Airbnb was founded on the unconventional premise that strangers could live together. And since launching, its founders: Ben, Joe, and Nate, have stuck to the prerogative that humans thrive in numbers, allowing it to position the business as one that helps individuals build meaningful connections. What makes this company special isn’t just the wholesome experience it offers its guests but the self-sufficient community it has built over the years.
Airbnb launched a tech apprenticeship for individuals from unconventional backgrounds to serve its community better. One highlight of this program is the opportunity to work from anywhere and still feel connected to a community. If you want to launch and grow your tech career in a company that values its workforce, discover Airbnb’s apprenticeship program tracks, salary package, hiring process, and reviews of former apprentices.
Airbnb is a global marketplace that connects travelers looking for accommodations in foreign locations with hosts offering short-term lodgings at affordable market rates. Airbnb acts as an intermediary between the host and prospective guest, facilitating exchange in the interest of both parties. Airbnb hosts post listings such as private rooms, luxury condos, bed & breakfasts, mansions, towers, and more. As a travel and hospitality industry leader, Airbnb had the second-highest revenues for online travel companies in 2022.
Airbnb’s global headquarters is in San Francisco, California. The company also has offices in 29 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, Dublin, Singapore, and Portland. It serves over 220 countries and 100,000 towns. Airbnb generated a net income of $1.9 billion for the year ending December 31st, 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, revenue grew by 40% to $8.4 billion. At the end of 2022, Airbnb had over four million hosts who welcomed 1.4 billion guests. Its hosts have generated over $180 billion in revenue.
As of December 31st, 2022, Airbnb had 6.6 million active listings globally. The company also recorded 6,811 employees and 11,000 contingent workers in the same year. Sixteen percent of Airbnb US employees identify as underrepresented minorities, and 49% of its global employees identify as women. As of June 30th, 2022, Asians made up 44.2%, Blacks made up 5.8%, and Latinx made up 9.2%.
Airbnb began operation in October 2007 when Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia hosted their first three guests, Michael, Kat, and Amol, in their San Francisco apartment. When the roommates couldn't afford to pay rent at their San Francisco apartment, Gebbia came up with the idea of hosting guests at their apartment and convinced Chesky it could be a sustainable source of income. The plan was to turn their apartment into a bed-and-breakfast. So the roommates started working on a website, bought three air mattresses, and redesigned their apartment.
The founders hosted its first guests, two men and a woman, for $80 each in October 2007. The positive review they received made them realize they could expand their model. So they enlisted the help of Nathan Blecharczyk, their former roommate, to create a roommate-matching service. But, unfortunately, they discovered the new business model was a knockoff four months into it and reverted to their original idea of providing peer-to-peer housing accommodations.
In March 2008, the friends turned partners launched “Airbed & Breakfast” at SXSW, but they made little impact. After 15 failed attempts to land an investor, the partners, in August 2008, set up a website just in time for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. This time they recorded 80 bookings as the hotel room shortage turned in their favor. In the same month, they launched “Payments,” an internal payment processing platform for guests. Finally, the company partnered with Y Combination to raise funding in 2009. So far, the company has had 30 funding rounds, raising $6.4 billion.
In March 2009, the company was renamed “Airbnb.'' The business model expanded to provide guests with sophisticated apartments, homes, and vacation rentals. By November, the company launched its mobile app and included instant booking features to meet demands. In June 2011, the company opened its first international office in Germany. It moved into its corporate headquarters on 888 Brannan Street in June 2013. The company launched its “Bèlo” logo in July 2014. In addition, Airbnb launched “Experiences” for hosts to provide tours and events for guests in 2016.
In 2017, it rebranded itself as Aibiying to the Chinese and Asian markets. In addition, the company launched Airbnb Luxe in 2017, following the acquisition of Luxury Retreats. Airbnb owns 25 companies, including HotelTonight and Urbandoor. In 2019, it announced a nine-year, five-game partnership with the International Olympic Committee. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Airbnb added “Online Experiences” to minimize losses for its Hosts. In addition, the company launched Airbnb.org in December 2020 to connect people to hosts providing safe accommodations during crises.
On the 14th of December 2020, Airbnb issued its IPO comprising 55 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Its initial share price was $68 per share for 51.5 million shares, placing the company’s value at $3.7 billion. However, Airbnb opened sales at $146 under the ticker “ABNB” on Nasdaq, closing at $144.71.
