Asana doesn’t just want to help humans improve the quality of their work by providing a software that simplifies task and project management; this company also cares about empowering the next generation of workers, particularly those previously denied opportunities in the corporate sector. When it launched the AsanaUP apprenticeship program in 2019, it reaffirmed its commitment to promoting a culture centered on diversity in its workforce.
If you’re an aspiring software engineer or product designer but have been putting off that dream because you don’t have a college degree or technical background, Asana wants you to be part of its team. Asana designed its apprenticeship model to equip underserved individuals from minority groups with the resources they need to launch and grow successful tech careers. Find out how you can build a solid knowledge base in software engineering and product design while earning when you read this article.
Asana is a software-as-a-service company that offers robust workflow solutions that allow individuals and enterprises to streamline tasks using a multi-featured platform. In the project management category, Asana has a 15.47% market share, the majority of which is in the United States, according to Enlyft. According to the report, 42% of Asana’s clientele are medium-sized companies, and 76% of all Asana’s customers earn annual revenue of less than $50 million.
In the third quarter of 2023, Asana reported that its customer base averages over 150,000 paying organizations and over 1.5 million registered users across 200 countries. Asana Inc also revealed that its revenue grew 41% yearly at $141.4 million for the same period. In the same year, customers paying $5,000 or more grew by 52%, and those paying $100,000 or more grew by 78%.
As of December 2022, Asana has 1666 employees. According to its Diversity and Inclusion data for America, 45% of Asana employees are women, 57% are ethnic minorities, 12% are LGBTQIA, and 5% are disabled. It also has corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California, and 11 offices across the United States, Canada, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Japan, Iceland, and Australia.
Dustin Moskovitz (co-founder of Facebook) and Justin Rosenstein were engineering leads at Facebook before founding Asana. Dustin and Justin observed how cumbersome coordinating tasks across teams became as Facebook grew. Workers spent more time organizing calendars, creating spreadsheets, attending meetings, and responding to emails and less time brainstorming ideas or building product features.
So, Dustin and Justin built a solution as a side project to streamline workflow from menial tasks to strategic projects. This solution gave more people clarity on expected tasks, making them more accountable. As more teams on Facebook adopted the tool, the colleagues turned friends saw an opportunity to turn their internal task management tool into a holistic cloud-based project management platform that could blend into any team’s workflow and project scope.
In December 2008, Dustin and Justin left Facebook to launch their own company. They named it “Asana,” after a yoga pose which in Sanskrit means to blend form and flow into one. The founders incorporated Asana in the State of Delaware on the 16th of December, 2008. The following year, the start-up received funding of $1.2 million from 14 angel investors. On November 24th, 2009, Asana raised a series A funding of $9 million from Benchmark Capital and Andreessen-Horowitz. This fund allowed them to hire experienced software engineers and product designers.
In 2010, the company started generating media publicity for the product while working on an in-house programming language, “Luna Script.” In 2011, when the product launched, it already had a waiting list of 1,200 potential clients. So the founders offered a free version of the product to teams of 30 or fewer. By July 2012, the company had raised $28 million from its investors, including Peter and Founder’s Fund, Benchmark Capital, Andreessen-Horowitz, and Michael Kapor. Its number of adopters, mostly small-scale businesses, had grown to tens of thousands.
In April 2012, it launched Premium Workspaces for larger teams, and its adoption rate grew to over 100,000. In addition, Asana added a qualifying feature called Inbox to facilitate communication among teammates and reduce the need for emails. Within four months, the number of tasks done with the app grew from nine to 18 million. By January 2018, Asana had raised $75 million led by Generation Investment Management in Series D funding, had 30,000 paying customers, and served up to 192 countries.
In September 2020, rather than issuing a traditional IPO, Asana went public through a direct listing. it opened sale at $27, $6 ahead of the reference price set by the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ASAN.” The sale price closed at $28.80 on the first day, placing the company’s value at $4.3 billion.
In 2022, Gartner Peer Insights recognized Asana as the customers’ choice in enterprise agile planning tools. In addition, between 2021 and 2023, Asana received accolades and recognition from top brands like Great Place to Work and Fortune, G2, Fast Company, and Glassdoor for its innovative efforts in technology and employee welfare.
Asana’s mission is “to help humanity thrive by enabling the world’s teams to work together effortlessly.”
Asana’s values align with its actions toward achieving its mission. These core values include:
Asana facilitates work accomplishment by providing workflow solutions that streamline tasks and projects for individuals and corporate teams through a cloud-based platform. Asana’s key product differentiator is its WorkGraph data model, which syncs and aligns tasks, projects, and goals across work groups and business functions. In addition, Asana generates income by offering clients three paid categories of subscriptions: premium, business, and enterprises, each possessing various features for various tasks and projects.
