Apple offers project internships to students for possible jobs at Maps Development Center

Students of GNITS have been divided into 6 teams to work on 6 separate projects as a part of Apple's internship programme

After announcing the launch of Maps Development Center on May 19, Cupertino, California-based technology giant Apple Inc., has recently short-listed 30 engineering students from the city for a 6-month project work before they could be considered for placements some time in April next year.

These 30 students-all studying at G Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science (GNITS) for Women have been divided into six teams to work on six separate projects as a part of Apple's internship programme.

While sources say that the company had already recruited a group of 20-25 experts for the leadership positions to guide the multiple teams of techies that would be deployed on various projects involving Apple Maps at the Hyderabad Development Center, this internship programme is the first known move directed at hiring people for the entry level jobs for the Center.

 

Already in high demand among the IT and software companies, the students of GNITS will be the first ones from the city to join the Maps Development Center if they could successfully complete the projects in the next six months.

The process adopted by Apple for the selection of future employees to work in its first Development Center outside the company's US headquarters seems nothing similar to the usual campus hiring practice followed by many technology companies.

First it had set up a center of excellence(Mac Lab) with 33 high-end Mac Computers at GNITS coinciding with the launch of Maps Development Center. After giving an initial training for few months to students in Apple's operating system among other things at this lab, the company had identified 30 students to engage them on Maps related projects on a 6-month internship programme, all this involving months of training and careful selection of students before undertaking a final hiring process.

"Now these projects have become a part of our curriculum as the students will have to accomplish live projects besides writing the regular examinations to successfully complete the course," GNITS principal K Ramesh Reddy told Business Standard.

Apple team had short-listed these 30 students through a test conducted on September 6 to a total number of 44 students who were top in academic performance. Such a rigorous process for the selection of entry level jobs was a new experience for the students here.

An Apple India spokesperson said hiring was an ongoing process, while he refused to comment on specific details in this regard.

When Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Hyderabad to launch this Maps Development facility, the company had announced that it would employ as many as 4,500 people here. This seems a long drawn exercise as the placement offers are not decided by simply conducting the campus interviews as being done by others.

After zeroing on GNITS for establishing their first and still the only Mac Lab here, Apple officials told the college management that they had selected their college based on the retention rate of faculty, the teaching and the learning processes and the placements besides the vast presence of greenery in the 14-acre campus. Apple CEO had spent 2 hours at this institute interacting with the students and the faculty after inaugurating the Development Center at Waverock IT park on May 19.

The college authorities have now taken the initiative to train 100 more students using Apple's infrastructure to make its students job ready when Apple considers similar internships in the next round.