Saw a Job ad stating they give a brand new MacBook Air as you get hired (as a FrontEnd developer)

Is this a red flag? BC to me it really looks like a red flag.

Why would I specifically need a Mac? Just to test stuff on shitty Safari? I really hope so and I also really hope that it won't be to start developing iOS apps

I don’t see this as a red flag. Mac is a good machine for development. Mentioning it in the JD is not a red flag, for me.

I also got a mac for work. not huge a fan of macs but there's no trick in it. They are just seen as very popular machines to develop on and in my case the macs are required because of the tight security, and all security software we use is living on the apple ecosystem.

I think it's mostly seen as a secure but also decent developer machine, so companies like to give them out. This should also guarantee you that you have the hardware to handle whatever the company is doing not to mention you're not wasting your own HW on work related stuff.

not a red flag at all. I haven't touch iOS or anything similar at all despite being given a mac.

Because trying to support safari without Mac is impossible? Or if it's a pwa compiled into an app you need one. But I get it. You think they're trying to bribe you because of the price of the machine.

I'd rather a job description and company state something to the effect of we give you the tools needed. Including cloud services to test on multiple browsers, platforms and devices. Work your way, test your way.

Quite the opposite, to be honest. Macs are very pleasant machines to dev work with. I’m assuming they’ll have an IT dept’s watchful eyes on your machine, as companies tend to do, and which is excpected, so as a dev I’ve found Mac to be the better option of the two OS’s where corporate spyware can be expected to live in.

That being said, since it’s Air and not Pro, I see that as a little odd. Cheapsake much?

Even if a mac book air can feel like much, if you compare it to what you as a dev cost its going to be a minor cost AND they will know what environment your running which helps to get you setup and start producing.

Trying to save on hardware is in my opinion much more of a red flag since that indicated they do not value your time OR they can push a salary costs onto someone else, which would indicate that you are the product, not what your accomplish.

Thank you all for the responses.
I'll have a meeting with them tomorrow morning, so I'll know better tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Probably better to avoid if you don't want to use a mac all day every day.

@ZioCain all the best for your interview, nail them down :)

Dunno if everyone's interested, but they really just give it away to work, nothing special.

Problem is that they actually give quite low money as they won't directly hire you, but they ask you to be an "entrepreneur of yourself" and then just work for them.

If they specifically ask you to not work for anyone else, then this is 100% illegal in my country (Italy), so if they want my ass, they better pull up some good hiring process and a stable contract as they can clearly be reported at once.

@ZioCain ok now THAT is a red flag. Run.

@ZioCain yes, run!