Why there are few Indians in Apple s senior management

Thousands of Indians and Indian Americans work at the Cupertinocampus at various levels. But like all good Apple employees, none of them would know about the existence of the other. 

A reason why Geek X — let's call him that lest his cover be blown — agreed to talk could be that he is serving his notice period. Or maybe because he is in no mood to give away any state secrets. 
Anyway, our man from Bangalore now quotes one of his co-workers at Company X, who travels an hour each day on Shuttle X to reach The Site: "The moment the bus enters the great Bay Area every second person boarding the shuttle is Indian." 

The siteWell, neither the notice-period serving Geek X nor his co-worker are involved in nuclear research. Or biological warfare for that matter. Heck, they are not even working for Nasa. 

Their day job consists of writing codes so that you can pay $100 or so more every other year for a sleekier gizmo you may not need but couldn't do without anyway. 

The Site: Cupertino, around 70 km from downtown San Francisco. Company X is Apple Inc, the world's most valuable firm. Geek X shall remain Geek X and so will his colleague. 
When ET Magazine set out to uncover the Indian presence in the Cupertino campus, we were well aware Apple was not going to co-operate. The company, notoriously secretive, could put intelligence agencies to shame and professional paranoids to suspect their character. 

But like Geek X's colleague seems to hint, Apple is not immune to the great Indian invasion in Silicon Valley. 

Interviews with some Apple employees working at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, and other locations reveal that several thousands of Indians and Indian Americans are working for the company at various positions, a noticeable proportion of the 60,400 full-time staff the company has on its rolls. 

Yet, what's known is that unlike the Microsofts or the Googles of the Valley, Indian presence in Apple's senior management level is next to nil. 

The SilenceFor another Indian American techie — in his early 20s and completely wowed by Apple products for a long time — it was a dream come true when he landed at the Cupertino office. 

It took him only a few months to realise that he was working in "an island". He had no idea about what the person in the next cubicle was working on. In fact, he had only doubts about what he himself was working on, and the perpetual concern if his code was ever going to be used or discarded. 

As he put it, "It was painful swimming alone in the ocean of super talented Apple programmers." The engineers are not aware of what they are doing and they cannot share information with anyone, including their families. 

Often multiple disconnected teams work on the same project with no collaboration and no communication between them. The culture is so strongly emphasised that employees are not even allowed to ask each other about their work. 

Group presentations refer to projects by codes and even the presenters are identified by codes. 

In several interviews with Apple workers of Indian origin — all of whom spoke on the strict condition of anonymity for obvious reasons — it became apparent that for most it's tough to carve a long-term career at a company where to flounder amongst the more talented in their group is common enough. 

The PrideSecrecy be damned, paranoia can take a hike. Every techie and his uncle would pledge family silver for a chance to work with Apple. 

A job at the Cupertino campus is one of the most sought after positions in the information technology industry because Apple is a name to reckon with not only consumers, but also investors. 

Says another who recently joined Apple: "I was in heaven when I got the offer letter. I felt like the chosen one. And then I realised there are another 60,000 chosen ones and the feeling was not mutual. Nevertheless, I did get a brand name that was acknowledged and had a huge market premium. I know the next shift I make would give me a lot of money and respect." 

However, one area where Indian techies have excelled is the development of iPhone applications. The apps are an integral part of the iPhone and iPads, and there are more than half a million of them in the Apple App Store. Industry sources think 10% of all Apple apps may be developed in India.