Software Developer Apprentice Level 4

Company: Sykes Cottages
Location: Chester, CH1 3BQ
Type: Apprenticeship
Salary: £18,000.00 per year
Sector: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Ref: VAC-00025
Application Deadline Date: 04/02/2022
Start Date: 14/03/2022
Positions Available: 2
Working Week: Monday-Friday, 9am-5.30pm

Brief Description

Over the course of your two-year contract, you will spend approx. 20% of your time training with Ada, The National College for Digital Skills, through a blend of remote and face to face training at their campus in central Manchester. You will be working towards a Foundation Degree in Digital Innovation validated by the Open University

Qualifications Required

- Candidates must have an A level, Level 3 or equivalent qualification in a relevant field (Software Development/IT/Computer Science).

Personal Qualities

Essential and desired competencies

An enthusiastic learner with the intellectually curiosity to explore new ways to solve problems and meet requirements
Work as part of a team and on your own effectively
Communicate clearly with diverse groups of colleagues

Skills Required

We are looking for bright, motivated apprentices who want to produce high quality code and work with the latest cloud and development technologies. They need to be team players who aren?t afraid to get stuck in with writing code and fixing problems. They?ll work closely with other, experienced developers and develop their skills and experience in commercial software development.

As our newest Apprentice Software Developers, we ask you have the following key skills and we will do the rest:
Essential Experience:

- An understanding of OOP and awareness of common software design patterns.
- Some familiarity with a modern programming language, ideally object oriented, such as Java, Javascript, or Python

Desirable Experience:
- Awareness of PHP e.g. through a personal project in that language.
- Knowledge of a modern PHP framework such as Laravel.
- Exposure to Docker or equivalent Awareness or experience of cloud technologies such as EC2.

Training to be Provided

Our apprenticeship goes beyond the Level 4 standard and includes a Foundation Degree in Digital Innovation which is validated by the Open University. Each cohort spends their first 6 weeks at college taking part in our Launchpad training.

This training not only covers modules for the degree programme but also ensures to prepare you for the workplace. Following the Launchpad training you will return to your employer for 7-8 weeks returning to Ada for one-week blocks on a rotation basis.

Future Prospects

A permanent position or further training may be on offer after the fixed 2 years

Vacancy Detail

Sykes Cottages are now seeking our newest Apprentice Software Developer to join our 120 strong, award winning Technology department at our Chester head office during a 2 year fixed-term contract alongside our Apprentice Supplier, Ada, Manchester.
As our newest additions, you will sit at the heart of our industry-leading Technology Team which has been one of our businesses largest areas of investment in recent years. Our Tech Team are business critical in ensuring we leverage the latest technology to meet our business functions and remain one of our most passionate and innovative teams in our hugely successful business.

With over 120 employees in technology, product and data related roles, Sykes puts innovation at the heart of everything it does. To date, our Technology team have been crucial in building our in-house Property Management Software set up to manage not only Sykes Customer and Owner bookings but the onboarding of additional acquisitions and sister brands into our portfolio. Year on year our Technology department are prominent in driving our overall success frequently accruing an impressive list of accolades and industry awards to back up their place on the market as one of the most innovative and attractive departments in the North West. We are now seeking to appoint two ambitious, technically talented apprentice software Developers to our Technical department.

As our newest apprenticeship Developers, you will be lending your skills to a whole host of national and international projects across the entire Sykes brand. On a daily basis you will be producing high quality code whilst working with the latest cloud and development technologies.

The successful candidate will throw themselves into our business-critical work, absorbing the wealth of technical experience around you to further your own growing tech skills and experience. We are looking for a truly ambitious apprentice who will share in our passion for all things tech, who would jump at the chance to work collaboratively with our award-winning team of Developers, Testers, DevOps Engineers, Product Owners ? all who eat, sleep and live all things tech.
This truly is a fantastic opportunity for an Apprentice Developer to take their first steps within the commercial tech market, working alongside some of the most successful technical professionals in the North West, drawing from their skill and above all aiding our ongoing success. After a brief induction period with Sykes, the successful candidate will begin their apprenticeship with six weeks of training with ADA in central Manchester

Over the course of your two-year contract, you will spend approx. 20% of your time training with Ada, The National College for Digital Skills, through a blend of remote and face to face training at their campus in central Manchester. You will be working towards a Foundation Degree in Digital Innovation validated by the Open University

Other Information

Hybrid Working: Sykes Cottages are proud to support hybrid-working across the business with a mixture or remote and office working available and will be discussed at interview. You will however need to be flexible to spend 20% of your time at Ada HQ in Manchester with regular travel to their Head Office and our Head Office in Chester.
Applicants must be free to start on Mon, 14 March 2022