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genovelle

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,104
2,681
If you think it's easy to replace software engineers that are at the Staff level then you're way off base. Apple lost out on someone great over a stupid policy other high level tech companies aren't enforcing. And they'll continue to lose talent. I made a similar move after my company wanted to return to office and ended up at a better place with significant pay raise and working with my teams remotely is problem free.
There is no real employee making Apple money that is expecting to work from home permanently. If they do they need to leave. Are you working for a hardware computer company that needs the software and hardware to work as one?
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,671
6,953
If you think it's easy to replace software engineers that are at the Staff level then you're way off base. Apple lost out on someone great over a stupid policy other high level tech companies aren't enforcing. And they'll continue to lose talent. I made a similar move after my company wanted to return to office and ended up at a better place with significant pay raise and working with my teams remotely is problem free.
What did your previous company do, have they replaced you?
 
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mistasopz

macrumors 6502
Apr 14, 2006
383
1,576
Awww, good for the little princess. Not sure why anyone cares what a random no name employee doesn
Dude... Ian Goodfellow isn't some random no name employee. He is one of the top minds of artificial intelligence in the world. He is one of the most accomplished people in machine learning. He wrote the text books that other machine learning engineers used in college. He pioneered an entire branch of machine learning that sees a ton of application everywhere. Anytime you see any kind of AI used to automate or manipulate photos or videos uses the technology that he created (GANs). He was director of ML at Apple and also worked before as a research scientist at Google Brain. *And* the guy is only in his mid thirties. Like... I can't even think of another comparable person in another field today. If some pimply faced bean counting MBA manager at a company tells this guy he can't work from home he can say 'okay', leave the company, and have a job in the next 10 minutes at any of the other top companies in the world.
 

fishkorp

macrumors 68030
Apr 10, 2006
2,536
650
Ellicott City, MD
Ah. Another thread of people complaining about WFH. No software team has any reason to step foot in an office for day to day work. None. Even the DoD has switched to WFH if the code itself isn’t classified. If you’ve been on unproductive or slacking teams, it means you have bad employees or a company that isn’t run well. Good people get the job done and get results. I was on a globally distributed team, 100% WFH, years before the pandemic. We build software for satellite imagery used by governments and billion dollar companies. We met every deadline and never had any problems caused specifically because of WFH. Everyone’s work life balance was better. Happier people makes more productive people. Again, if you’ve had a problem, it’s the people, not the concept. Stop having lazy people and/or lazy management. Software development does not have tone an “everyone work 9-5 every day” job. Not in most cases. Sometimes I worked normal hours. Sometimes in the middle of the night. Sometimes 2 hours here, 4 hours there, etc. At the end of the day, as long as you show up for meetings or scrums and you’re getting the job done and meeting deliverables, who cares when or where you work? And being a new parent at that time, that flexibility was amazing. I would never work another development job again if it requires going to an office. I had an offer from AWS, I turned it down because I was WFH “for now” and then would require a 40 mile commute. They couldn’t pay me enough to do that.
 

BC2009

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2009
2,238
1,414
Apple will always be mediocre on some things and that includes AR and AI.
AR? Not quite sure how Apple is mediocre on AR.

As far as hardware goes, their SOC’s offer the best consumer silicon for AI. Their software does not fully utilize that for what it could.
 
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BC2009

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2009
2,238
1,414
Work-From-Home is only an issue in software engineering when it becomes clear that your engineers who were always dead weight can no longer fake it because the people they relied on to carry them are not as accessible. The good engineers tend to excel more because of WFH.

The only other problem that can arise is that some engineers require that office social interaction to combat anxiety and depression. But that is a different issue. Besides those people can always opt to go to the office — they just struggle in companies that are 100% WFH with no office.
 

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Dec 4, 2003
5,990
12,833
Jamaica
AR? Not quite sure how Apple is mediocre on AR.

As far as hardware goes, their SOC’s offer the best consumer silicon for AI. Their software does not fully utilize that for what it could.
Which confirms my point that they are mediocre on AR. AR is not just the hardware. Its just like people who say whats the point of having an M1 in iPad when its crippled by iPadOS.
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,852
6,892
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
be funny if google told him he can't WFH
It’s already funny, as the world turns Apple scaled back 3-days in office which is what he left after.

So he gave up 4yrs of seniority, possible bonus’ just to start again at 0 days to return to Google.

I’ve stated before there is nothing good about Mr Goodfellow, and now it potentially, imho, seems like he’s either a Trojan horse or just disliked the wide acceptable culture at Apple and going back to Google. For those ready to disagree about my Trojan horse opinion, remember that guy from Microsoft ended up a) being the CEO to Nokia, b) implemented their transition to Windows Mobile (away from Symbian) and rapidly after c) selling Nokia to Microsoft?! Uh-huh.
 

