Webinar on Saturday, December 4, 2021, hosted by Jeffry Sandy Purnomo, an alumnus of the 2017 Electrical Engineering student at the Surabaya Integrated Science and Technology Institute (ISTTS) who is currently completing his Final Project related to IoT (Internet of Things). On this occasion, Jeffry talked about his experience as a participant in the second batch of Apple Academy at UC. In the course of his studies, Jeffry also took several opportunities to add to his experience. Among them became a part-time teacher of Robokidz, Microprocessor Laboratory Assistant, and took an internship at Apple Academy. Through his experience at Apple Academy, by combining coding and electrical knowledge, he is able to produce various applications as an iOS Engineer. The first iOS-based application he created was called Lyrica, which is an application to help musicians write song lyrics with various word recommendations. Through this experience, Jeffry also learned about the importance of collaboration between the development team and the design team in making an application.
Figure 1 What is "Apple Academy"?
Generally a developer only does the part that has been given, but here he is also involved in the design, presentation, and business model processes of the application development process. He said that the internship at Apple Academy is very flexible because he can determine his own working hours, but is also required to be responsible and provide daily work reports to the Project Manager. After graduating from Apple Academy, he was inspired to make a Final Project related to iOS by modifying used lamps with electrical components and controller applications.
Finally got to the core of the event where he explained several things that you need to know if you are interested in joining the Apple Academy program. This program focuses on coding, design, professionalism. The 10-month journey to become a developer will increase confidence when creating a CV and hone leadership and mindset in project collaboration. This program applies to anyone over the age of 18 with various backgrounds. Foundation program is a trial period before actually entering the Apple Academy. However, out of 1000 people who competed for seats in this academy, only 10% succeeded, so the competition was quite tight.
The image below describes the steps to register for Apple Academy.
Figure 2 Steps Applying to Apple Academy
Figure 3 Activities for Apple Academy newcomers
Apple Academy has various activities for newcomers, such as bonding, and sharing sessions. In addition to tasting the developer world, Jeffry also got a professional mentor in the field of design to create an application display from scratch. There are various analyzes and considerations that apparently need to be done for the convenience of users. In addition, with Challenge By Learning (CBL) participants can search for a topic of interest, such as music and then explore that topic in a team. What each member gets will be the provision to make an application that can fix a problem. However, since the pandemic Jeffry had to collaborate online via Zoom. Through this experience, Jeffry also learned that working in a team is always seamless because of the need to collaborate with different people. During his time at Apple Academy, he also met Apple Academy friends in various campuses such as Binus, even Apple Academy Brazil and Apple People. Apple People are people from various countries who are already professionals in the Apple field and provide lessons to the participants.
Figure 4 The graduation procession of participants with the chancellor and Apple People
Figure 5 Benefits of Participating in Apple Academy
Through this Academy there are many advantages that Jeffry gets, both soft skills and hard skills. He learned to adapt to the way iOS developers work and communicate with everyone. He also learns to always think about solving problems that are useful in various aspects of his work. Jeffry admits that, although he ended up having to take an additional 1 semester of college due to taking an Apple Academy internship, the benefits and experience he gained were very valuable and he only got through this experience.
At the end of the sharing session, Jeffry answered questions from students who were interested in joining Apple Academy. Even after completing the Apple Academy, there will be a recruitment process from big companies in Indonesia where these companies can see everyone's CV directly. This is a good bridge to enter the world of work. Although at first the device he used was not an Apple device, there he was accustomed to working with the Apple environment. This sharing session has opened the minds of students about the world of work and internships, and Jeffry's experience at Apple Academy has become a provision for the future of every participant present.
Figure 6 Apple Academy Sharing Session Participants
