Training App Developers in a Software Studio The Business Nano Challenge Experience

Developing technical (hard) skills and non-technical (soft) skills in students who want to succeed in the mobile application (apps) development market is not trivial. It represents a considerable challenge for educational institutions. A partnership between Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), and Apple was established to achieve this goal through a software development studio. The environment uses the Challenge Based Learning (CBL) methodology to enable students to develop apps that can succeed in such a competitive market. One of the challenges is the Business Nano Challenge (BNC), a short challenge that focuses not only on the development skills but also on the business aspects. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the results of applying the BNC. Due to the characteristics of the project, the case study research method was chosen. It was carried out using semi-structured interviews with the studio participants. The data was analyzed qualitatively with the support of the Atlas.ti tool. The results show that, during the BNC, the students developed and practiced soft and hard skills, covering the entire app development process, from design to publishing. They also practiced tasks related to publishing the app, such as market search, project design, marketing, advertising, financial resources management, monetization, and post-publication as metrics analysis, monitoring, and optimizing the mobile app. It was possible to identify that the students developed fundamental competencies for the mobile application development market, including technical and non-technical skills and a business vision, essential to succeed in this area.