Some of Asana’s key features include visual boards, calendars, forms, automation, report builders, goal trackers, workload trackers, 200+ app integrations, and Gantt charts. Most clients use Asana to manage product launches, content calendars, event planning, candidate tracking and employee management, bug tracking, IT helpdesk, client management, fundraising campaigns, sales account tracking, and tracking school projects.
Asana’s WorkGraph data model is powered by a MySQL-backend persistence layer called OKVStore. Asana’s codebase was built using programming languages such as Typescript, JavaScript, and React components. In addition, the platform’s backend is based on Scala. According to Stackshare, Asana uses 59 technologies comprising 28 applications and data, eight utilities, 18 DevOps, and five business tools.
The report adds that Asana's critical applications and data tools include JavaScript, Python, Node.js, React, TypeScript, MySQL, Java, and HTML5. Its utilities include PayPal, Optimizely, Twilio SendGrid, Elasticsearch, and Amazon Route 53. DevOps include GitHub, Git, Visual Studio, Kubernetes, and Docker. Asana’s business tools include Slack, G-Suite, Asana, Zendesk, and RelateIQ.
The AsanaUP apprenticeship program is ideal for entry-level tech workers from unconventional educational and work backgrounds looking to build a future at Asana. Asana launched its AsanaUP program in 2019 to break down barriers to entering software engineering and design roles and to provide talented candidates with opportunities to gain real-life technical experience and the possibility of full-time jobs in a supportive and innovative work atmosphere.
The AsanaUP programs span business, product management, engineering, and internal control functions. However, while the company’s apprenticeship track is limited to software development in 2022, it announced plans to launch a product design apprenticeship. As an AsanaUP apprentice, you’ll be able to do meaningful work. Apprentices work on real projects with various Asana teams and receive 1:1 direct and external mentorships, professional development training, coaching, and detailed feedback regularly to help them grow.
The AsanaUP software apprenticeship program spans six months, after which candidates who have shown exceptional progress may transition to full-time entry-level software engineering roles. During the apprenticeship, the candidates build skills in writing codebases, testing and code review, product designing, deploying, product auditing, and maintenance.
According to Sophia Yamauchi, Asana’s talent acquisition manager, the apprentices focus on being onboarded into the program within the first two to three weeks, getting to know the company, engineering team, and products. From the start, apprentices work on low-impact projects with easily controlled outcomes. As the months go by, the apprentices will build autonomy with their tasks to make their transition seamless.
The AsanaUP software apprenticeship program allows individuals to work on real-value projects, including building software product features, testing and reviewing codebases, troubleshooting and fixing bugs, designing data models, researching and analyzing customer data, performing product audits, and implementing subtle interaction behaviors. In addition, you’ll work with a mentor, manager, and members of diverse engineering teams to understand how the business operates and maintain the work culture at Asana.
This apprenticeship program targets creative and curious candidates from underrepresented backgrounds who aspire to launch their careers in product design. This program was launched in March 2022 and is in New York and San Francisco. Design apprentices collaborate with engineering, data science, product management, user research, and other cross-functional teams to build user-oriented products.
As a design apprentice, you’ll perform in-depth research to uncover user problems, extract data insights, and provide peer feedback to boost the company’s end-to-end design process.
Since 2020, AsanaUp has trained over 85 apprentices across 13 teams, including engineering, product, and talent acquisition. According to a webinar hosted by Sophia Baik, Co-Founder of CodeSignal, and Sophia Yamauchi, Talent Acquisition Manager at Asana, in January 2022, Eighty-two percent of AsanaUP software engineering apprentices have converted to full-time employees within the same period.
Asana doesn't publish the monthly compensation for its apprentices. However, you can refer to Glassdoor. According to Glassdoor, AsanaUP software engineering apprentices in San Francisco earn an average of $211,806 annually. This amount covers a base pay of $138,719 and an additional pay of $73,088.
In some cases, Asana offers benefits based on the apprentice’s location. However, you should expect comprehensive health benefits, including dental, vision, and health insurance. Asana also provides its workers with mental health programs, coaching, and mentorships. In addition, as an employee, you’re entitled to parental care packaging, including paternal and maternal leave, lunches, fitness, and commuter benefits.
Asana Apprenticeship Selection: How Are Cohorts Chosen?
Asana is very intentional about the kind of apprentices it recruits. AsanaUP apprentices come from underrepresented groups who face obvious barriers to entering the tech industry. Typically, you shouldn't have prior work experience in tech, particularly in the role you’re applying to. You shouldn’t also have a computer science or related science and have not completed a master's degree. You should have attended a coding bootcamp or taught yourself to code. Apprentices are expected to reside in San Francisco, New York, or Vancouver and be excited about learning and collaborating.
