Claims by Inside Apple author Adam Lashinsky that Apple has an interesting “initiation” process, in which new hires are put to work on fake products in order to prove they can be trusted, are most likely untrue.
Ars Technica did a little digging on those claims and fond that it’s probably bunk.
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 say that anyone who works at Apple is required to sign non-disclosure agreements when they are hired. So, there would be little to gain by placing a new employee on a fake project as a test.
Apple also works diligently to track down any suspected leaks, even putting an entire room on lockdown while security personnel work to quickly download data from computers and other devices. While rare, such incidents would leave a lasting impression on employees.
