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My Experience Applying to Apple Developer Academy

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Rosa Tiara
    Twitter

Introduction

Hi! In 2023, I applied to Apple Developer Academy and got accepted. Being part of the academy was one of the best things that happened in my life, and I would love to share my experience of applying to it. I hope this blog helps those of you who are planning to apply :)

Before we start, please keep in mind that the academy usually opens registration one year before the cohort starts. So, this year's application is for next year's cohort!

Application Steps

The application consisted of 4 main steps:

  1. Register an account as an applicant
  2. Online submission for your personal data / documents
  3. Online programming test
  4. Interview test

The academy will be held fully offline, so it's best to select your target location first. You can visit developeracademy.apps.binus.ac.id and scroll down to Our Global Community and select from there. Each link will redirect you to the corresponding application platform.

Account registration

Fill in all the necessary data for the registration and verify your email.

Register

After that, sign in with your account and you will be redirected to the online application form. Next, fill in all the necessary data and submit your documents.

How I prepared the documents

CV / Resume

I created my CV using this template. Since I was applying as an aspiring software engineer, here are the principles I followed:

  • No address or phone number
  • No photo
  • Structure your sections based on what you have:
    • Have work experience? Experience - Projects - Education - Skills
    • Have projects but no work experience? Education - Projects - Skills
    • Just studying? Education - Achievements - Skills
  • Use reverse-chronological order (most recent first)
  • Page count does not matter as long as your content is well-curated. Focus on showing your achievements and talents, instead on fitting a certain number of pages :)

Note that these tips are mostly for the software engineering field. If you're aiming for a different path, it's worth researching CV norms in that area.

Portfolio

I was in my electrical engineering bachelor's program, so I mostly had electrical projects and very few coding projects at that time lol. But I wanted to show them that I was capable of learning any topic on my own 😂 So I made these things which I put on my portfolio:

  1. Electrical engineering projects

  2. UI design explorations created using Figma

  3. Redesigned websites and apps using Figma, with case studies documented on Medium

  4. Web development projects

    • linkawesome (a static site, but hey, it counts lol)
    • This website!

With those projects, I hoped they would see that even though I came from electrical engineering, I could still learn and (hopefully) be good at software too!

What if my degree is really unrelated to engineering or computer science?

Not everyone who gets accepted has a tech background. I know people who studied completely different fields and still made it in. They put together whatever work they had, and that was enough. One person I talked to ran an online business and used their content as their portfolio. So if you have something you made, it counts. Show it! A small project is still a project :)

How I prepared the online test

If I recall correctly, the total duration of this test is 120 minutes, split into two sections:

  1. Logic test: for me, it felt like an IQ test. I prepared by practicing IQ and logic tests I found online. Honestly, I think the most important thing for this section is to stay calm. It's really hard to think straight when you're nervous 😂

  2. Programming test: covers programming basics like variables, loops, conditional statements, and some OOP concepts. It didn't use any specific programming language, just pseudocode, so you don't need to worry about syntax.

For the programming section, what helped me most was brushing up on object-oriented programming concepts: classes, objects, abstraction, encapsulation, and so on.

Resources to Practice

Logic Test

Programming Concepts

Programming Exercises

How I prepared the Interview

The interview at Apple Developer Academy is unlike others. My interview was conducted in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) format.

How did I know it would be held in FGD format?

I researched experiences from people who had been accepted before me, and all of them mentioned the interview was in FGD, so I prepared for FGD. However, since it was possible for the format to change, I also prepared for another format called MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive), which is mostly used in consulting firms. But let's just focus on FGD.

Since it was post-COVID back then, my FGD was held online via Zoom. But from what I have read, more recent FGDs have been held offline at the academy. To prepare, I watched FGD videos on YouTube and practiced discussing various topics. Note that the interview is conducted in English.

YouTube videos

Practice by topics

Tips

  1. Speak up and share your thoughts even if your point feels simple.
  2. Share your opinions confidently, but stay respectful and considerate of others.
  3. Show your strengths without overshadowing the people around you.
  4. Wait for someone to finish speaking before you respond.
  5. If you disagree, acknowledge the other person's point before offering a different perspective.

A small gift for you

Gift gif

I put all the necessary things to do into a checklist that you can adjust to your own needs!

Wrapping up

The Apple Developer Academy is a genuinely life-changing experience for me, and I would like you to get the chance to experience it too :) Don't get discouraged if you feel underprepared now. Everyone starts somewhere, and the academy values passion and the willingness to learn just as much as technical skills!

If you still have questions or want to discuss further, feel free to comment below, or you can connect and chat with me on my Linkedin. I would be glad to help :)

For other more-specific questions, it's best to ask them directly since they are the ones who decide. You can reach them through:

Prepare well, stay curious, be humble and be yourself during the interview. Good luck!