Since opening in 2016, nearly 2,000 students have passed through the Apple Academy program in San Giovanni a Teduccio, just outside Naples. Apple today announced that the collaboration with the Federico II University and the Campania region will be extended at least until 2025. “When we started talking about the Academy with the Italian government, they offered us offices in large cities and centers that already had a lot of to offer ”, said Luca Maestri, vice president and financial director of the Cupertino company, in Naples for the inauguration of the new academic year in attendance after the forced break due to the pandemic. “But we were looking for a bigger challenge, we really wanted to bring about a tangible change”. Five years later, what used to be a large tomato canning factory is a strict but informal American-style college campus with pale wood furnishings and sophisticated yet friendly technology. And above all it is an example: “We do not want to do things that others cannot replicate, today there are a dozen academies here in Naples, of very large companies, it seems that the model is working”, observes Maestri.
Apple, the numbers of work on iOS in the EU: 1.7 million, 20 billion for developers
Students enrolled in the 2021-2022 academic year come from about twenty countries around the world; women are almost 40 percent. “We don’t want to replace us at the university but offer you a way to make your dreams come true, this is the unique opportunity that we give you here, explains the Apple CFO to the students.
The free Academy courses are of different types. The standard one lasts 9-10 months. There are dozens of him who frequent him, very young but also a little later in years, like the French girl, who has decided to change her life: she is forty and has been in Italy for twenty, she is the one who asks Maestri what Apple expects of students: “To have an open mind and learn and fail,” he replies. “One thing I’ve learned at Apple is that if you don’t fail, you’re not really trying. It is not a problem but an opportunity. We get a lot wrong at Apple: the final product is perfect but the road is full of things that didn’t work before. It happened to us too “. There is a lesson to be learned: “Life is simpler than we think. There are few things that really matter. At Apple we have two fundamental principles, making the best possible product or service, never compromising, because if we are the best then the customers arrive. And offer the best customer experience possible, without saving on resources “.
At the Academy of San Giovanni no one is judged, also because there are no teachers but mentors, older boys and girls who accompany the students on their training path, as does Moritz Philip Recke, a German who moved on purpose to Naples. “Here you work on your future, increasing the skills that help you find your ideal job”, observes scientific director Giorgio Ventre. And there is a lot to learn, especially from others, as the rector of Federico II Matteo Lorito recalls. “We have managed to attract talent from all over the world, and the exchange of ideas and experiences is a fundamental value for your growth,” he tells the students.
The Apple Academy not only prepares for the job opportunities of the iOS app economy, but supports them on their career path once the program is complete. Over 100 companies have participated in recruiting and job fair events for Academy graduates, and program participants have embarked on successful careers in Italy and abroad.
For example, it happened to Roberto Frenna: the day after he graduated from the Academy, he received a job offer from ASOS.com as an iOS engineer. He moved to London to this company a year later, and in the summer he accepted a new role in iOS development with Twitter. “App development has always been my passion,” he says. “Now it’s my job. The Academy has opened up a world of international possibilities for me; it has been an experience that has opened my mind and I am very grateful for the support I have received and the relationships I have formed.”
“When we train these guys we don’t give them a piece of paper, but a job opportunity. Not only in Italy but also outside. Many create their app and start a startup, others go back to university, others are hired by companies ”, explains Maestri. Which reveals: “On average each of the graduates receives 2-3 offers from companies.”
We hang Eleonora Elefante, from Naples, who graduated from the Apple Developer Academy in 2020 following the Foundation course of the Suor Orsola Benincasa university. Just a month, but enough to change her life: “My experience is different from others – she says – because I come from a humanistic background, it was a great challenge. I was afraid to speak in public, my English wasn’t great. I learned something about coding, I studied the rudiments of the interface and more but above all I learned a methodology and I learned to learn. It is something that can be applied to different contexts and with this face new challenges. And the proof that it works is that after a year I became a project manager in a startup, I didn’t know much about it but the learning method I experienced here allowed me to learn quickly “.
Today Eleonora is part of the Pier program, a full-time continuing education opportunity for Academy graduates. The program pairs second and third year students with public and private sector organizations allowing students to continue their education and provide application development support. Pier program students help organizations imagine, design, and create apps to support their communities and solve real-world problems. Students of the Pier collaborate with the Centro Spazio Vita Niguarda, an organization of services for the disabled in Milan, to make it easier for doctors and patients with a high level of need to communicate in the path of recovery following a serious trauma. Others are engaged in a project with the regional government in Campania, to simplify the request for funding by local entrepreneurs.
Italy is investing heavily in digital technology to breathe new life into the economy after the Covid-19 crisis. But what role can the Apple Academy play in this? “The students are available, especially those of the Pier. If the government came to us and asked us for help, we would be happy to lend a hand ”, concludes Maestri.
Apple Academy, project renewed for two years. Conte in Naples: “We will do more for the South”
by ANTONIO DI COSTANZO and CONCHITA SANNINO
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