Remember Rocky IV, where Rocky heads to the wilderness to get himself into peak physical condition to battle Ivan Drago?
Well, Apple’s Developer Academy is kind of the same thing — only instead of preparing for a championship fight, you’re getting a free one-year course in app development. Oh, and you’ll even get access to the necessary iPhones and Macs for good measure.
The course has seen 1,000 students pass through it since it started up back in 2016. It takes place at the University of Federico II in Naples, Italy. It teaches the necessary coding and development skills you’ll need to thrive as an app developer.
Applications are open right now, and run through June 21. (The website is here, although frustratingly it seems to be down right now.)
To kickstart proceedings, simply fill in an online application form. If you’re successful, you’ll then be asked to sit a test and interview in either London, Munich, Naples or Paris. In total, there are 400 places available. While that sounds a lot, however, consider just how many devs or would-be devs will be salivating to take up this offer.
The importance of code
A press release for the Apple Developer Academy notes that:
“The Academy is looking to attract a broad mix of students interested in careers in the app economy. With a strong emphasis on collaboration, students get extensive hands-on experience, learning coding and software development skills, as well as attending courses designed to boost knowledge and confidence around the creation of startups and app design. More than 400 app ideas have been developed by Academy students. Hear Me Well (an app that turns the iPhone into a hearing aid device), is one of over 50 apps already available on the App Store.”
Interested? We’d recommend wasting no time in getting in touch with the organizers. As noted, 400 places may sound a lot. When you consider that more than a billion iPhones have been sold, however, those odds suddenly seem a whole lot longer! A report from several years back claims that the Developer Academy is harder to get into than Harvard.
