How to get to Tesla? Get settled in Apple



    Doug Field never seriously considered leaving his workplace at Apple. From the summer of 2008 to the fall of 2013, Doug worked extensively on the hardware design of such products as the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac. He received an excellent salary and was pleased with his work. But then Elon Musk called and invited Doug to become vice president of the transport program. Doug Field could not refuse the offer.

    In October 2013, Field announced that Tesla’s work was “a great opportunity for me and many other people who want to build the best cars in the world, being part of one of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley.”

    It is worth noting that Doug is far from the only Apple employee who switched to work at Tesla. At the moment, this company has already lured over 150 ex-Apple employees. Far fewer people have moved from other companies to Tesla. Elon Musk believes that Apple has a very close Tesla design philosophy, which is why the company lures employees.



    Well, and since machines are becoming more intelligent, similar to computing systems, the work in Tesla for many is very similar to the work in a computer company. Those Apple employees who switched to work at Tesla say they did so because of their sympathy for the company's cars and Tesla CEO Ilon Mask. Mask's reputation is no worse than the one Steve Jobs earned. Some Tesla employees believe that Elon Musk is fascinated by Apple and its principles of work.

    It is worth noting that the control display of Tesla cars was developed by former Apple employees. One employee, Joe Naxall, said the work on this project was more like working on an iPhone, rather than working on a Ford car. Joe knows what he is saying, since he worked for both Apple and Ford.

    One of the first Apple employees to move to Tesla was George Blankenship. He worked at Apple to create a network of retailers, after which Musk had already invited him to work to perform a similar series of tasks. “Everything Tesla does is unique to the automotive industry,” says Blankenship, who earned $ 1.2 million in 2012. By the way, having fulfilled the goal, Blankenship left Tesla in 2013.

    If you look at LinkedIn profiles, you can see such ex-Apple employees in Tesla: Rick Healy, who joined the car company in 2013, Lynn Miller, who became Tesla's employee last year, Beth Lab Davis (2011) and Nick Kalajjin, who joined Tesla back in 2006. These employees now occupy high positions in Tesla Motors, although they were not the last people at Apple either.

    “Ilon explained to me why it’s easy for him to hire someone from Apple. That's because when he starts interviewing such a person, they quickly find a common language, because both of them are geeks, people slightly obsessed with their work, ”says Jonas, an employee of Morgan Stanley.

    The similarities between Apple and Tesla are not only in industrial design and work with people. The operating principle of the Tesla chain of stores and the company's operations are very similar to Apple's counterparts. Even the decision to build a “Battery Gigafactory” could be seen as a repetition of Apple's actions when the company bought an industrial site in Mesa, Arizona, 2013.

    Interestingly, Apple has recently begun pursuing a similar policy, trying to lure Tesla employees. So, employees are offered 250 thousand dollars as a bonus and a salary increase of 60%. But, according to Elon Musk, so far Apple has managed to lure very, very few Tesla employees.

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