Apple's Developer Academy Faces Funding and Outcome Questions

[MacRumors]

Apple's costly Detroit-based Developer Academy program relies heavily on taxpayer funding while delivering mixed job outcomes, according to WIRED.

The Apple Developer Academy in Detroit launched in 2021 in partnership with Michigan State University. The tuition-free program offers a 10-month course focused on building apps for Apple platforms, providing students with MacBooks, iPhones, mentorship, and monthly stipends intended to cover living costs. The academy has welcomed over 1,700 students since 2021, with about 600 completing the 10-month program.

An investigation by WIRED found that nearly $30 million has been spent on the academy over four years, equating to roughly $20,000 per student. Previously undisclosed records show Apple contributed about $11.6 million, while more than $8.5 million came directly or indirectly from Michigan taxpayers, including state funding used to provide student stipends. Additional funding was supplied by private philanthropy, including the Gilbert Family Foundation.

Academy officials told WIRED that about 71% of graduates from the past two years moved into full-time employment across various industries, a figure broadly in line with many coding boot camps but below outcomes reported by some traditional computer science degree programs. Apple and the university declined to release detailed graduate employment data, despite requirements from one funder that such data be collected.

Student experiences have varied. Some graduates credited the academy with exposing them to technology careers and building confidence, while others said the Apple-centric curriculum and limited stipends left them struggling financially and unprepared for the broader job market. One former student told WIRED that many participants relied on food assistance, while another said recent stipend reductions forced students to juggle multiple side jobs.

A senior director at Apple who oversees the Detroit program and 17 other Apple Developer Academies worldwide, said increasing student financial support is a continuing priority and that the academy is designed to build broadly applicable skills such as teamwork, research, and technology literacy rather than train students for a single job outcome. The academy takes credit for 62 apps and 13 businesses.

He added that the curriculum is frequently adjusted in response to student demand and technological change, noting that workshops were added when students expressed interest in developing apps for the Apple Vision Pro and Apple TV, and that generative AI tools are now incorporated into coursework, provided students can fully explain the code they produce, with alumni also able to access ongoing virtual instruction focused on AI.

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Article Link: Apple's Developer Academy Faces Funding and Outcome Questions

 

[I7guy]

IMO this program is great way to give back.

 

[tedwill]

IMO this program is great way to give back.

This is a great program. The problem is the timing of all the tech layoffs. It’s hard for experienced IT people to find work.

 

[IJustWannaTalk]

why does one of the biggest companies in the world qualify for taxpayer funding of anything?

 

[Mojohanna32]

why does one of the biggest companies in the world qualify for taxpayer funding of anything?

Its not. The taxpayer funding is going to supporting the students, not going through Apple's hands. Unless you are asking, why isn't Apple funding this entirely on its own.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Surely Apple could fund the whole program themselves without blinking, but with only 600 out of 1700 completing the program, and of those, 71% (roughly 420) found full-time jobs in the industry, doesn't sound like a good investment.

I don't know the terms of the students getting the financing, but it sounds like there wasn't much pressure to keep the students enrolled for the whole program.

 

[CarAnalogy]

why does one of the biggest companies in the world qualify for taxpayer funding of anything?

Because the richer an organization or individual is, the more of other people's money they spend.

 

[sw1tcher]

The Apple Developer Academy in Detroit launched in 2021 in partnership with Michigan State University. The tuition-free program offers a 10-month course focused on building apps for Apple platforms

IMO this program is great way to give back.

... to Apple's bottom line.

 

[allpar]

I think the big problem with comparisons to traditional programs is that traditional programs get relatively wealthy, mainly white or Asian students, who are set up to succeed from the start. I'm not saying there's no real work involved, or that it's like Yale and if you get an MBA you have a job with your dad's friends, but it's easier. I say that as a white guy whose father was a university professor - albeit a “self-made” one (“scholarship kid”) who would have had much more trouble getting from dirt-poor to middle-class today.

What I am saying is that if you're a black kid from what is usually called a poor school system, whose parents were most likely very poor and who has no real family connections in IT, getting outcomes comparable to "similar programs" is amazingly good. (I'm reading a lot into this article, I admit, and I am assuming they are targeting local Detroiters who have had the deck stacked against them from birth.)

