Zelcastalumni map

People who leave Apple most often go to Meta, Google and OpenAI. 6% found something next. 17% go small. Median stay 2y 8m

These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not Apple's headcount: 868 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 7 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.

People on the map
8683.3% of everyone on the map
There now
26831% of the people here
Moved on
60069% of the people here
Median tenure
2y 8mmiddle half 1y 2m to 4y 5m

Put Apple side by side with another company, every number against every number.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Meta (7% of recorded departures).

Apple802 in · 626 out
33Google23Meta18Amazon14Microsoft14Tesla9Salesforce8Amazon Web Services8NVIDIA7QualcommMeta467%Google396%OpenAI173%Amazon163%Palantir Technologies163%Microsoft122%NVIDIA71%Stripe71%Uber71%
134 of 802 recorded arrivals shown, 668 more from 552 other companies167 of 626 recorded departures shown, 459 more to 366 other companies

After Apple

  • 6%Founded something37
  • 17%Joined a startup101
  • 21%Joined a big company125
  • 56%Elsewhere

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

The Apple mafia

37 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 6% of those who moved on, half of them within 4 months of leaving. The bars are the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders count in the total.

How long people stay

18%<1y
20%1-2y
29%2-4y
24%4-7y
8%7y+
2y 8m median tenuremiddle half 1y 2m to 4y 5m

730 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: 925 joined, 690 left.

Caliber

84mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 868 scored99

there now 83 moved on 84. Current staff and alumni score about the same.

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer279
  2. Software Engineer Intern158
  3. Senior Software Engineer104
  4. Engineering Manager50
  5. Machine Learning Engineer24
  6. Staff Software Engineer15
  7. Senior Engineering Manager13
  8. Specialist13

8 most common titles, by people who held them.

First job on the record for 13% of people here.

Behind the median

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

  • 4%Exceptional37 people
  • 25%Strong219 people
  • 46%Solid399 people
  • 22%Emerging189 people
  • 3%Unproven23 people

867 of the 868 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 256 of the 867 people here with a read sit in them, 30%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer 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.

38%Titles that rose236 of 620 classified people

  • 38%Rose236 people
  • 56%Stayed level350 people
  • 5%Fell34 people

620 of the 868 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 who recorded one title here and then left, it is 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. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 620 of the 868 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against.

Where they studied

  1. UC Berkeley15.8%
  2. Stanford10.6%
  3. Carnegie Mellon5.5%
  4. MIT4.7%
  5. Georgia Tech3.5%
  6. UIUC3.3%
  7. USC2.9%
  8. UC San Diego2.8%

The 8 most listed schools among the 861 people here with a school on file.

Of the 861 people here with a school on file, 136 list UC Berkeley, 91 list Stanford and 47 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
43%have a public GitHub account on their profile

372 of the 867 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.

Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.

Where they are now

65% of the people who have worked at Apple and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map.

Apple
Everyone on the map
  • 65%SF Bay Area563 · map 47%
  • 24%New York212 · map 33%
  • 4%Los Angeles34 · map 6%
  • 2%Seattle17 · map 3%
  • 2%Washington DC15 · map 7%
  • 0.7%San Diego6 · map 0.1%
  • 2%Somewhere else20

867 of the 868 people who worked at Apple list a location, and every share here is over those 867.

Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while they worked at Apple: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.

Key facts

  • 868 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Apple: 268 are there now and 600 have moved on.
  • The most common next employer after Apple is Meta (46 people, 7% of recorded departures), followed by Google and OpenAI.
  • The most common previous employer before Apple is Google (33 people), followed by Meta and Amazon.
  • The median tenure at Apple is 2y 8m (middle half 1y 2m to 4y 5m).
  • Of those who moved on from Apple, 6% went on to a founder title, 17% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 21% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
  • The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at Apple is 84 on the 0 to 99 scale (868 scored).
  • The most common title held at Apple is Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
  • Of the 861 people here with a school on file, 136 list UC Berkeley (15.8%), then Stanford (91). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
  • 65% of the 867 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 43% of the 867 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.
  • Of the 620 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder both before and after, 236 rose, 350 stayed level and 34 fell.

About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded 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 26,572 engineers.

Previous on the mapAmazon Web Services (AWS)No. 6 by people · 1,035 on the mapNext on the mapStripeNo. 8 by people · 713 on the map

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