Claims of Apple Putting New Hires to Work on 'Fake' Projects Questioned, Found Unlikely

apple_lock_faceJust over a year ago, a LinkedIn Q&A session with Inside Apple author Adam Lashinsky generated some attention for an exchange with a former Apple employee in the audience who reported that new Apple hires are sometimes placed on "fake" projects during a probationary period. The audience member's comment was sparked by Lashinsky's discussion of employees being hired into "dummy positions" where they do not know what they will be working on until they start at the company.

Ars Technica has now followed up on those claims of new hires being placed on fake projects and found that the claim is unlikely to be true.

I spoke to Apple employees from various areas of the company at differing levels, some who are still at Apple and others who have moved on, but all expressed the same sentiment. No one reported any direct experience of being put on a fake project at Apple, and no one knew a friend or colleague at the company who had. A single former employee acknowledged having heard about fake projects—but only from a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, and the employee was quick to acknowledge that the rumor should be treated with a skeptical eye.

Sources noted that virtually all work at Apple is heavily covered by nondisclosure agreements, meaning that there is little need to resort to putting employees on fake projects as tests of their loyalty.

The report also describes how Apple works to track down suspected sources of leaks, occasionally putting an entire room on lockdown with security personnel working quickly to download data from computers and other devices. Such incidents are said to be rare, but they do leave lasting impressions on employees.

Top Rated Comments

Tankmaze Avatar
141 months ago
they must be working on a fake of a fake project, so they don't realize they are fake. fakeception. its friday night here, so cheers :D
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JaySoul Avatar
141 months ago
Siri was a fake project that got rubber-stamped by accident.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleScruff1 Avatar
141 months ago
Siri was a fake project that got rubber-stamped by accident.

Along with Apple maps.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iphone495 Avatar
141 months ago
I didn't think so. That would be waste of Apple resources. And COOK wouldn't let that happen.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ctdonath Avatar
141 months ago
Actually, :apple: rather notably runs multiple competing projects, in the end selecting the best of the bunch and dropping the rest. This could be construed as "fake projects".
I'd be pissed that I did all that work to never see a product hit the market.
Might be more the norm than the exception. :apple: is looking for the very best, so it's worth a policy of running many high-cost projects and killing most of them.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nastri83 Avatar
141 months ago
I'm going to preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Apple products.

People care too much about this company.

A couple of examples stick out in my mind. The first being when I purchased my iPhone 5, an employee told me that cases weren't available yet in order to let Ive's design be seen by the world for a few days. I stared at her for a while after that one before finishing my purchase and heading over to the AT&T store for a case that was readily available for me.

The second example would be this nonsense. What business in their right mind would pay people thousands of dollars on fake projects just in the HOPES that they might gain a little bit of secrecy? Has anyone heard of an NDA? I imagine the folks that conjure up this sort of stuff also believe in chemtrails, low wave emissions from cell towers, and that Obama is a Kenyan.

Stop thinking about what Apple does and go outside.
Get a life.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple card 1

Apple Ending Apple Card Partnership With Goldman Sachs

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
ios 17 namedrop

Police Departments and News Sites Spreading Misinformation About How iOS 17 NameDrop Feature Works

Monday November 27, 2023 5:11 pm PST by
Apple with iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 introduced a new NameDrop feature that is designed to allow users to place Apple devices near one another to quickly exchange contact information. Sharing contact information is done with explicit user permission, but some news organizations and police departments have been spreading misinformation about how functions. As noted by The Washington Post,...
Apple Logo

Apple Discontinued These 5 Products This Year

Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
iOS 17

iOS 17.1.2 Update for iPhone Likely to Be Released This Week

Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.2 Beta 4

Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
All New CarPlay Five New Features Article 2

What to Expect From All-New CarPlay, Still Listed as Coming 'Late 2023'

Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
Google Drive

Some Google Drive Users' Files Have Mysteriously Vanished

Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:55 am PST by
Google Drive users have been warned not to disconnect their account within the Google Drive for desktop app, after a spate of reports of files going missing from the cloud service. Alarm bells began ringing last week on Google's community support site when some users reported files mysteriously disappearing from Google Drive, with some posters claiming six or more months of data had...