I'm recruiting for software engineering trainees again

Burnsy2023 · 13 Jul 2021 at 14:01

I'm looking for some new Trainee Software Engineers at Ordnance Survey. The scheme is quite unusual in the fact we have no formal requirements and actively look to recruit from a diverse backgrounds and for people looking for a career change.

We're looking for people who have already decided to invest in themselves, and learn to code. If you've completed Harvard's CS50, or built a hobby project using python (or any other language), and want to make a career developing enterprise level software, I want to hear from you.

There are also links in the ad to some awareness seminars where we'll talk you through what we look for in an application to help you tailor your experiences to what we're assessing. We'll give you everything you need to show us you're the right person for us. The cover letter detailing the three areas noted in the ad is what we're primarily looking at, spend the time on that, rather than your CV.

Some of previous trainees have been Librarians, A&E Nurses, Teachers and Researchers with PhDs, the scheme looks for potential and people who are self starters and habitual learners.

Trainees start on £25k and when you progress to Associate Engineer after a year, there is a bump to around £27.5k. There are also lots of opportunities for further promotions and advancement. Full time remote work is a possibility for some of the positions we're recruiting.

All details below in the link and happy to answer any questions.

Sharing this would be a great help

Job Link

Burnsy2023 · 13 Jul 2021 at 14:02

This was meant to be in the careers section. Would a friendly mod be willing to move it?

Rilot · 13 Jul 2021 at 14:07

Moved for you bud

Burnsy2023 · 13 Jul 2021 at 14:08

Thank you!

Bassmansam · 13 Jul 2021 at 15:57

Oh wow I am interested but I have only started learning python(Udemy course) three weeks ago but my I am going to start build a football scores web app in the next few weeks.

At the moment as part of the course i am building a game of tic tac toe qualifies me?

I made a thread here about my plans recently https://www.overclockers.co.uk/forums/threads/career-decisions.18931246/#post-34955558

Sam

Burnsy2023 · 13 Jul 2021 at 16:48

In the job ad are links to some awareness sessions in Microsoft Teams. I suggest you join one of those to properly understand what I'm looking for. You'll be able to talk to current trainees and work out how to best set yourself up to succeed, so that even if you're not ready quite yet, you might be in 6 months (we tend to have recruitment twice annually).

randomshenans · 13 Jul 2021 at 17:03

Great opportunity for someone looking to get into that career!

Bassmansam · 13 Jul 2021 at 17:31

Burnsy2023 said:
In the job ad are links to some awareness sessions in Microsoft Teams. I suggest you join one of those to properly understand what I'm looking for. You'll be able to talk to current trainees and work out how to best set yourself up to succeed, so that even if you're not ready quite yet, you might be in 6 months (we tend to have recruitment twice annually).

Thank you, i do have a computing degree but its from 10 years ago and i haven't worked in the field but I am now looking to get back into it. Does the degree disqualify me?

If not I will join the teams session.

Burnsy2023 · 13 Jul 2021 at 17:59

Bassmansam said:
Thank you, i do have a computing degree but its from 10 years ago and i haven't worked in the field but I am now looking to get back into it. Does the degree disqualify me?

If not I will join the teams session.

If you look at the ad, there's no formal qualifications required.

AndyCr15 · 17 Jul 2021 at 20:51

Burnsy2023 said:
(we tend to have recruitment twice annually)

Do you post here, or maybe you could bump this thread each time? This could be right up my street. If I'm honest/blunt my only issue would be the pay, but I guess if you're taking people on without qualifications and helping them learn and develop, then that's the trade off? (I'm being made redundant and would like to move into tech)

Burnsy2023 · 18 Jul 2021 at 13:00

AndyCr15 said:
Do you post here, or maybe you could bump this thread each time? This could be right up my street. If I'm honest/blunt my only issue would be the pay, but I guess if you're taking people on without qualifications and helping them learn and develop, then that's the trade off? (I'm being made redundant and would like to move into tech)

I post when I'm the hiring manager, I'm not always aware if other recruitment is happening, although that might change.

So depending on your aptitude, the common progression is £27.5k when you finish you traineeship. This is advertised as a year, but three of the four most recent finished 3 months early. It's typically 1-2 years to progress to engineer which is ~£36k although some make it in 6 months. That gives you a rough idea.

Bassmansam · 20 Jul 2021 at 12:20

Hatfemmi said:
Why don't you consider hiring professional developers? I understand that they need to pay more money, but the result of their work will be much better.

Maybe they just want to help people to get into programming..

I'm sure Ordnance survey have many senior devs as it is

Calabi · 20 Jul 2021 at 12:38

Hatfemmi said:
Why don't you consider hiring professional developers? I understand that they need to pay more money, but the result of their work will be much better.

Maybe because there is currently and will be shortage of professional developers? Especially with Brexit and a lack of decent education in this area in the UK. Its great a company is doing this but its something governments should help funding.

I'm going to try apply for this I have years of experience of programming in Unity I guess I'll see how it goes.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Jul 2021 at 11:34

Hatfemmi said:
Why don't you consider hiring professional developers NO ADVERTISING! I understand that they need to pay more money, but the result of their work will be much better.

We do outsource some of our development with variable results.

There are a few issues with outsourcing, one is the huge amount of specialist domain knowledge that we need in our area of work. Finding software engineers that understand both software engineering and geospatial problems/tooling is very difficult. Also, we're very focused on continuous deployment and full automation. The quality of approach and general maturity in this area using our tech stack and cloud approach from outsourced devs has been mediocre to poor in my experience. Finally, we find that with a longer term investment, we can build software engineers that are better than what we can buy in.

We hire trainees, because we can't find what we need in the market, so we need to build it ourselves.

voodooflux · 27 Jul 2021 at 18:18

This sounds like a great initiative Burnsy. My wife has just finished a 7 month part-time coding bootcamp, and something like this would be a perfect next step for her.

Lopéz · 5 Aug 2021 at 06:37

randomshenans said:
Great opportunity for someone looking to get into that career!

Agreed, great opportunity and a generous salary too - if you fit Burnsy's criteria then I'd strongly suggest pursuing an opportunity like this.

Bassmansam · 5 Aug 2021 at 10:42

Lopéz said:
Agreed, great opportunity and a generous salary too - if you fit Burnsy's criteria then I'd strongly suggest pursuing an opportunity like this.

deadline was Sunday just waiting to hear back... fingers crossed.

Ev0 · 6 Aug 2021 at 19:01

I always like dealing with OS as one of my customers

Bassmansam · 6 Aug 2021 at 19:29

@Burnsy2023 Hi Burnsy

Should i assume if i haven’t heard back I haven’t been successful?

Burnsy2023 · 6 Aug 2021 at 22:14

Bassmansam said:
@Burnsy2023 Hi Burnsy

Should i assume if i haven’t heard back I haven’t been successful?

Unfortunately not. It was a very competitive round with some very strong candidates. If you want specific feedback for next time we recruit, let me know.