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,813
1,989
Pacific Northwest
Has everyone forgotten Google's main AI leader left Google for a SVP at Apple to head AI and Machine Learning? This guy probably figured he had no shot to become an SVP so is going back to do some special projects at Google where it doesn't matter whether it becomes a product or not.
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,852
6,892
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ah. Another thread of people complaining about WFH. No software team has any reason to step foot in an office for day to day work. None. Even the DoD has switched to WFH if the code itself isn’t classified. If you’ve been on unproductive or slacking teams, it means you have bad employees or a company that isn’t run well. Good people get the job done and get results. I was on a globally distributed team, 100% WFH, years before the pandemic. We build software for satellite imagery used by governments and billion dollar companies. We met every deadline and never had any problems caused specifically because of WFH. Everyone’s work life balance was better. Happier people makes more productive people. Again, if you’ve had a problem, it’s the people, not the concept. Stop having lazy people and/or lazy management. Software development does not have tone an “everyone work 9-5 every day” job. Not in most cases. Sometimes I worked normal hours. Sometimes in the middle of the night. Sometimes 2 hours here, 4 hours there, etc. At the end of the day, as long as you show up for meetings or scrums and you’re getting the job done and meeting deliverables, who cares when or where you work? And being a new parent at that time, that flexibility was amazing. I would never work another development job again if it requires going to an office. I had an offer from AWS, I turned it down because I was WFH “for now” and then would require a 40 mile commute. They couldn’t pay me enough to do that.

Agreed on most of your points about stop hiring lazy/poor management/people as well as showing up for meetings/scrums. Work/Life balance is about YOU not where you work. If you’re working at home and have kids - either your focused or your not for any percentage at any time - some responsibilities you gotta do, some you can share with your significant other.

Me I’m at insomniac, in college with son on the way I was at school 8-4:30, back home at 6, worked until 10 sang to my unborn son in the womb whilst studying fell asleep at 1/2AM up at 6:00 am and repeat all over again. After he was born the studying still worked until I spent 12-1:40 AM on late winter walks into the mall so my son would sleep during water falls at the fountain, got home slept. The School/work/life balance depended on MY ability to focus NOT what I could get. This fits exactly what you stated about people that work well/hard/efficiently.

That all said travelling to and from school and work and home was over 80km/h (Downtown Toronto to King Campus Seneca and to Markham for work and back home).

I’m curious if working in office would be acceptable in that office if it was less than 20 miles. 40 miles with these gas prices is insane for anyone. I think THAT alone is a major factor for people than just simply wanting to work at home.

Programmers have a unique advantage at WFH or remote work. Other roles not so much.
 

NotTooLate

macrumors 6502
Jun 9, 2020
444
891
ppl move around , he came from Google , did they go under without him ? no .... would Apple ? no .... usually unless its an extreme individual like Jobs , Musk , Bezos who basically founded a company there is always the second in command waiting to replace the leader , usually those folks are highly talented as well, having the old guard occupying the management roles can be bad for an organization as there is less oppurtunties for middle management to move up which also make the team leaders have no chance in moving up , can this be a big loss ? sure but unlikely , most likely some young talented manager will take his place and get the opportunity of a lifetime to lead and prove himself.
 

Madonepro

macrumors 6502a
Mar 16, 2011
653
626
Apples work from home policy seems foolish and applied too broadly.
But I think if you read the contracts for their employees, there would be implied requirement to attend work. WFH was a necessity during the pandemic, and some have enjoyed being at home, being able to access home pleasure, less costs, but are now demanding that they continue working from home, but still want the same pay and conditions. Yeah right...
 
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ikir

macrumors 68020
Sep 26, 2007
2,137
2,289
Why is everyone wishing the worse for him? People come and go, found a better fit. Great! The fact that Apple has to be changing their back to work policies does not make them look any better. Apple will
always be mediocre on some things and that includes AR and AI.
Mediocre? Live text is a incredible example or ML
 

contacos

macrumors 601
Nov 11, 2020
4,777
18,515
Mexico City living in Berlin
Well I understand him perfectly. I have not been to the office since 2020. In fact, I have moved across the country since and haven’t seen my boss face to face since last October or so either.

I also work whenever I want. Sometimes I start at 7 am from my bed, other times I start at 10 am or leave the house for an appointment for hours at a time and return to work some more in the evening. There are times, I work while I am out with my dog.

9 to 5 hours are so dated. As long as you get your things done, it doesn’t matter how and where you work.

Edit: of course I am talking strictly about office jobs with no customer contact here
 
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Danfango

macrumors 65816
Jan 4, 2022
1,294
5,777
London, UK
I’d have quit and gone to work for Google too.

I haven’t been in the office for 7 years now apart from once for someones leaving party and to pick up a new laptop.

In fact my company has gone to extreme lengths and amazing levels of financial bribery to make sure we don’t leave and go and work for Google. I’m surprised Apple is worse at this than a backwater fintech no one has ever heard of.
 
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