Apple Interview Process

I applied for the position of Software Engineer through my university. The process took two months and then I was interviewed at Apple. The process included two telephonic screenings and four face to face rounds when I cleared the telephonic rounds.

Round 1 - Technical Telephone Screening
The technical questions were quite easy. I guess anyone who is paying enough time to his studies will be able to clear it. I was surprised as I had expected it to be much difficult. I guess its because of the name of the Brand.

Round 2 - Behavioral Telephone Screening
This round is about who you are. The interviewer tried to assess me and my nature towards various things. I was asked about any project that I have completed and how did I managed with the problems I faced. The round was good but nothing difficult and I was selected for onsite interviews.

Round 3 - First Face to Face Interview Round
The first round was more about what I have achieved in my particular field till now. Obviously they were interested in any projects that I have done. The questions were directed towards team work and work ethics.
Q1. What did you do when you were stuck on a particular problem while doing your project?

Round 4 - Second Face to Face Interview Round
This was a technical interview and was difficult. This was something I had expected and I became nervous when I was not able to revert with any solution to a problem that was asked.
Q1. Write a function:
Char * CreateEmptyString(int len)
Such that the function must return a pointer to an empty string of length len.
Q2. How will you test ios simulator and how will you test an Android simulator.

Round 5 - Third Face to Face Interview Round
This round was even more difficult. I was thoroughly exhausted and pretty nervous. When I was not able to answer a couple of questions, I lost all my confidence. Some of the questions:
Q1. How does the memory management work in Objective-C.
Q2. Create a synchronization primitive for the operating system/kernel from scratch.

Round 6 - Fourth Face to Face Interview Round
In this round, the interviewers asked me about my experiences in details. They were very keen on every detail and asked me how can I contribute for the growth of Apple.

How to crack Apple Interview

Study every damn thing. This is what I will suggest to all the candidates before I can give a few pointers. The telephonic rounds are easy but do not expect the same easy level of questions in the face to face interview rounds. They are certainly very difficult.

Another thing is that don't lose confidence. I know it is difficult but try to maintain your composure. They will pick it up if you feel nervous. No doubt the interviews are difficult and therefore you must study in depth and be clear about your vision.

Some topics that you must study in depth are:
1) System integration problems
2) Advanced java basics
3) Clustered catching and concurrency issues
4) Software design and patterns
5) Algorithms based on mathematics formulae or recursive functions
6) SQL coding
7) Data strutures

Also, do prepare with the projects you have done (if any). All the very best to all the students.