21/07/2020

Brazilian woman wins Apple challenge for the fourth time.

Foto: Acervo pessoal

Every experience we live through evokes a unique feeling, and computer science student Karina Tronkos understands this well. “What’s the best way to explain color blindness to someone who sees the world in all colors, for example? I did it through storytelling. I work as a UX (user experience) designer and I develop applications for the iOS system, aiming to bring users closer to different realities, focusing on accessibility and education.” In 2020, and for the fourth consecutive year, she was one of the winners of the Swift Student Challenge, Apple's international conference for developers. She is the only Brazilian to achieve this feat.

This year's awards ceremony took place on June 22nd and had to be adapted, which was no challenge at all for those already completely immersed in the technological universe. “It was 100% remote due to the coronavirus pandemic. But this allowed people from all over the world to participate. For a week, the winners participated in events and lectures. It's a very enriching exchange,” highlights the 23-year-old. “In addition to the recognition, we win an account to launch applications on the iOS system and we have access to Apple engineers who provide a kind of consultancy to our projects.”

Nearing the end of her studies in the Computer Science Department at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in Rio de Janeiro, Karina can't imagine working in any other field. "I started wanting to learn more about apps during my first internship at a PUC lab in partnership with the Apple Development Academy, an initiative to promote iOS in Brazil, which takes place in Rio and other states." The four daily hours of work often stretched to longer, and amidst the creation and development of products, the student discovered an interest in the field of design.

“Being in the lab encouraged me to apply for the Swift Student Challenge. I wasn’t accepted the first time, but in 2017, when I received the results, I’d never screamed, cried, or jumped so much in my life. I was already an intern at TV Globo, and my boss asked me what was happening, and I just replied, ‘I don’t know either,’” she says, amused. “Many Brazilians participate in the challenge and are among the winners, but we need to better understand the opportunities available.”

Pietro Pepe, OBMEP medalist, won the Apple challenge 3 times.

Pietro Pepe, silver medalist at the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP), also has numerous awards from Apple competitions. Like Karina, Pietro participated in the Apple Academy internship program in Brazil, at the PUC-Rio Department of Informatics, and was among the winners of the Swift Student Challenge in 2017, 2018, and last year.

“The applications I developed and that won awards were related to mathematics. Numerical order, activities with common multiples, graph and matrix functions were some of the topics where I was able to demonstrate their applicability in everyday life. For example, in an online photo editing course.” Pietro also highlights that participating in the program and the competition made a difference when entering the job market. “Before starting my internship, I was worried about whether I would be wasting my free time or if I would actually learn something that would make a difference. But being there with those technological tools made all the difference. Being paid to do what you love and being able to develop new skills is very good,” he emphasizes.

To promote the initiative and show that winning Apple programming challenges can be a real achievement, Karina is developing the WWDC Scholars Brazil website along with two other winners, Ailton Filho and Matheus Campiolli. “We always think the other projects will be far superior to ours, but that's not the case. Among the criteria evaluated are the participant's context, what they considered when creating the app, and potential applications. The visual aspect also carries significant weight,” she indicates.

The apps developed by Karina that received the award have already highlighted different fields of knowledge. In the 2017 competition, the UX designer created a program for children to show the behavior of the organs of the human body. The following year, she translated color blindness "into practice" by developing an app that brought the experience to people who see all colors.

In 2019, the award-winning app created an interactive experience about the life of astronomer Nancy Grace Roman. And keeping with the theme of the planets in the solar system, this year's app promotes an experience about the International Space Station.

Through her Instagram page @nina_talks, Karina has gathered over 30,000 followers and receives hundreds of messages daily from people who want to transition to the technology field. "These are people who are entering university or are already working, but want to invest in the digital world. The question is almost always where to start studying UX design."

There are no digital shortcuts: her advice is to study. “And it’s worth starting on your own, at home, before investing in an expensive course. There’s a lot available on the web,” she recommends. This trend has been increasing during the pandemic and is expected to grow in the near future, according to the young woman. “People are seeing how important technology is and are becoming more interested in programming. I imagine that next year this will also be reflected in the Apple challenge, increasing the number of participants,” she says about the competition, which is already making plans, but without revealing further details. “The next project is still a secret.”