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MDC and Apple create a Swift pathway to work experience in tech

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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Miami Dade College, together with the Apple Community Education Initiative, offer free iOS development courses with Swift programming, plus opportunities for class projects and paid tech  internships with South Florida companies.

By Nancy Dahlberg

Miami-Dade students and residents wishing to upskill or get certified on Swift can do so for free as part of the Miami Dade College’s impactful collaboration with Apple’s Community Education Initiative.  And this collaboration goes far beyond the  instruction in one of the most sought-after programming languages.

The collaboration, now entering the 3rd year,  starts with scholarships for students to complete credit and non-credit courses to learn iOS development with Swift programming at no cost for Miami-Dade County residents. As part of the iOS courses, the students are getting Swift certifications from Apple.

“We have had 519 students completing the program since we started the collaboration two years ago, and over 200 students obtaining a Swift Associate certification. By the end of the iOS courses, the students develop an app, which they can present in a Showcase at an Apple store,” said Antonio Delgado,  MDC’s VP of Innovation and Technology Partnerships. [A recent showcase is pictured above.]

Those class projects included building apps that notify users of available parking spots,  help residents conserve water, and assist with sign language translation. The projects offer hands-on experience to students, and they come away with something to show potential employers.

In year 2 of the program, MDC and the Apple Community Education Initiative took the program to yet another level, adding opportunities for internships with South Florida companies. Importantly, the intern salaries are not paid by the companies,  which allows smaller companies to be able to offer them, too.

MDC has placed 26 students in internships at eight companies so far, ranging in size from Royal Caribbean and Globant, to startups Abe and Nailstry. The students are covered through funding from Apple at a rate of $20 per hour, for 25 hours per week, up to 10 weeks, for a total of $5,000.

MDC student Arturo Escobar recently completed an internship at the City of Coral Gables, and had a chance to work on interesting projects that included analytics and augmented reality.  He is working on his bachelor’s in software engineering at MDC and completed the Swift courses and certifications before embarking on the internship.  

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Escobar said he would highly recommend  the courses and the internship to other students interested in software development.  “You don’t have to pay anything, and you’re able to add an important new skill to your resume,” he said, adding “there’s a lot of stuff that Apple doesn’t have yet that we’re able to create if we have the knowledge.”

He said the internship was “a really great experience” collaborating and creating together with people with different backgrounds and experiences in front-end and back-end development. He was able to use his iOS development skills and also learned some new frameworks. Escobar said he now plans to pursue more internships before he graduates.

Arturo Escobar, Miami Dade College software engineering student

Until three years ago when the collaboration with Apple began, MDC didn’t offer Swift, Delgado explained. The funding helped train the faculty and allow students to enroll in the Swift courses for free, including earning two certifications, and by the second year, internships were available.

Now, as the Swift program enters year 3, it is set to scale.  Miami Dade College received a new round of funding from Apple’s Community Education Initiative of $800,000 in monetary donations and $100,000 in Apple products. These funds will allow MDC to provide tuition scholarships to 350 Miami residents to complete iOS courses (either for credit or non-credit), free summer camp for 125 high school students, and internship coverage to 40 students who complete the iOS courses.

“Basically, what Apple is saying is education is on us — we are helping prepare the trainers, and we’re providing a scholarship for anyone that wants to come in,” Delgado said. “Doesn’t matter your  background, age, demographics, what really what matters is that Miami-Dade County residents can learn Swift, and we have had really good success on that.”

The Swift program exemplifies the type of initiatives that help create pathways for students to obtain good tech jobs, and Miami-Dade needs more of them. Miami Tech Works, funded by a $10-million grant through the US Economic Development Administration, is a consortium of leaders from Miami Dade College, FIU, Florida Memorial University, OIC of South Florida, Brain Station, 4Geeks Academy, Ironhack, and additional partners that seek to identify and partner with the training programs that lead to tech jobs paying our local students and residents $70,000+.

Any company interested in hosting interns as part of the Apple Internship Program this year should be able to commit to embed the student or students in an iOS related project for 10 weeks, where the interns will receive mentorship to practice their skills. There is no cost to companies. Interested companies wishing to join the internship program should contact Juliet Bedard, Workforce Services Manager at MDC, at jbedard@mdc.edu.

Interested students can find out more about the Swift courses and how to register here.

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Nancy Dahlberg
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