The first rule of working at Apple, is that you don't talking about working at Apple.
However, for us on the outside of the big tech doors, one man on a TikTok video shares his experiences and secrets whilst he worked at Apple.
Despite having all Apple contacts in his phone - including the C-suite he was not allowed to contact them at all.
The TikToker - who used to work in an Apple store - then revealed the one secret that Apple employees are asked to keep.
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The secret was that Apple employees cannot disclose to others that they work for Apple.
One person responded with their insight: 'I was told we weren’t allowed to talk about our salaries to anyone, which I later found out they have no legal grounds to stop you.'
Whilst it may seem like some top-secret CIA stuff, it's actually common in many tech companies to not disclose any internal information - including your role - to anyone external. Doing so, allows the protection of confidential information, trade secrets and product development plans.
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And in Apple's case, it's important to maintain a competitive edge and keep all things internal. In a Fortune interview, Tim Cook mentioned: 'Well, that is a part of the magic of Apple. And I don’t want to let anybody know our magic because I don’t want anybody copying it.'
One ex-Apple user interface designer revealed that Apple was strict on external conversations outside the company doors.
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He stated: 'The measures that Apple takes to protect its creative and intellectual environment are unparalleled in the valley [...] Apple's security policy extends to blogs, to speaking engagements, to what we talk about with our spouses.
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'Most people get it and respect it. The ones who don't -- the ones who need to put Apple under their name so they can get a speaking gig at SxSW -- are kindly ushered to move on.'
Multiple Quora and Reddit forums are now filled with Apple ex-employees spilling the secrets of what its like to work for the trillion dollar tech company.
Apple seem to be stricter in enforcing their policies for employees using social media as another ex-employee mentioned: 'When I was still there the policy was “don't do anything related to Apple in social media, and mentioning Apple, or working for Apple is indeed related to Apple"'.
Whilst Apple may not explicitly enforce its employees to keep schtum, they each sign an NDA upon starting employment. And whilst some employees update their LinkedIn to show their current Apple work status, the tech giant would know the difference between a job update and leaking confidential information.