Apple’s $80K internships – what’s the catch?

Reports have emerged detailing the generous remuneration packages being offered to interns at big-name technology firms – but there’s one strict expectation that comes with the pay.

BY Chloe Taylor 07 Jul 2015

With the technology industry booming, employers in the tech space have built themselves a reputation for offering staff generous remuneration packages – and according to reports, this is a perk extended even to interns.

According to Business Insider, the tech giant’s interns can earn salaries approaching US$7,000 per month – or US$80,000 a year.

A former non-engineering Apple intern told Mashable they had been paid around $2,500 each month for part-time work during their internship – if the intern had been hired on a full-time basis, they would have earned $5,000 per month.

However, there is a catch: 100% confidentiality.

Candidates who make it through the interview process to be offered an internship are required by Apple to keep quiet about what they see and hear within the company.

To ensure that its work remains clandestine, departments are also kept in the dark about what other departments are working on, and select buildings are reportedly kept off-limits to many employees.

Interns at Apple aren’t alone in receiving competitive remuneration packages – according to Mashable, the salaries are roughly on par with those offered to interns at several other top tier tech companies.

The average monthly earnings of interns at Facebook and LinkedIn was over US$6,200, or around US$74,400 annually, according to Glassdoor. US based tech companies Palantir and VMware, meanwhile, are reported to offer even more to those commencing careers in technology.