This is a narrated conversation with Corey Griffin, a 31-year-old former Apple employee and entrepreneur from Los Angeles. Business Insider verified their employment and income. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I started coding when I was 14. I made animations for games and learned how to create my own website for my games.
I studied computer science at university. While studying, I freelanced for record labels, helping them create their marketing websites.
In 2014, I was hired by an agency to create marketing websites after college. There I learned software engineering.
I knew I wanted to work for Apple or another big tech company, but I felt at a disadvantage because I didn’t get into software engineering until college or at a school like Stanford or Harvard.
I tried to compensate for this by working as a software engineer for many different companies and gaining a lot of experience, including Rotten Tomatoes, Vox, and Shopify.
I found my niche working in marketing engineering, which included implementing SEO, creating logo generators and domain name generators.
I was freelancing, building marketing websites and doing graphic design. I started my own media company, CG3, and launched a directory for black-owned businesses as well as a service similar to Linktree called Hyper Link.
In January 2019, I launched a free teleprompter product called teleprompt.me, which I later renamed Speakflow. I turned it into a subscription service and it gained over 1,000 subscribers in one year from 2020 to 2021.
I applied for a job at Apple 4 times
I landed a job as a software engineer at Apple in August 2021. I had applied three times already.
Having a lot of side projects helped me land the job.
Most of my side projects are now dormant, but, at the time, I was able to showcase them on my resume and talk about them during my interview. One of the interviewers had heard of Speakflow, which still worked well.
Much of my work in previous jobs was under NDA, so I wasn’t able to discuss it during the interview. I was able to showcase my extensive skills through my side projects including graphic design, animation, marketing, and coding. I have also had clients in various sectors, such as the music industry and small technical clients. We talked about it a lot during the interviews.
I left my job at Apple after 2 years
I worked on software for Apple’s music team, including radio and podcasts. I started completely remote and then worked in a hybrid model that included commuting to our office in Culver City, California.
I really enjoyed my job and the office was cool. I worked hard to get this job.
I never imagined that I would leave within two years.
I wanted more freedom over my schedule
I have two children and wanted to have complete control over my schedule.
I figured I could probably replace my Apple salary with my media business, particularly Speakflow, which did six figures in revenue last year. The side project was live in the background while I was at Apple.
Some of my family members were sick and others had recently died. Mortality was on my mind. Working for me full time was a big life goal. It seemed like the right time to take the plunge.
I left Apple in December 2023 to pursue my multimedia business full-time, including the Speakflow product. I wasn’t sure it was the right decision and it felt risky, but I wanted to take a gamble on myself.
I have so much more flexibility now. I can drop my kids off at school every day and pick them up.
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