I’d have been really curious to see what this guy’s internship at apple was like.
He’s a smart guy but obviously something about his personality didn’t quite fit with the Apple culture.
He says he was let go because he didn’t reply to an email but I’d suspect he was pushed out instead. Wonder what happened.
I have this image of this guy stuck in some cubicle, feet on his desk, chewing gum, bouncing a tennis ball on the wall of his cubicle, and saying “yeah whatever dude” or “blow me” every time his boss comes by to give him work.
I can see why this story wouldn’t make sense to you if you hadn’t heard of this guy before.
This guy was a real headache to Apple, he always exposed the vulnerabilities of Apple hardware/software and published results online for millions to exploit. Instead of fighting him in order to stop him, they hired him. Now they’ve fired him.
It’s the equivalent of the US government employing hackers who have brought down sensitive networks or stolen classified data. Do you jail these people or hire them to work for you? They’re going to be the most qualified people to do the job but at the same time they’re the same people you’re trying to stop in first place and would really struggle to trust . The personality types (work ethic, morals, hobbies, hygiene priorities, etc) couldn’t be more different as well to your standard government employee. Like hiring the fox to manage security at the chicken coup.
CA is notorious for paying people 1099 so as an “intern” I am sure he was paid 1099. So they can tell him immediately to pack his sh*t up. As for the reasons, he is 19 so he probably didn’t fit in.
Also my guess is Apple gave this kid an internship so they could get him to sign a punitive NDA and other docs. So by throwing him a couple of bucks in salary and keeping him a around for a bit, he will never be able to blog or talk about Apple products again… Pretty smart on Apple’s end.
So true, that hadn’t crossed my mind but that could be what happened. Hire the guy, get him to sign non-disclosure agreements, then get rid of him. All up cost, $100K tops. Brilliant.