Apple E4/L4 Interview - Bombed the System Design Round in Cupertino

Software Engineering
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1

Hey y’all, just wanted to share my recent interview experience with Apple for an E4/L4 position at their Cupertino office. I’ve got about 3 years of experience as an SDE and applied through a referral. Thought I’d drop some details for anyone prepping.

First round was a phone screen, pretty standard LC medium on arrays. I fumbled a bit but got through with hints. Interviewer was chill.
Onsite in Cupertino was dope, the campus is unreal with crazy views and free food everywhere. Commute sucked though, traffic on 280 is a nightmare.
Had 4 rounds onsite: 2 coding (one LC hard DP I completely blanked on), 1 system design (my downfall, couldn’t scale my solution for millions of users), and 1 behavioral (nailed this one).
Got the rejection email yesterday. Kinda bummed but I know I messed up big time on system design. Gotta grind more on distributed systems and scalability. If anyone’s got tips or resources for that, hit me up.
Good luck to everyone still in the game!

2

Felt this hard, nailed behavioral, blanked on DP hard, reject email hit like a truck. Apple’s bar is high but fair. You’ll crush the next one, good luck mate !

3

Congrats on making it onsite with only 3 YOE, that’s huge !!
fyi, Apple levels conservatively, so E4/ICT4 ask is ambitious but doable.

4

How long did it take for you to hear back after applying through a referral?

5

If i recall, not more than 3 weeks, like 2 weeks i think

6

Damn it’s been like 3 weeks since I was referred :melting_face:

7

Hang in there! Sometimes these processes take longer than expected, especially with big companies like Apple. If you haven’t already, maybe check in with your referrer for any updates or insight.

8

Thanks for sharing! Failure stories are more valuable than success stories. Sounds like you’re well aware of what you need to improve on. You’ll make it!

9

What team/org was this?

10

Thanks! can you share the questions? Is it tagged ones from leetcode?

11

We don’t have level e at apple

12

”Free food everywhere”?