Several of our instructors just returned from Poland, where they taught development and design at media brand Onet.

“With the shift of customer behavior from desktop to mobile, it is crucial for us to understand that we have to invest in people… We think every part of the company should be part of the mobile transformation,” says Bartłomiej Pucek, Head of Mobile at Onet.

See what else the Onet team had to say about the experience:

Want to bring our instructors to your office? Check out our available courses and contact us to get started.

The post The Mobile Transformation: Corporate Training Clients on the Big Nerd Ranch Experience appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

Our Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) training, developed in conjunction with Amazon, shows you how to develop Alexa skills locally with Node.js from start to finish. Today, the third and fourth videos were launched.

Sessions and Voice User Interfaces teaches you how to allow an Alexa skill to break more complicated data requirements into a series of steps. You’ll also learn about Amazon’s voice user interface requirements, increasing your chances of getting your skill Amazon certified.

Persistence show you how to link an Alexa skill with a database so that it can save an unfinished user interaction for later use, opening the door for more versatile and sophisticated skills.

Want to start from the beginning? Watch Hello, Alexa!, where we introduce the Alexa Skills Kit, and the slots and slot types video.

Prefer a written tutorial? Check out our blog series on building Alexa Skills.

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Earlier this year, we announced that we had teamed up with Amazon to deliver immersive, free training for the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK). The training shows you how to develop Alexa skills locally with Node.js, from setting up your development environment to submitting a skill for certification and more complex ASK features like account linking and persistence.

We kicked off the training with a series of blog posts, and today we are excited to announce the release the first two videos.

In the introductory Hello, Alexa! video, we introduce the Alexa Skills Kit and teach you how to create Alexa skills. We build and deploy a basic skill that says hello to users when they invoke the skill using the words that we specify.

The second video, Slots and Slot Types, covers building a skill called Airport Info, which will be familiar to you if you’ve read the blog series. Airport Info makes requests to the Federal Aviation Administration’s JSON-backed web service and inform users of any delays at a specified airport.

More videos will be released in July—stay tuned!

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Big Nerd Ranch has been featured in a number of publications lately. Check it out!

• TechBeacon included us in their list to the top 24 coding bootcamps. Also included are a list of points to consider before selecting a bootcamp.

• Android developer and instructor Kristin Marsicano was featured in a report on inspiring women in the Atlanta tech scene.

• Forbes published tips for a successful business merger, and Aaron Hillegass weighs in.

• Our Marketing team spoke with Hypepotamus about our work with Amazon to deliver Alexa skills development training and tech in Atlanta.

• Aaron Hillegass speaks about the future of tech and Big Nerd Ranch on the SellPersonal podcast.

• Want to level up your coding skills in Atlanta? We’ve been named a top app development trainer by Power to Fly.

The post Top Coding Bootcamps, Women in Tech, Business Tips and More: Big Nerd Ranch in the News appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

We can’t wait for the latest Android announcements, and know you can’t either. Join our knowledgeable Nerds in San Francisco and at our HQ in Atlanta to discuss the latest and greatest from Google.

Big Nerd Ranch Android Community Party

In San Francisco for the big event? Be sure to say hello to Nerds Kristin Marsicano, Brian Gardner and David Greenhalgh. Tweet a photo with them and mention @bignerdranch to receive Nerdy swag.

Google I/O Extended Livestream at Big Nerd Ranch HQ

If you’re in Atlanta, join us on Wednesday, May 18, as we watch the I/O livestream at our HQ. We’ll kick off at 12:30 p.m. EDT and run until 5:30 p.m. We’ll provide lunch and refreshments. All you need to do is reserve your spot.

Can’t make either event, but still thirst for the latest knowledge? Check out our Android bootcamps, available in Atlanta and California.

The post Join Us for Google I/O 2016 appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

We’re starting off 2015 right, here at the Ranch.

We’re Developing

Kick off the year by partnering with us—we’ll build just the app you need. We can help make your company’s app dreams a reality with our end-to-end solutions, including:

• iOS apps
• Android apps
• Backend apps using Ruby and Python
• Frontend apps using HTML5
• Desktop Cocoa (Mac) apps
• UI/UX expertise and responsive web design

We’re Hiring

Are you brilliant, kind, hardworking and ready to start a new career this year? We’re hiring for our Atlanta office:

• Project Manager
• Project Coordinator
• Business Development Representative

And around the world:

• Software Development Instructor (Mexico)
• Contract Instructor (Multiple countries)

What are you waiting for? Become a Nerd.

We’re Teaching

Take your skills to new heights in 2015 with our classes.

Bootcamps

We just wrapped up our inaugural bootcamps at our newest Ranch at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. Matt Mathias taught developers to bring iPhone and iPad apps to life in our Beginning iOS bootcamp, while Angie Terrell instructed designers and developers in creating interactive experiences for iOS and Android apps at our iOS Mobile Design and Android Mobile Design bootcamps.

Next up is our Cross-Platform JavaScript Apps with HTML5 bootcamp, beginning in February. Check out our full slate of classes that will give you the app development and design know-how you need to improve your skills—and your career.

Corporate Training

If you want to boost the skills of your entire team, we can bring the Big Nerd Ranch Way to you, anywhere in the world. Just ask the folks at Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb and NextDoor about our Corporate Training program.

Still not sure the Big Nerd Ranch Way is right for you? Xinghou Liu weighs in on his experience at our Advanced iOS bootcamp at our California Ranch.

Here’s to a great year! We hope you’ll be a part of it.

