A newbie to our TechOps team wanted to gain a better understanding of development, and thinks that the reality of working in Microlise is shaping up to be better than he imagined.
“It has been an exciting journey for me from the moment I sent off my job application, through the interviews and onto the end of my first sprint at camp. I was impressed when I researched the business, but it has actually got better since I joined.”
The boot camp programme covers technical and general project management modules. One of our entry developers, who is currently completing her PhD in Psychology in her own time, signed-up for boot camp to improve her technical knowledge; “Not every company takes learning and self-improvement as seriously as Microlise does, and I can say that now with twice the confidence I had, having completed my first sprint at boot camp. We learned and were challenged on new programming languages and were encouraged to play with Microlise products. We also looked at interpersonal and softer skills – we looked at various learning styles and at typing and speed reading – which was timely given the abundance of books provided.”
Week one at camp covered HR policy, presentation training, and learning styles. The apprentices also learned about a range of software platforms and technologies including C# and front-end platforms such as Type Script, Java Script, Jasmine and JEST.
The group also worked on practical coding. A level 4 apprentice, found the KATA task to be one of his personal highlights, although it was more time-consuming than he’d originally envisaged “The KATA task is designed to help us to apply better coding practices. We followed a set of instructions to create a bowling game. We created it in C# and Javascript, with the first being my preferred method of creating the game. This is something that I enjoyed immensely however it took longer than originally planned, partly due to not knowing the syntax and methodologies of the new languages and also because of the learning involved in putting everything together.”
According to Kevin Davis, Development Manager, “The programme has been designed to reflect a real-world working environment with additional training support. It is certainly not without its challenges – and its rewards – which is what you would expect from a boot camp.”
Another level 4 apprentice has certainly taken away some key learnings from his two-week sprint: “I have learnt a lot, including some personal strength and weaknesses, as well as the way things work here. I’ve actually had a lot of fun, and the days go by really quickly as there’s far too much to be getting on with to get bored, which is something I’ve always wanted from a job. I am looking forward to progressing further and to seeing what happens next.”
Clive Lawrence-Forbes, Microlise’s learning and development academy specialist said, “at Microlise we take the introduction and embedding of new talent into the business as a vital component in addressing the skills gap within our industry; The Academy is pivotal in ensuring this happens across all disciplines within the Microlise group.”