This is just the reality of community colleges as such. Students from “nontraditional” backgrounds and under-represented minorities—anyone targeted as "DEI"—tend to fare more poorly because of the headwinds they face. They have to work much harder to get to the same point.

Because the richer an organization or individual is, the more of other people's money they spend.

Apple’s putting in an awful lot of their own money, and everyone benefits from opportunities for people who otherwise have very few legal ways to move forward.

It's darned cheap for the state, in terms of avoided costs.

You could consider community colleges to mostly help businesses, too, right? Supplying qualified employees? But Apple’s putting in an awful lot more cash than most companies do.

It reminds me of the old Chrysler Institute of Engineering, the first automotive university run as a public/private partnership (mostly private in the old days, but phased into public as Chrysler and the program slowly wound down).

 

[I7guy]

... to Apple's bottom line.

Yeah. Perfect. Both would be developers and Apple wins. In other words: win-win. It’s not too often that gets to be said.

 

[sw1tcher]

The academy has welcomed over 1,700 students since 2021, with about 600 completing the 10-month program.

Academy officials told WIRED that about 71% of graduates from the past two years moved into full-time employment across various industries

The math: 600 out of 1,700 = 35%

This is a great program. The problem is the timing of all the tech layoffs. It’s hard for experienced IT people to find work.

A great program is one where no more than 35% of enrollees have completed the 10-month program?

 

[bradman83]

I think the big problem with comparisons to traditional programs is that traditional programs get relatively wealthy, mainly white or Asian students, who are set up to succeed from the start. I'm not saying there's no real work involved, or that it's like Yale and if you get an MBA you have a job with your dad's friends, but it's easier. I say that as a white guy whose father was a university professor - albeit a “self-made” one (“scholarship kid”) who would have had much more trouble getting from dirt-poor to middle-class today.

What I am saying is that if you're a black kid from what is usually called a poor school system, whose parents were most likely very poor and who has no real family connections in IT, getting outcomes comparable to "similar programs" is amazingly good. (I'm reading a lot into this article, I admit, and I am assuming they are targeting local Detroiters who have had the deck stacked against them from birth.)

This is just the reality of community colleges as such. Students from “nontraditional” backgrounds and under-represented minorities—anyone targeted as "DEI"—tend to fare more poorly because of the headwinds they face. They have to work much harder to get to the same point.



Apple’s putting in an awful lot of their own money, and everyone benefits from opportunities for people who otherwise have very few legal ways to move forward.

It's darned cheap for the state, in terms of avoided costs.

You could consider community colleges to mostly help businesses, too, right? Supplying qualified employees? But Apple’s putting in an awful lot more cash than most companies do.

It reminds me of the old Chrysler Institute of Engineering, the first automotive university run as a public/private partnership (mostly private in the old days, but phased into public as Chrysler and the program slowly wound down).

I think part of it is also the program itself. A 10 month program certificate focused specifically on app development for Apple platforms isn't going to provide the level of well rounded IT skills that a full four year computer sciences curriculum would provide. And Apple itself arguably needs engineering talent, both hardware and software, outside of the app coding realm - specifically semiconductor design and AI modeling.

That said I do think it's a great program and something I wish other big tech companies would follow. The current administration can't seem to decide whether tech skilled immigrants are taking jobs from US citizens or whether they're importing vital skills to keep US technology on the forefront against foreign competitors. The reality is we should be doing both, importing the best and brightest talent while also delivering world class STEM education to our own citizens and residents, and Big Tech could help fund those initiatives since they would reap the benefits.

 

[I7guy]

The math: 600 out of 1,700 = 35%


A great program is one where no more than 35% of enrollees have completed the 10-month program?

It’s a boot camp not elementary school.

 

[555gallardo]

why does one of the biggest companies in the world qualify for taxpayer funding of anything?

Gotta keep that 40%-ish gross margin across the whole board.

 

[sw1tcher]

Academy officials told WIRED that about 71% of graduates from the past two years moved into full-time employment

It’s a boot camp not elementary school.

Call it whatever you want. But a program where no more than 35 people out of 100 complete it, and then less than 25 of those 35 people find full-time work is not "great" nor successful. Seems like, to put it nicely, an inefficient use of taxpayer money.

71% of 35 is 24.85