2023-06-21 11:30:20
The Simplon school in Montreuil welcomed us for a somewhat special session with Sarah Herrlinger, world accessibility director at Apple and Olivier Jeannel, founder of Rogervoice. The opportunity to discover their free training on iOS.
Sarah Herrlinger, WW Accessibility Director at Apple asked the students for their pitches. // Source: Apple
The sweltering heat of this late spring has not yet hit the Simplon school in the morning hour when we enter. Behind its walls in the form of sheds transformed into a loft with whiter than white walls, the school located in Montreuil has been hosting free training courses since 2019 to discover development on iOS.
For a month, students from all over Île-de-France visit the premises, learn the basics of design and Swift, the programming language managed by Apple that allows you to create applications for the iPhone. The training is completely free, since it is made in partnership with Apple. The only condition: to be a job seeker. The school checks the profiles itself and chooses who joins the course on the basis of a motivational interview. No technical prerequisites are required. For 25 learners, the school receives dozens of requests, sometimes amounting to hundreds if the subject is a carrier.
Swift, front end and an app developed in a month
Today’s topic: accessibility. Students are divided into groups with themes such as cooking or travel. In one month, the students will therefore have to develop a complete application on this theme, giving priority here to accessibility. The first week is very focused on design while the next three weeks will focus more on development.
“At the end, they present the application in front of a jury”explains Emma Charmant, who is in charge of recruiting learners. “It is always made up of at least one professional integration person, such as Pôle Emploi or the local mission), one person from Apple (from the App Store team) and one developer (not necessarily on Swift d elsewhere, which can bring relevant remarks). »
Simplon hosts a free training to get started with iOS development. // Source: Apple
Upon completion, students receive a certificate of competency. It may seem a bit light beyond the possibility of discovering new horizons. But the school does not fail to open up other horizons to them at the end of their training, we are assured. Most of the time, if they want to continue, Simplon offers them other web development training. Many go to full stack or UX design if they have a crush on these themes.
A few lucky ones will even go to the Apple Academy in Naples, a training course created by Apple over nine months, much more academic.
Pitch session with an Apple manager and an experienced developer
The day we were invited is a bit special. The formation is turned upside down by the arrival of guests. They are neither more nor less than Sarah Herrlinger, world accessibility director at Apple and Olivier Jeannel, founder of Rogervoice, an application which, in his own words, “allows deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind and aphasic people to be able to telephone independently”. Suffice to say that the two know a lot about accessibility of applications.
Among the students, all profiles rub shoulders. Some have just come out of computer training and wanted to learn about Swift specifically to orient themselves, others are between jobs, one of the candidates was self-taught in development and wants to push further. Whatever their background, these students find themselves, after only three days of training, pitching their application project in English to an Apple world manager who listens attentively, asks questions and punctuates the discussion with ” it’s great“. A formative experience, undeniably.
The manager takes the opportunity to remind them of the basics of accessibility. “Think about accessibility early in development. For example, rather than call your button with a sequence of random numbers, give it a name immediately, this will facilitate the integration of accessibility options later. Also, always think about working with the community, find people in that community to give you feedback. We do not work for the community, but with it”.
Olivier Jeannel, the creator of the Rogervoice application was able to meet the students. // Source: Apple
Olivier Jeannel for his part gives advice on accessibility, especially since he will be part of the final jury. It explains in a very concrete way that one can find ways to improve accessibility even in the smallest details. On the subject of travel, he explains, for example, that on more than one occasion he has noticed that certain companies may ask for the diet of passengers, but this information does not seem to be accessible to the crew. A missed opportunity to“to make life easier for many people who are apprehensive about travel”he says.
How to enroll for free Simplon School iOS development training
This training is open in Île-de-France, but also near the cities of Lyon, Marseille, Lille and Toulouse. You will find the calendar of future training directly on the Simplon site.
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