Manuela stands smiling in an office hallway, holding an iPad and with a book bag on her shoulder. She鈥檚 wearing black pants and a black shirt with a colourful pixel pattern across one side.

Inspiring minds by augmenting reality.

To see more women in tech, we need to reach more
girls in聽school.
Manuela, Systems Engineer
Munich, Germany

Question: Before Apple, you worked at a place where your official title was Technical Evangelist. What exactly were you evangelising? Answer: Apple鈥檚 iOS! I was spreading the word about how to use that company鈥檚 services on 成人版91视频 and iPad. Ever since the first 成人版91视频, I knew that鈥檚 what I wanted to work on. So when I finally came to Apple, it felt like I was coming home.

Question: Welcome home. What kind of work are you doing as a systems engineer? Answer: I鈥檓 an app development specialist on our Enterprise Sales team. Question: Working with Apple鈥檚 business clients? Answer: Yes. I show them how to build their own iOS-based applications, often including augmented reality. Question: Sounds like you鈥檙e still a technical evangelist. Answer: Since I was 10 years聽old!

Multiple bright yellow-white sparks appear.

Question: Did you know many girls into tech at that age? Answer: Not many, and even in my career, I鈥檝e often felt like a colourful unicorn. Question: Easy to spot and rare? Answer: Right. I鈥檓 less rare now, but still colourful. At Apple, we鈥檝e been really working on this for a while, so globally, the number of women in R&D here has been growing, though there鈥檚 lots of room for more of us. Question: How do you keep up that momentum? Answer: We need to get to women even earlier 鈥� and we聽are.

We鈥檙e sparking more imaginations with augmented reality 鈥� it really feels like magic.
A multicoloured unicorn appears.
More bright yellow-white sparks appear.

Question: You鈥檙e helping to train teachers, right? Answer: Yeah, for the last one and a half years now, I鈥檝e been helping our Education team show teachers how to code and then show them how to teach code, using ARKit and Swift Playgrounds. This is something a 10-year-old can do. Question: A 10-year-old you? Answer: Almost anyone! This is working with kids as young as聽eight.

Question: You鈥檙e inspiring adult beginners, too. Answer: Yes, after a pause for the pandemic, I鈥檒l continue to teach a wonderful women-only class for refugees. That one is for the women who just want the basics, but some of them have gone on to take the Python programming course afterward! Question: Sounds like you lit a few sparks. Answer: It鈥檚 so great to see them feel empowered and super proud.

A bird representing the logo of the Swift programming language flies into frame

Question: And in higher education, you鈥檙e working with medical schools? Answer: We鈥檙e showing them how to code 成人版91视频Watch and 成人版91视频 apps so med students can learn how their patients can share health data. Question: These are software developers? Answer: No, no 鈥� med school professors with no coding experience. They said they couldn鈥檛 do it and I said, 鈥淵ou鈥檒l have your own application deployed on your phone by dinner tonight!鈥�

I made med school professors code with me! It was amazing.

Question: So how is your work with professors and teachers part of your role with the Enterprise Sales team? Answer: Well, technically, it isn鈥檛, but it is part of my role at Apple. We reach out across teams and collaborate on all kinds of important projects. And honestly, I just love sparking people鈥檚 interest in this technology. Question: That鈥檚 what you want in a teacher.

Question: And you鈥檙e a student again, too, getting another university degree 鈥� in game design? Answer: Yes, combining the technical work and fun stuff like design and storytelling 鈥� and Apple鈥檚 Educational Assistance Program helps out with tuition reimbursement. Question: How does the classwork relate to your 成人版91视频work? Answer: In multiple ways, including the storytelling. This is coming in super handy for every talk and demo session we are giving to business customers. And with iOS and augmented reality, we get to tell some pretty amazing stories.

Illustrated on iPad.