How I Joined the Apple Developer Academy
How an 18 Years old boy got accepted by the so-called World Class Developer training program.
Disclaimers: Why write in English whereas you live in Indonesia? 1. To train my writing skill, 2. So this article can be read not only by Indonesian but for foreign people who want to know about Apple Developer Academy. I can make the Indonesian version of this article if the demand is high. (Saya akan membuat versi bahasa indonesia dari artikel ini jika banyak yang meminta)
Without further ado, let's get started.
A silly beginning, it all started with one of my friend that mentioned me on an Instagram post about Apple Developer Academy that will open in Indonesia;
Then I started to find more information about the academy; it turns out that at that time I'm not fascinated yet with the program, because at that time there isn’t much available information about it, and the academy itself had not opened yet in Indonesia.
approximately around 3 months after that, I got an infographic that my friend sent to me, that the academy is opened! my heart is pounding because they (Apple) will provide trainers from Apple itself, and of course, this skills that I won’t learn in school, but I'm not immediately applied for it because I still have a job as a Software engineer on a Software house in Jakarta.
time passes, day by day, month by month, and I resigned from my job (for a very obvious reason) and decide to start freelancing again and do my private projects.
And I got a piece of news on social media that the second cohort for the Apple Developer Academy is open, and it even better; because they increased the quota, they accept more students, thus I can get more friends and networks.
I decided to go for it because I have the time and the spirit.
then I opened the registration website, filling out the forms, preparing documents and portfolios, making the motivational letter, and hit the submit button. and anxiously waiting for the responses.
the fruition comes after three weeks of waiting, they sent me an email with a link to an online test. they give me a chance, so I took it.
The Test
the test itself consists of three sections; Technology, Design, and Business.
in my opinion, even though they said that: non-IT background can join, but the technology section itself contains a lot of basic programming questions, which if you aren’t coming from IT, you won’t be able to answer it. and there are some questions about the algebraic operation, which I can’t answer because my math isn’t good enough :p
the Design and Business question is quite easy for me, because I have read a lots of UI / UX articles on the internet (and learn about it too), and I also subscribed to some startup media so I know a little bit about business terminologies such as B2C B2B C2C and the other kind of alphabet soup.
one advice from me if you took the test; before the test, prepare a pencil and papers to work on the mathematical questions. they didn’t suggest it, so I don’t bring any, and I do the calculation in my head. (you cannot step out of your chair once you’ve opened the test. if you do so you will be disqualified. a piece of extra advice: go to the toilet before the test)
the test is done, and I’m quite confident. I still have 20 minutes remaining but I decided to submit it immediately.
I’m not too optimistic by the test, because from around 10 mathematical questions I only answer about 5, the rest I fill it with a random answer.
but thanks god, I got an interview invitation, yey!
The Interview
The interview place (Green office park 9) is quite far from my house, but fortunately, I got an App that can easily find me a public transportation route to go there. (i can’t go there with a motorcycle because I don’t have a driver license) so I confirmed that I can attend the interview, and I get there.
I came too early, the interview is on 3 pm but I’ve arrived there at 2, so after filling the guestbook I just wandering around and meet the other candidates (and get acquainted as well). we exchange some ‘useful information’ (mainly about the test, where we get the info about the academy, our private life, etc).
The other guys are cool too, they come from the various background, including management, business, design, and freelancers too!
So we have a nice conversation while waiting for the interview to start….
It’s started
a very beautiful girl opens the door, and give us a name tag and ask us to enter the interview room. the interview room itself is inside the academy’s ‘classroom’, so when walking to the room we can see the other students that currently in the training. the room was so clean and white, I think there’s no dust in there.
The interview goes for 30 minutes, there’s five candidates, me, rifqi, chintya, gandhi, and alvin. if you want me to describe the interview, I can’t do that. because you have to feel it by yourself. that’s the coolest interview in the world. (sorry for exaggerating, haha)
Basically what we do there is some kind of discussion, we were divided into two teams, we were given a topic by the interviewers (yea there’s 3 people who interviewed us), we have to discuss about it with our teammates, and then doing ‘debates’ with the opposing team. you will be scored based on that discussion and the debates. and after the interview section, one of the interviewers said that the result will come around 2 weeks.
and I also not forget to take a photo after the interview, because, who knows if someday we will ever meet again?
Got Accepted
Just one week after the interview, after the waiting and the prayers, I got accepted! wow, I can’t tell you how happy I am, I will be trained by apple trainers and get a lot of cool new friends too!
They ask me which session that I want, morning or afternoon, so I choose the morning because I’m a morning person. :p
The ‘class’ will start on March 29, it still two months since this article is written, but I can’t wait for it!
I’m available if you want to ask me any question about Apple Developer Academy, just send me an email (ardi(at)arubygames.com) with the subject “A question about Apple Developer Academy”.
Thanks! hope this information will be useful for you.
