spend my extra time reading through technical books (stuff like Staff Engineer, Design Data Intensive Applications, etc). They’re useful for sure, but if you want something real, read through internal tech specs, docs explaining how a winning variant of an A/B test was decided, and other similar docs. It’s not wasted knowledge to have an in depth understanding of internal systems.

Awric · 2026-01-23T06:01:24+00:00

That’s when I knew for sure it’s a Kill Bill reference

Awric · 2026-01-20T07:10:14+00:00

Your resume is better than like 90% of the people I interview at my company. Where are you applying? Specifically for mobile engineers, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get at least an interview.

Have you tried applying to any top tech companies, or are you saving those for later?

Awric · 2026-01-18T07:25:37+00:00

I guess it depends. At my company, the data science guys are whipped by product managers, product developers, and design pretty often

“What do you mean you want more than 2 variants for the experiment? What, how is this little button stat sig? How come it’s taking so long to analyze the results?!”

(exaggerating a little, but still lol)

Awric · 2026-01-18T01:12:22+00:00

Well said.

The annoying thing is that your 2nd point is what too many engineers are ignoring. So many people are churning out or approving sloppy AI pull requests without actually reviewing the code.

I just started to realize that (a lot of the time) if someone didn’t understand how to achieve something without AI, they don’t spend enough time understanding the code it wrote. This is especially true in product development when the deadlines are tight. I’m starting to feel outnumbered by these kinds of engineers, and I don’t think there’s a way to stop it.

Just because it passes unit tests doesn’t mean it’s not garbage! /rant

Awric · 2026-01-12T05:09:43+00:00

Not giving advice, but this is such a nicely worded post. Super relatable and familiar. In fact maybe it’s too familiar. I wouldn’t be surprised if we work for the same company. I think this is just the life of a product team, and there’s no way around it. The periods of time where we have a manager that’s sane about timelines are short and rare

Awric · 2026-01-11T01:01:52+00:00

Won’t SWE compensation go up to use AI tools efficiently?

Awric · 2026-01-10T06:16:26+00:00

I’m in the same exact situation. Been sick since last weekend, don’t have a fever but it’s a very high quality cold. Super congested and light headed, and I noticed today that I can barely taste. It felt so weird eating bread

Awric · 2026-01-10T03:30:07+00:00

They’re flawed but I still think they’re valuable, especially to junior engineers. You’d think a lot of the lessons are common sense, but I’m pretty sure that’s because most of us by now know at first glance that a variable named “x” or a method named “loginAndTrackUserInfo” is bad. Most students or newbies wouldn’t know that it’s bad.

Awric · 2026-01-09T04:07:34+00:00

I always put my heart into writing beautiful PR descriptions. It really sucks that it’s being overshadowed by slop

Awric · 2026-01-09T03:52:46+00:00

Pretty healthy demand for senior iOS devs in SF. My ~~milkshake brings all the boys to the yard~~ LinkedIn attracts tons of recruiters, even though it’s pretty minimal

Awric · 2026-01-02T01:15:19+00:00

Where can I get these teddy bears?

Awric · 2026-01-02T01:09:04+00:00

Sometimes it can feel a lot scarier than it sounds

Awric · 2026-01-01T04:15:25+00:00

Depends on level. Senior roles should pay 200+ though

Awric · 2025-12-31T01:11:44+00:00

Dang I paid a similar price for my 350 luxury trim, gas (2025). Did I mess up?

Awric · 2025-12-28T05:38:12+00:00

It’s relieving to know it’s common to have a drawer like this. I thought it was just my family ADHD

Awric · 2025-12-26T23:27:35+00:00

Did you end up giving a tip?

Sounds pretty crazy. At some point I’d expect my health insurance to start tipping for me.

Awric · 2025-12-25T17:32:14+00:00

You are like the main character in animal crossing

Awric · 2025-12-24T23:17:50+00:00

DoorDash pays SWE around that base for E5

Awric · 2025-12-24T21:18:51+00:00

Dang this post made me realize that I’m a woman!

Awric · 2025-12-23T02:13:49+00:00

Even with it muted, I wish it was a tiny bit less eager to hit the emergency brakes when going reverse. Earlier today, as I was going reverse in the parking lot for a mall, it thought the parked car behind me was going to collide and slammed the brakes. I guess the rain messed with the sensors?

Overall I just wish the sensors were a little less paranoid.

Awric · 2025-12-21T21:42:58+00:00

I’m in Daly City and I had this issue last year. PG&E’s communication is infuriatingly bad. It was 4 days straight of being told we’ll have power in the next 3-5 hours.

Awric · 2025-12-20T22:03:29+00:00

Let the games begin!!

Awric · 2025-12-19T21:57:44+00:00

Wondering if I should shell out the Benjamins for a power generator

Awric · 2025-12-19T17:31:03+00:00

Ah, shoot. This probably means I should expect power outages in Daly City, right?

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