Just when I thought my summer could begin with large, icy fruit drink whilst two viciously gorgeous Hawaiian women fan me with banana leaves (waking up to find a rotating desk fan and a carton of Tesco Value Breakfast Juice), an opportunity comes knocking at my door. There was actually no physical knocking, since these days everything is handled by e-mail, but I’m sure, like everything, there’s an app for that.
A friend, known by many as Rysiek, called me and let me know of an internship opportunity at Apple that was e-mailed round the Department of Computing. Us ISE folk are added to the DoC internal mailing list in the second year and are mostly annoyed by it as we are constantly spammed with messages about revision lectures for modules we don’t take and internal events we are not welcome to. But occasionally, something good works it’s way to us.
Without hesitation (or responding to the call from nature, which was very close to being redirected to voicemail) I got together my CV, and wrote up a cover letter to apply, ignoring the fact that I had no idea of start time, duration, location, pay, prior knowledge or anything a normal person would inquire about before applying for a job. Thing is, this was Apple.
For those of you that don’t know, or have yet to deduce from my previous blog posts, I am somewhat of an Apple fanboy. Doing a geeky subject, like my own, you find that you do have to defend Apple in normal conversation when you hold this status. Not because of any Mac vs PC rivalry (please tell me there are no PC Fanboys), but because it is a position that is worth a bit of ridicule for those who do equally geeky subjects. In spite of this, I happily defend my beloved company to the blue screen of death (oh wait, we don’t get those), and am so attached to my Macbook, that my future wife could very easily get me arrested for bigamy.
The interview was laid back, but still nerve-wracking simply because of location. Stockley Park is an industrial park like no other I have ever seen. The area has lakes, wine bars and a gym for all the employees that work there and these employees belong to some of the biggest companies in the world like Activision, Adobe, Hasbro and Sharp. Apple HQ itself was my vision of heaven. Aluminium and Glass computers everywhere, iPads and iPhones casually lying on desks. By the time I left, I had sweated through a t-shirt, a shirt, an expensive suite and an innocent stranger waiting next to me at the bus stop.
The rest of the week was dedicated to packing all my possessions (including a desk) into bags to be taken home. Since I live in London, it’s not the hassle that the majority of other students feel, as my Dad will be driving down, but it’s still not the most fun thing to do. After stripping all the post-its from my wall and demolishing my two red bull towers with tiny wrecking balls, it’s quite clear that the year is over and I am really going to miss the accommodation I’ve had this year. My house in Hammersmith was fantastic and it’s going to be hard to top. Now begins all the fun of cancelling providers, final bills and pleading with estate agents not to take our security deposit. This summer I move back to North West London and try to put my time to good use.
Thanks for Reading,
Chris xx
nah you guys only get GSOD’s =P