CrackingWalnuts
Checked 3 August 2026. Apple does not publish its interview structure. Everything on this page is commonly reported by candidates, so treat it as a guide rather than a specification.
| Round | Duration | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Screen | 60 min | Strategy conversation. |
| System Design Strategy | 90 min | Multi-year design with strategy at scale. |
| Architecture Review | 60 min | Deep critique with strategic recommendations. |
| Cross-Org Influence | 60 min | How you align multiple team areas. |
| Technical Vision (Writing) | Take-home | Written strategy memo for an Apple-scale problem. |
| Hiring and Mentorship | 60 min | Senior engineer hiring and growth stories. |
| Behavioral (Org Impact) | 60 min | Org-level impact. |
| VP / Director Round | 60 min | Vision, leadership style, company fit. |
ICT6 is one of the most senior IC engineering roles. The bar is "sets technical direction across multiple team areas, hires and grows staff engineers, influences product strategy".
Targeted guidance per round in this loop. Each section links to the matching track on the site. There is no shortcut list, the bar moves loop to loop, so build the pattern recognition and the stories from real practice.
Work the pattern templates until the recognition is instant. Trace one mock problem per pattern. Practice stating time and space complexity out loud before you write code.
Apple ICT6 (Senior Staff / Principal Engineer) has one design round: Architecture Review (60 min): Deep critique with strategic recommendations.. Bar is multi-year architectural bets and cross-org technical strategy. You should be naming specific decisions you would defend in a roomful of senior engineers. Pick problems from the track at the scale this loop tests and rehearse the structure: requirements, numbers, high-level design, data model, API, deep dive on one part, trade-offs.
Principal bar. Multi-year bets, executive-level communication, cross-org influence, and growing Staff engineers. The behavioral rounds often outweigh technical-depth rounds in the final hiring decision at this level. Apple looks for craft, ownership, and quiet excellence in stories.
Write a real strategy memo for a problem you understand. Edit it twice. Read your own writing back the next morning. Aim for clear prose, specific recommendations, named trade-offs.