While Asana recruits graduates of coding bootcamps, you can increase your chances of landing an AsanaUP apprenticeship by attending The Marcy Lab School or Year Up. Both alternative-college programs run for one year and target underrepresented minorities aspiring to become software engineers. They offer college credit coursework, hands-on skills development, and internship opportunities at leading companies.
In 2021, six Asana engineering members were mentors for the Marcy Lab School fellows. By October, two fellows from The Marcy Lab School (Zakiyyah Mandisa-Drummond and Weily Lang) joined the AsanaUP apprenticeship program.
Asana Apprenticeship Program Interview: Is the Asana Interview Hard?
According to Glassdoor, the interview process at Asana has a 3.3 average difficulty. Nonetheless, candidates applying to the AsanaUP apprenticeship program should start by completing an online application, which includes sending in a resume and portfolio. Depending on the role you’re applying for, your portfolio should show your competence in using some field technologies. For example, for design applicants, your portfolio should convey your experience using Sketch, Figma, and other product design-oriented tools.
As a result of Asana’s partnership, candidates are sourced from non-profit organizations like The Marcy Lab School and Year Up. Candidates may apply through their coding bootcamps like Hack Reactor by Galvanize or be contacted after attending AsanaUP events. In addition, the AsanaUP hiring team may invite candidates whose application passes the screening to complete an online timed test from CodeSignal which may run for 70 minutes.
Depending on your performance, you may be invited to participate in a phone screening/mini-online interview, which may last for an interview and focus mainly on your work experience, education, and interest in the program. This is followed by an onsite technical interview that may span five hours and is broken down into sessions. Expect coding questions about reviewing codebases, software architecture & design, algorithms, and data models. The whole process may last for four or five weeks. Those who succeed may have to comply with a reference check before accepting the apprenticeship offers.
In the first cohort, AsanaUP recruited three apprentices into its engineering team. However, the number has since grown and expanded beyond the engineering team to 13 teams. In its 6th cohort, the company hired apprentices into eleven teams. In January 2022, the company announced the hiring of two apprentice product managers. The company also recruited a sizable number of apprentice software engineers in the same year.
Asana Apprenticeship Cohort Frequency: How Often is a Cohort Hired?
The AsanaUP program may recruit apprentices into its cohorts annually. For the engineering and product design cohorts, Asana usually calls for candidates in January, and they may begin the program properly in July. For example, in January 2022, the company called for apprentices. By April/May, the apprentices received offers from the company, and in July 2022, it began its seventh engineering cohort.
Yes, Asana is an excellent company to work for if you're looking for one that supports your career growth and allows you to do meaningful work. According to employee reviews from Glassdoor, Asana has a 4.7 out of five-star rating for having passionate employees, diversity programs and initiatives, great culture, wonderful benefits, clear communication channels between management and employees, and excellent work-life balance. Ninety-six percent of reviewers agree to recommend Asana to a friend, and 93% approve of the CEO.
AsanaUP is a group of career development programs that provide exceptional talents from non-traditional backgrounds with seamless entry and reentry into technology. The AsanaUP programs provide these underserved candidates with professional development training, mentorships, and coaching. Asana offers four AsanaUp programs to different categories of candidates: AsanaUP Apprenticeships, AsanaUp Internship, AsanaUp Returnships, and AsanaUP New Graduates.
Is AsanaUP a work-from-home opportunity?
AsanaUP apprenticeship programs are conducted onsite in San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver corporate offices. However, Asana does offer employees three different work models: in-office work schedule, remote work schedule, and hybrid work schedule. However, you may have to wait until you transition to a full-time role before you take advantage of this flexible work structure.
Yes, Asana apprenticeships are worth it because it’s an opportunity to learn, earn, and launch a career in a company and field that has historically been denied to minority groups. In addition, Asana makes the process seamless for all candidates by providing them with all the resources they need to succeed, including mental health programs, lunch, a supportive team, valuable work, flexible work schedules, and constant feedback.
Asana's Engineering Blog and the Asana Design Blog are the best places to learn about Asana’s product features, tech stack, and employee welfare, including their experiences working there and the benefits they’ve received. These blogs also update you on Asana’s professional development partnerships and career growth projects.
You should visit the Asana DEI page to learn more about Asana's company values and efforts at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in its organization.
Asana’s Jobs page can help you stay updated on open AsanaUP apprenticeship roles.
If you don’t want to track and monitor the Asana 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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