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Tech Reflect

Reflecting on 25 years in tech

Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian to the rescue?

Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian to the rescue?

2022-06-03

At the start of 2001, Apple was (still) in terrible financial shape. Revenue had cratered to the lowest level since the late 1980s. For years they had been selling off assets—such as ARM Holdings—just so they could continue to tread water.

In February, my coworkers and I gathered in a …

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“Why does Mail have to be so fucking complicated?”

“Why does Mail have to be so fucking complicated?”

2022-05-19

I always joked that I didn’t work with Steve; I worked near him. This anecdote falls into that category. In the early days of Mac OS X (now macOS), Mail was prominently featured in keynote addresses because it was a good showcase of the new operating system. The week before …

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This mouse has no tail!

This mouse has no tail!

2022-04-27

When I worked on the Mail team, everyone in Software Engineering was “compelled” to use Mail as a way to help work out bugs in the early days of Mac OS X (now macOS). Some of the higher-ups in other organizations also were also using it.

Stripes!

Part of …

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Interview feedback and the Thumb-o-meter™

Interview feedback and the Thumb-o-meter™

2022-04-19

The typical timeline of interviews at Apple was: (1) a candidate was interviewed by one or two employees at a time, and (2) feedback was discussed afterwards in a conference room or sent to manager and/or recruiter via email. Each approach has its own benefits and drawbacks.

In-person feedback

In …

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Buy a cactus, get hired

Buy a cactus, get hired

2022-04-18

Interviewing people at Apple was something I always enjoyed. It was a way to have a small, but important part of building the company.

I had a number of interview topics I liked to deploy. One of the most important to me was learning what software projects the candidate had …

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My interview questions

My interview questions

2021-04-13

I interviewed over 200 people at Apple. I pretty much had a stock set of interview questions that I rotated around. Since I’m gone now, I can tell you what they were. Most commonly, people gave very technical interviews, so I tried to focus more on who the person was …

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The reality distortion field and Mac OS X

The reality distortion field and Mac OS X

2021-03-28

I’m one of the few people that don’t believe in the Steve Jobs reality distortion field. While I believe there is some magic involved, there are three factors at play:

  • Apple makes some really great products (and bad ones too)
  • People are cynical about big companies and believe that if
…

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When would Mac OS X ship?

When would Mac OS X ship?

2021-03-07

In a normal company, milestones have dates assigned to them and ship dates are public knowledge, at least internally.

Not so at Apple. We can guess the ship date based on when our planned completion date is. But this is software. It’s perennially late, so you just never know.

One …

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Getting paid to watch gay porn

Getting paid to watch gay porn

2021-01-13

One day, around 2005, I got a phone call from a friend and colleague, excitedly telling me: “Come to my office! You’ll never believe what I’m doing!”

His office was dark and the shades drawn. I knocked and he opened the door slowly, motioning me in. He was the type …

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Is App Library for me?

Is App Library for me?

2021-01-09

iOS 14 has a new feature called App Library and it looks like this:

You might be wondering whether this feature is for you. I’m here to help you figure out if you’re in the target market. If you answer yes to any of these, this feature might be for …

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  • Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian to the rescue?
  • “Why does Mail have to be so fucking complicated?”
  • This mouse has no tail!
  • Interview feedback and the Thumb-o-meter™
  • Buy a cactus, get hired

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25 years in tech. I like to write manifestos. I like to offer interesting tips. I like making fun of things. Everyone copes differently.

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