Hanging out at Apple with my old coworkers
I really miss being at Apple. Every time I go back to visit, i'm reminded of the six great years I had there. One group, one product the whole time. I love that I actually worked in Infinite Loop 1, the HQ. I walked through the same door as Steve Jobs everyday to get to work.
There's so much discontent in the web 2.0 world around working for the man. Startup founders think working for a large company means taking orders from above, having no control over what you do, slow moving orgs.
Apple wasn't like that at all. I loved it. I worked on really amazing projects. We had tight schedules and we hit them every time (or close). I wasn't just a code monkey, I designed every feature I implemented (with the help of the other designers).
Out of all the people who went to work at Google after grauataion, I only know 1 person who remains. The rest moved on. Of the people who I worked with at Apple for 6 years, nearly every single one of them is still at Apple. Maybe they switched projects, but they didn't switch companies.
I was at Apple last week to get some iPhone app help from my buddies there. They changed the main lobby furniture, but otherwise it's exactly how i remember. And the beer at BJs next door is still awesome :)