The post Starting 2015 Off Right at Big Nerd Ranch appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

In the past 365 days (that’s 8,760 hours or 525,949 minutes), we’ve been busy developing, teaching and learning. Let’s take a scroll down memory lane and look at 2014 by the numbers.

Here’s to a Nerdy 2015!

The post 2014 by the Numbers appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

In 2013, Apple shipped a revamped testing framework in Xcode called XCTest, and this year, they’ve shipped a few features with Xcode 6 that were missing from last year’s update. In this video, Sean McCune gives a quick demo of those features.

Follow along with our iOS 8 demo repo and get more detail in Sean’s previous blog post on asynchronous testing with Xcode 6.

Can’t get enough info about iOS 8 and Swift? Join us for our Beginning iOS with Swift and Advanced iOS bootcamps.

The post iOS 8 Demo: Asynchronous Testing With Xcode 6 appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

Our latest Big Nerd of the Month is a driving force: he not only leads a team as they build iOS apps for clients, he’s also co-author of iOS Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide and makes sure our Beginning iOS boot camp remains top notch.

June’s Big Nerd of the Month is Christian Keur!

Big Nerd Ranch: Congratulations on being awarded Big Nerd of the Month, Christian. You came to Big Nerd Ranch from the Apple Store. How did working there prepare you for your role at Big Nerd Ranch?

Christian Keur: Working at the Apple Store was a fantastic experience. First and foremost, I met some wonderful people while working there who led me to Big Nerd Ranch (thanks, Mikey!). In fact, numerous Big Nerd Ranch employees have worked at Apple before coming to Big Nerd Ranch.

In addition to the relationships, working in arguably the busiest retail environment in the world definitely teaches you a lot. I helped out quite a bit at the Genius Bar, managing and solving people’s technical issues. To do this well, you have to manage expectations, communicate technical concepts clearly and understandably, and resolve conflict. All of these skills come in handy when working with clients on app development or teaching students around the globe.

The best phrase I picked up from the Apple Store is, “I don’t know. Let’s find out together.” Admitting when you don’t know an answer goes a long way in gaining someone’s trust, and working together to figure out the answer teaches that person how to solve problems. Knowing how to do this is invaluable for an instructor.

BNR: That’s a great method of learning together! You started at Big Nerd Ranch in 2010. How has your role changed since then, and what are you looking forward to taking on in the future?

CK: Oh gosh. When I started working at Big Nerd Ranch, we had about 15 employees. We now have somewhere around 115. As you can imagine, a lot has changed in that time. I started out as just a developer, but started teaching after about three months with the company. Since then, I’ve taken ownership of our iOS book and Beginning iOS bootcamp, and have also become a team manager.

Moving forward, I’m really excited about making the course even more awesome. I’d also like to start speaking more at conferences on Big Nerd Ranch’s behalf, but I haven’t had much time recently to start going down that path.

BNR: We’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds. How will Swift impact the Beginning iOS bootcamp?

CK: I guess the most direct answer is, “Well, the class will be taught in a new programming language.” But in all honesty, Swift itself won’t change the course too much. Whether you are working with Objective-C or Swift, you’ll still be building apps the same way, using the same frameworks. The knowledge people have gathered from our book or course is still just as relevant with Swift as it has been in the past.

BNR: And what about iOS 8? During this year’s WWDC, you wrote about the impact iOS 8 will have on both users and developers. What are you most excited for with the advent of iOS 8?

CK: I’d have to say I’m excited about the new experiences that apps will inevitably provide. People are going to run wild with the new tools that Apple has provided, and do things that neither Apple nor I have ever thought about.

BNR: What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a developer?

Read my book. I’m kidding—sort of. I think my best advice is to find something you are really passionate about. Being excited about what you’ll do for thousands of hours a year is so important.

BNR: In addition to your passion for iOS development and teaching, you have an interest in the stars. What makes them so compelling?

Have you seen the photos that the Hubble Space Telescope has produced? How could you not be captivated by that?

The stars remind me of the beauty of the universe. You know, we are all made of stardust. All of the elements greater than hydrogen are created in stars, and all elements above iron are produced only in the beautifully violent explosions of supernovae.

The stars are also representative of the human pursuit of knowledge. In Greek antiquity, the stars were thought to be holes in heavenly sphere. Now we know so much about them: what they’re made of, what their life cycles are like, how they affect space-time around them. Even though we have so much to learn, it is always amazing to me how much we know.

Ultimately, I guess it’s because I’m a big science nerd, and the cosmos have so much to offer. (Have you seen the new Cosmos reboot with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, by the way? You should!)

BNR: A Big Nerd, and a big science Nerd (sorry, we had to). Thanks for chatting with us, Christian! Congratulations again on your win.

Think you’ve got what it takes to become a Nerd? Check out our open positions and apply to join the team.

The post Big Nerd of the Month: Christian Keur appeared first on Big Nerd Ranch.

Our Galactic Headquarters have gotten even bigger and better, and we’re now at home on the range at our new Intergalactic Headquarters in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood.

Photo courtesy Kronberg Wall Architects/Planners. More photos here.

Thanks to architects at Krongberg Wall and the hard work of our team—including San Smith, who was named Big Nerd of the Month for her role—we’ve moved to a location that is perfect for Nerdy productivity.

It’s got all the comforts of GHQ, but our new space features quiet rooms for deep thought, actual phone booths, standing desks and plenty of space for community events like our semi-weekly Tech Talks (join us tomorrow for a presentation on industrial design from UX/UI expert Desiree Johnson) and our upcoming Google I/O Extended Livestream. Hope to see you here soon!

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