At the time of writing this, I’m in the latter half of the Made Tech academy process, so I figured I would write about the experience so far and why the scheme is invaluable for people who have some technical skills but are trying to get started within the tech industry.
Getting you started
The Made Tech academy provides people with an excellent opportunity to get their software engineering career started. Not everyone will have had the fortune of doing a placement year as a developer, and a surprising amount of graduate schemes seem to expect graduates to have a year or two of experience with a programming language. The result of this is that graduates can struggle to get their foot in the door, leaving them searching for an opportunity that will take them on and help them develop their skills.
The Made Tech Academy doesn’t require any industry experience, just some knowledge of programming (which can be self-taught) to be considered for a position. The low barrier to entry means that people will feel encouraged to apply as the requirements are suitable for people looking to start out their careers. From the moment I read an advert for the Academy, I knew that I wanted to get an application in ASAP.
Earning while learning
The academy offers a great salary during the 12 week learning period, which is quite attractive to potential candidates. This differs from the approach taken by a lot of coding boot camps that require payment for their teaching. The result is that the high cost can deter potential applicants who might wish to start a career in software engineering. Made Tech’s approach is a refreshing difference and I can’t overstate how appreciated it is to not have to worry about having to support yourself while developing your skills.
Learning isn’t job specific
A lot of companies advertise mentoring as a key aspect of their junior roles. At Made Tech, mentoring is a value and it really shows in the Academy. You’re assigned a buddy from the previous Academy cohort and you have weekly 1-2-1’s with the Head of Learning. These two things are incredibly useful when you’re starting your career as you know that you will always receive help should you require it and it allows you to develop your career at your own pace. You don’t need to wait for a yearly performance review to find out what you need to do in order to progress, the areas you may need help improving in and the opportunities for you to get involved in. I think that this is extremely valuable as when you’re getting started you’re always looking for how you can improve so having help so readily available is fantastic.
Some sacrifice is required
The Made Tech Academy does require some sacrifice to be made. For example, during the 12 week training period you can’t really take any days of holiday, unless you absolutely need some time off, which differs in approach to other jobs that have a shorter training period and allow you to start booking holiday time after about a month. The benefits of the Academy outweigh this though and the benefits of working at Made Tech as a whole mean that you consider it to be a sacrifice worth making – I know I sure do!
Final thoughts
Overall, I think that the Made Tech Academy is brilliant. To any potential applicants reading this, I would strongly recommend applying here for all the reasons above and more. To anyone considering how they can improve their training for junior software engineers, I would urge you to take the Made Tech Academy as an example and look at what it does well to apply to your business.
About the Author
Software Engineer at Made Tech
Constantly learning how to write better code