Airbnb launched AirCover for Hosts in 2021. 2022 saw the launch of product features such as Airbnb Setup, Airbnb Categories, and AirCover for Guests. In the same year, Airbnb introduced the “Live and Work Anywhere” initiative allowing employees and third-party contingent workers to work remotely forever. Between 2022 and 2023, Airbnb received accolades and recognition from top brands like Forbes, Time100, Fortune, and Parity.org, for being the best vacation rental platform and an ideal company to work for diverse employees.
Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
Airbnb's core values include the following:
Three core ideas guide Airbnb's actions:
The founders based Airbnb’s business model on giving people a sense of belonging, comfort, and control when on vacation. Airbnb’s value offering is providing homely stays and experiences. Its adaptable business model allows it to position its value in different markets. Airbnb generates income from service fees charged to customers. The company generates its service fees from bookings for stays.
As part of its strategic effort to improve revenue growth, Airbnb provides incentives and refunds to individuals who promote the business or refer customers. Airbnb also earns a host fee when it provides experiences to guests. In addition, customers may receive refunds in cash or credits as part of their customer support activities.
According to Stackshare, Airbnb has 55 technologies in its tech stack. The company uses 20 application and data tools, 14 utilities, 14 DevOps, and seven business tools. Some of its application and data tools include JavaScript, React, Java, MySQL, NGINX, Redis, Ruby, and Rails. Airbnb’s top utilities include Google Analytics, Twilio SendGrid, Mixpanel, Superset, and Lottie. The company DevOps comprises GitHub, Webpack, New Relic, Kibana, Sentry, SmartStack, and Apache Mesos. Some of Airbnb’s business tools include Asana, Slack, Google Suite, and incision.
Airbnb’s apprenticeship program was initiated in 2016 to help career switchers–those with non-technical backgrounds–transition into the technology industry. Airbnb's goal was to increase diversity and creativity in the technology industry. To achieve this goal, Airbnb partnered with Coalition for Queens and Galvanize to further eliminate barriers to entry, in line with its core mission of creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere. According to Mike Curtis, the VP of Engineering at Airbnb, Airbnb Connect allows the company to attract and retain talent as diverse as the community it serves.
The apprenticeship program, named Airbnb Connect, offered access to two apprenticeship tracks: software engineering and data science. Both pathways featured technical training, mentorship, career coaching, and job placement. However, Airbnb needed help to meet the demands of the apprenticeship program in 2016. By 2020, a new team, consisting of Beti Gathegi and Jacqui Watts, was set up to launch the software engineering track. Airbnb partnered with organizations such as Hack Reactor by Galvanize, Kapor Center, Code Tenderloin, OEWD’s TechSF, Dev/Mission, and the Hidden Genius Project to bring the project to life.
The Airbnb Connect Apprenticeship is a six-month program with a three-month training period. The apprentices are immersed in small-impact projects to learn new programming languages, codebases, and Airbnb's preferred tech stack and tools to develop their technical skills. The training also features weekly checking, biweekly reviews, and final evaluation.
In the program's second half, apprentices are placed in different engineering teams working on real-world projects in a collaborative environment. A final project allows you to demonstrate your knowledge of the product development process.
The software engineering apprenticeship program at Airbnb is an opportunity to build hands-on product experience in software development. This apprenticeship track allows you to apply your coding skills in real life. If selected for the program, you'll work with a technical instructor and cross-functional engineering teams on code samples and unfamiliar programming languages like React, Kotlin, Swift, Java, and TypeScript, to build innovative and scalable software solutions for Airbnb end-users.
You should have basic programming knowledge to apply, especially in writing functions and converting problems to reusable codes.
The goal is for apprentices to transition into full-time roles at the end of the six months. And, of course, Airbnb has kept its promise. For instance, after the first apprenticeship program ended, 100 percent of the apprentices from the 2020 cohort received employment offered to transition into full-time associate roles at Airbnb in 2021.
This action was partly a conscious effort by Airbnb to see 50 percent of the global workforce identify as women and 20 percent of the U.S. workforce identify as underrepresented minorities. You can read Airbnb's six-year DEI report here.
Airbnb pays its apprentices a competitive compensation package in line with industry standards. Besides an attractive monthly stipend, Airbnb offers its members paid training and development, paid volunteer time, and credit for travels and experiences. According to Glassdoor, software engineers at Airbnb earn an average of $201,842 annually. The figure covers a base pay of $138,890 and a bonus of $62,953.
Airbnb believes in optimizing the well-being of members at all times. So it introduced a remote work model that supports a healthy lifestyle and reasonable travel time. Apprentices can look forward to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision health plans, volunteer opportunities, parental and family leave, healthy food and snacks, annual and quarterly travel and experience coupons, opportunities for learning and development, and company-sponsored tech events.
