Former Starbucks Worker Says Attending Apple's Developer Academy Was 'Opportunity of My Life'

[MacRumors]

Apple's first iOS Developer Academy opened in Naples, Italy last October, providing 200 students with practical skills and experience to help turn their app ideas into reality and bring them to market on the App Store.

One of those students is a young Neapolitan man named Lucio, who left Naples for the United Kingdom to find a technology job, but was enticed to return to the city upon hearing about Apple's Developer Academy.

The Independent says after Lucio applied for the academy, he left his job at Starbucks so that he could study properly. He felt it was a risky move, but fortunately, he passed the test and joined the first year's class of students.

Lucio described the academy as the "opportunity of my life" and, nearly eight months later, said he would "totally recommend" the experience to anyone looking to come from elsewhere in the world.

"I was taking a risk, but this was the opportunity of my life," he says. He had tried university already, and found it lacking because it had so little focus on student's enjoyment and the work of actually solving problems and working with other people.

The Independent explains how Apple's Developer Academy has made Naples a more attractive city for young people to thrive in, after years of suffering from "brain drain" following an industrial decline.

"If you stay here you are part of an ecosystem that will continue to train developers," says Giorgio Ventre, a professor at the University of Naples Federico II. "This is something that you do need if you want to open a company. You want to count on yourself - but you want to count on the skills you need to help your company grow. If you stay here you can find it."

Apple is accepting applications for the Developer Academy's second year until May 31. Scholarships are available, and each student inducted receives a free MacBook and iPhone to use during the one-year program. Courses are held at the University of Naples Federico II in Naples suburb San Giovanni a Teduccio.

The academy will accept up to 400 students for the new academic year, twice as many as the first year. The program is open to students from across Italy and around the world, with Apple encouraging developers from the United Kingdom and elsewhere to apply in an effort to have a more diverse group of people.

Last year, Apple said it expects to expand its Developer Academy program to other countries around the world in the future.

Article Link: Former Starbucks Worker Says Attending Apple's Developer Academy Was 'Opportunity of My Life'

 

[hasanahmad]

Of course it was the opportunity of his life, he probably gave his entire life savings to apple for 1 ticket.

 

[Blackstick]

I think becoming a developer is a wonderful life skill, no question... but the App Store is hardly the gold mine it was in 2008.

 

[NT1440]

I think becoming a developer is a wonderful life skill, no question... but the App Store is hardly the gold mine it was in 2008.

No doubt, but anyone developing for the goal of "get rich quick" probably shouldn't be in the field anyway.

 

[Kaibelf]

Of course it was the opportunity of his life, he probably gave his entire life savings to apple for 1 ticket.

The academy curriculum is free and Apple and the university partnered together to pay for it.

 

[sinsin07]

Of course it was the opportunity of his life, he probably gave his entire life savings to apple for 1 ticket.

Next time dig deeper instead of trying to be first with the negativity and wild speculation.
The info was right in the article with the link "accepting applications".

"Are there scholarships for Developer Academy?

The attendance to the Developer Academy is free."

 

[keysofanxiety]

Of course it was the opportunity of his life, he probably gave his entire life savings to apple for 1 ticket.

Oh, did he fly between the UK and Naples on Apple's well-known airline?

Or are you referring to the free-of-charge attendance for the academy?

 

[Bacillus]

No doubt, but anyone developing for the goal of "get rich quick" probably shouldn't be in the field anyway.

The next opportunity of his life might be to study some elementary AppStore economics.
And find out that you can't earn a living there, except some happy very (very) few

 

[NT1440]

The next opportunity of his life might be to study some elementary AppStore economics.
And find out that you can't earn a living there, except some happy very (very) few

I don't understand why people think learning to code (even if it's just swift) means that it's App Store or bust. Plenty of companies out there that have an iOS app, that requires developers.

 

[kemal]

Any way people can get to creating stuff is a good thing.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

A Neapolitan Man?

mmm.... Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry!

Good on him for taking the initiative.

The difference between success and failure is what you do in your spare time.

 

[Substance90]

I don't understand why people think learning to code (even if it's just swift) means that it's App Store or bust. Plenty of companies out there that have an iOS app, that requires developers.

Learning to code is generally a great opportunity but learning to code with the specific intent of developing for macOS/iOS is a really risky if not outright dumb investment of time.

