Here's What It's Like To Intern At Apple

No interns have it better than those working for tech companies in Silicon Valley.

It would stand to reason that Apple's interns have some of the best jobs around.

When you're working for Apple, there's no such thing as busy work.

You get put on a real project, with real responsibilities, and have real impact on product outcomes," said Nate Sharpe on Quora, who worked on the iPod design team. "You interact with movers and shakers in the company on a fairly frequent basis and your opinion is valued as if you were an employee."

One way Apple treats its interns like employees is by pulling back the curtain on its projects.

"It was super cool to get to be intimately involved in products before they came out, and to see the gritty details of past products, even some that never made it to market," Sharpe said. "It should be noted, however, that this only applies within your immediate department, as everything outside of your department is on a need-to-know basis."

When interns aren't working on these top-secret projects, they're often encouraged to attend events.

"Even though you're treated almost as a full employee in terms of responsibilities, Apple does a great job of giving interns cool events such as the Executive Speaker Series, Intern Field Trips to San Francisco, and iContest, which is an intern ideas contest, judged by Apple execs, with amazing prizes," Sharpe said.

That intern culture extends to housing, which Apple organizes.

"The greatest thing with housing is that you are not alone, you share it with three others interns from all around the world," said Maxime Britto on Quora, who worked on the Safari team. "It is a great way to learn and mix with other cultures."

And that's all without mentioning one of the most attractive elements: great pay.

"If this is important to you, Apple offers the highest intern pay of any internship I've heard of, including the wonderful California overtime rules," Sharpe said.

Former employees also have plenty to say on Apple's interns.

"There is a good culture that develops among the interns, and they get to work on real projects," said Bob Borchers, a former Apple executive in product marketing, on Quora. "In my team, tasks ranged from helping with the launch of the original iPhone, to doing a complete competitive analysis of the mobile phone sector ahead of the launch of the iPhone 3GS."

Convinced yet? You can apply to be an Apple intern here.