Zelcastalumni map

People who leave Apple most often go to Google, Meta and OpenAI. Of them, 5% found something next and 17% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 2y 6m

Not Apple's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 2,409 people on a map of 67,181, No. 6 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.

People on the map
2,4093.6% of everyone on the map
There now
92738% of the people here
Moved on
1,48262% of the people here
Median tenure
2y 6mmiddle half 1y 2m to 4y 8m

Put Apple side by side with another employer.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Google (9% of recorded departures).

Apple2,243 in · 1,564 out
5%103Google4%82Amazon3%69Meta3%60Microsoft2%34Tesla1%27AWS1%24Intel1%21IBM1%21UberGoogle1459%Meta1167%OpenAI805%Amazon413%Microsoft413%NVIDIA252%Palantir191%Uber191%AWS181%
441 of 2,243 recorded arrivals shown, 1,802 more from 1,245 other companies504 of 1,564 recorded departures shown, 1,060 more to 718 other companies

After Apple

  • 5%Founded something67
  • 17%Joined a startup250
  • 32%Joined a big company476
  • 46%Elsewhere

Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.

The Apple mafia

67 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 5% of those who moved on, half of them within a month of leaving. The bars cover the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders still count in the total.

How long people stay

19%<1y
22%1-2y
27%2-4y
22%4-7y
12%7y+
2y 6m median tenuremiddle half 1y 2m to 4y 8m

2,121 stays with both a start and an end on the record.

Who comes and goes, by year

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
joined left2026 is a partial year

2012 to 2026: 2,622 joined, 1,774 left.

Caliber

83mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 1,100 scored99

there now 82 moved on 84. The people who left score higher than the people still there.

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer608
  2. Software Engineer Intern316
  3. Senior Software Engineer288
  4. Machine Learning Engineer246
  5. Engineering Manager72
  6. Senior Machine Learning Engineer51
  7. Staff Software Engineer48
  8. AI35

8 most common titles, by people who held them.

First job on the record for 11% of people here.

Behind the median

Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.

  • 4%Exceptional42 people
  • 22%Strong246 people
  • 42%Solid466 people
  • 27%Emerging302 people
  • 4%Unproven43 people

1,099 of the 2,409 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

288 of the 1,099 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 26%. A tier is the band a caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.

Whether a title rose here

The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.

43%Titles that rose661 of 1,540 classified people

  • 43%Rose661 people
  • 51%Stayed level789 people
  • 6%Fell90 people

1,540 of the 2,409 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.

A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first. For someone with one title here who then left, it's measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. Titles that match no rung are left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely as a different ladder. What's left leans towards people who have left: someone still here on one recorded title has nothing to measure against.

Where they studied

  1. Stanford10.8%
  2. UC Berkeley10.6%
  3. Carnegie Mellon7.7%
  4. Georgia Tech5.6%
  5. MIT5.0%
  6. UIUC3.3%
  7. USC3.1%
  8. UC San Diego2.9%

The 8 most listed schools among the 2,393 people here with a school on file.

258 of the 2,393 people here with a school on file list Stanford, 254 list UC Berkeley and 183 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
38%have a public GitHub account on their profile

922 of the 2,408 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check missed reads the same as no account, so this is a floor.

31% is the median across the 857 companies that can show this figure.

Where they are now

70% of the people who have worked at Apple and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.

Apple
Everyone on the map
  • 70%SF Bay Area1,683 · map 41%
  • 12%New York288 · map 18%
  • 4%Seattle90 · map 5%
  • 2%Washington DC60 · map 13%
  • 2%Los Angeles54 · map 5%
  • 2%Austin52 · map 0.8%
  • 1%San Diego27 · map 0.5%
  • 0.8%Boston19 · map 2%
  • 6%Somewhere else135

2,408 of the 2,409 people who worked at Apple list a location, and every share here is over those 2,408.

Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while working at Apple: a metro here isn't an office there. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map.

Key facts

  • 2,409 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Apple: 927 are there now, 1,482 have moved on.
  • Most leave for Google: 145 people, 9% of recorded departures. Then Meta and OpenAI.
  • Most arrive from Google: 103 people. Then Amazon and Meta.
  • Median tenure at Apple: 2y 6m, middle half 1y 2m to 4y 8m.
  • Of the people with a recorded next move after Apple, 5% went to a founder title next, 17% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 32% joined one of 10,000 or more.
  • Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 83 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 1,100 scored people.
  • Most common title held here: Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
  • Top school: Stanford, listed by 258 of the 2,393 people here with one on file (10.8%). Then UC Berkeley (254).
  • 70% of the 2,408 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 41% across the map. Where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 38% of the 2,408 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
  • 661 rose, 789 stayed level, 90 fell, out of the 1,540 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder before and after.

About this data: built from 352,028 jobs across 67,181 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated September 30, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving. Companies under 20 people on the map aren't shown, and destinations under 3 people fold into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.

Worked at Apple? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.

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