 

[NT1440]

Learning to code is generally a great opportunity but learning to code with the specific intent of developing for macOS/iOS is a really risky if not outright dumb investment of time.

How so? I'm learning to code for iOS right now. I'm not expecting to get money from it, but I have a few tools that I want to make for my own personal use and I get to add iOS/MacOS development to my resume.

Coding skills are only worth it if they lead to a job?

 

[kemal]

A Neapolitan Man?

mmm.... Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry!

Good on him for taking the initiative.

The difference between success and failure is what you do in your spare time.

Someone with a scoop and a bucket of Neapolitan once asked me "Which flavor do you want?" I WANT THEM ALL! I want Upgradable iMac, Mac minis and modular Mac Pros.

 

[recoil80]

I think becoming a developer is a wonderful life skill, no question... but the App Store is hardly the gold mine it was in 2008.

This is true for indie developers. But you can find a job involving app development for iOS and Android.
I'm a developer myself, and I don't make enough money selling my apps, but I'm full time employed to work on enterprise and B2B apps.

 

[truthertech]

The academy curriculum is free and Apple and the university partnered together to pay for it.

Quit confusing trollers with facts. Not nice!

 

[alfonsog]

I have lots of family in Naples and my father was born there. This is a good things for the city which is still mostly in shambles with high crime and low opportunity... next door to where my dad grew up is still blown up from WWII when he was a kid... lots of half finished construction projects and lots of mafia control. As for someone traveling from London honestly the trains go from $120 or flights from $150, remember Europe is tiny...

 

[Rocketman]

Most of the apps I use are free because they access a company network that makes plenty of money from me on fees. Learning to code to work for a third party company eliminates your own financial risk. The number of apps that make money off the app price itself is dwindling in importance, yet still is growing in size pretty rapidly. But if you can come up with a company concept that uses an app as a tool to access its product or service, that, to me, is the upside in this situation.

 

[Zirel]

The next opportunity of his life might be to study some elementary AppStore economics.
And find out that you can't earn a living there, except some happy very (very) few

Then find a job or make an App that people actually want to buy.

Is that simple. You get paid for the value of your work. The same as you pay for products depending on their value to you.
[doublepost=1495036799][/doublepost]

Learning to code is generally a great opportunity but learning to code with the specific intent of developing for macOS/iOS is a really risky if not outright dumb investment of time.

Learn to program for Android, it's really good, you'll get paid a lot!

 

[NoNothing]

Learning to code is generally a great opportunity but learning to code with the specific intent of developing for macOS/iOS is a really risky if not outright dumb investment of time.

Let me fix this for you....
Learning to code is generally a great opportunity but learning to code with the specific intent of developing for Windows/Linux/Android is a really risky if not outright dumb investment of time.

This is a silly comment. There are tons of opportunities AWAY from the AppStore doing enterprise work on almost any platform. The thought learning to develop (regardless of platform) is "really risky if not outright dumb investment of time" is a comment born out of ignorance.

 

[btrach144]

I wish I had the time and money for this

 

[alphaod]

A friend of mine is running a similar training academy elsewhere with so far promising reception and results for the students. Granted my friend isn't doing it for free, but it's not expensive by any means. It's all very good. I'm so glad to see more and more of these pop up.

 

[TDPHunter]

I wish I had the time and money for this

You do. Look into Team Treehouse.

 

[mi7chy]

There's no money to be made in iOS-only development due to small ~10% marketshare and jailbreakers. He'll need to supplement with cross-platform Android development like most developers have discovered.

For example, lets compare paid version of the most popular media player on both iOS and Android.

Android MX Player Pro $5.99
500,000 to 1,000,000 unique downloads ($2,995,000 to $5,990,000)
68,919 reviews

Since Apple hides the # of downloads we have to extrapolate from the # of reviews which is about 1% so approximately $44,950 to $89,900.

iOS nPlayer Plus $8.99
Apple hides the # of downloads
676 reviews

 

[smaffei]

And, Apple is destined to fill the world with apps developed by people who have no classical training in Computer Science.

Wait until he has to figure out load balance issues on his server or how to properly semaphore his code to have shared data among different threads. Nothing beats a good Comp Sci background (including the Computer Ethics courses) for these things.

Sure Apple, "Anyone can code" but "very few know how to write software."