Airbnb Apprenticeship Selection: How Are Cohorts Chosen?
Airbnb's selection process favors candidates who don't have a traditional background in technology. Specifically, candidates who don't own a four-year degree in computer and related disciplines but have two to five years of experience in a non-tech role stand a better chance of securing an apprenticeship position at Airbnb.
However, you must have completed a training course in computer science from a coding bootcamp or school. Self-taught programmers are also ideal candidates for this role. You must also have a passion for the tech field and should be able to write basic codes, use basic programming frameworks, and implement control flow in a programming language. You don't have to be a U.S. citizen to apply, but you must be a resident, so immigrants are encouraged to apply.
Airbnb Apprenticeship Program Interview: Is the Airbnb Interview Hard?
The Airbnb apprenticeship application process is easy. It usually starts in the second week of February and ends in the third or fourth week. For 2023, the application will be live on February 13th by 9:00 am PST and go off on February 21st by 9:00 am PST. To get started, you should visit the Airbnb Careers page. You'll be expected to upload a portfolio containing your resume, write short essays, and complete a basic coding test as part of your application requirement.
A member of the apprenticeship recruitment team will review your application. The application review usually takes three to four weeks. If your application is accepted, you'll be invited for a virtual interview where your knowledge and eloquence in computer science and software engineering will be assessed. You may be asked to participate in a coding challenge or talk about basic programming concepts. Airbnb Connect software apprenticeship screening may include an onsite interview in March, where you'll meet different team members.
Based on the interview's outcome, you'll be sent an offer to begin the apprenticeship in April. If you need help preparing for the Airbnb Connect software engineering apprenticeship, attend the Kapor Center's Free Application Preparation Workshop. As an official Airbnb partner, Kapor Center also connects candidates to the Connect apprenticeship.
The standard cohort size for Airbnb's Connect apprenticeship is 10. Airbnb started this trend in 2020 when it hired ten apprentices in the first cohort. The 2022 cohort also comprised ten apprentices from diverse backgrounds.
Airbnb Apprenticeship Cohort Frequency: How Often is a Cohort Hired?
Airbnb Connect apprenticeship cohorts are recruited annually to the software engineering apprenticeship track. Recruitment into the engineering apprenticeship track starts in April after candidates have been screened and interviewed. If you're interested in being part of this year’s apprenticeship cohort, you should send in an application in the second week of February when the application portal opens.
Yes, Airbnb is an excellent company to work for if you're a career switcher with a non-technical background looking to apply your creativity in a diverse yet collaborative work environment. According to employee reviews from Glassdoor, Airbnb has a 4.2 out of five-star rating for work autonomy and flexibility, reasonable work hours, remote work, work-life balance, and employee benefits and perks. Eighty-two percent of reviewers agree to recommend Airbnb to a friend, and 85% approve of the CEO.
Airbnb Connect is a six-month paid apprenticeship program for non-technical career switchers featuring classroom instructions, mentorships, career coaching, and an opportunity to transition into a full-time software engineering associate role.
The Airbnb Connect hiring process takes three to six weeks. In the first and second weeks, you must submit an online application. Next, you should expect to complete the screening and virtual interview in the third and fourth weeks. Finally, in the last two weeks, you should participate in an on-site discussion at an Airbnb primary office and expect your offer/rejection letter.
It is easy to get a job at Airbnb. The Airbnb Connect is for non-traditional students. You don't need formal computer science or engineering education to get selected. You don't also need to have any work experience in the tech field to be chosen. And, as long as you have a good foundation in coding and technology in general and are passionate about launching a career in tech, you stand a great chance at being selected.
The Airbnb Blog is the official page to learn more about life at Airbnb, including the experiences of the hosts, employers, and guests. You can also learn more about the company’s apprenticeship model on the blog.
You should also look to the Airbnb Tech Blog on Medium to learn more about software engineering and data science at Airbnb, the structure of the apprenticeship program, the experiences of apprentices, and feedback from Airbnb Connect apprenticeship leads.
To learn more about the company's effort at promoting employee diversity and inclusion through training and development programs like Airbnb Connect, you should visit the Airbnb Newsroom.
You can get news about Airbnb apprenticeship programs from the Airbnb Careers website.
If you don’t want to track and monitor the Airbnb apprenticeship program for yourself or are looking for support in an apprenticeship application, you can join apprenticeship.io to learn more and get support to land an apprenticeship program.
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