The Roku Dev Academy

This post from Will McGee, Head of Strategic Partnerships, is the first of three in our Roku blog series.
Roku, which provides streaming players, smart TVs, and over-the-top (OTT) content, is a company of firsts: They pioneered streaming content to the TV, and their streaming model has upended traditional content distribution. Roku has changed the way TV content is produced, distributed, and consumed.
The company didn’t break new ground by doing things the old way. Roku developed Brightscript, a unique scripting language which constitutes the key component of the company’s SceneGraph software development kit (SDK). All of Roku’s streaming devices are built with and optimized to use Brightscript. Very few developers external to Roku, however, have an extensive familiarity with Brightscript. But Globant developers do.
Globant has been a trusted partner of Roku for some time, and has learned the ins and outs of this proprietary scripting language. Globant created the Roku Dev Academy to help developers learn Brightscript quickly so that they can get to work on any Roku project.
Throughout this six-week-long training program, developers build a private channel and work to ensure that they meet Roku’s application certification requirements. Each week of the program focuses on a different aspect of Brightscript and provides developers with relevant instructional resources. They use a mock code base and real code reviews, and end each week with test criteria.
Teams from both Globant and Roku have heaped praise upon the Roku Dev Academy. Developers feel that the program’s content and resources help them to learn Roku’s SDK quickly and easily. We recently added accessible engineering support to the program as well, which has served to improve trainees’ already-positive experiences. Roku’s leadership is equally appreciative of the program, which has given them an unprecedented ability to scale with a key partner who possesses an expert understanding of the technology.
Perhaps most important, though, is the multifaceted longevity that such a program offers. Rather than train developers in Brightscript on an ad hoc basis, the Roku Dev Academy is a long-term, sustainable resource for all developers that will enable them to work on a diverse range of projects. The program has also ensured that Globant’s partnership with Roku is a lasting one. We’ve not only developed a thorough understanding of their SDK, but have gone above and beyond to share our understanding with both teams through the creation of a systematized, replicable solution.
The Roku Dev Academy is a great example of Globant’s aptitude for parallel innovation. Our teams are driven to design creative, empowering solutions while working alongside our clients to develop the products that so profoundly change their industries.