Where to advertise for junior web developers - apprentices?
Discussion
Wondering if the collective has any recommendations? We're looking for two junior web developers - relatively unskilled (just HTML & basic Javascript - no framework knowledge needed, no database knowledge, nothing special at all).
Employing a recruitment agency is relatively expensive at this end of the market and they generally have more senior candidates than we want.
Local Tech College has no courses in the subject so is of little use.
We placed an ad on a well known jobsite but have had no applications, just endless phone calls from the site wanting us to upgrade our package and approach candidates ourselves.
I'm keen to just go to Developer Meetups and use LinkedIn, boss is tempted to try and the job board's "CV package".
Has anyone had a good experience with the apprenticeships schemes? I see a few agencies which will setup the apprenticeship, but given the local tech college has no-one being taught the subject I suspect we might struggle to find someone. How have other people got on?
Employing a recruitment agency is relatively expensive at this end of the market and they generally have more senior candidates than we want.
Local Tech College has no courses in the subject so is of little use.
We placed an ad on a well known jobsite but have had no applications, just endless phone calls from the site wanting us to upgrade our package and approach candidates ourselves.
I'm keen to just go to Developer Meetups and use LinkedIn, boss is tempted to try and the job board's "CV package".
Has anyone had a good experience with the apprenticeships schemes? I see a few agencies which will setup the apprenticeship, but given the local tech college has no-one being taught the subject I suspect we might struggle to find someone. How have other people got on?
miniman said:
I would go with the developer meet ups approach personally. Ignore qualifications (my dev lead has a degree in English) and go for the "been doing it all my life" type.
Where are you based?
Nice to have a second vote for my approach :-) Yes, I agree, computer science degrees largely irrelevant in my experience (and I say that as the holder of one!). Where are you based?
We're around Huntingdon so have a struggle with people choosing to commute to London and Cambridge as soon as we get them trained up enough to move on.
There's a company called Baltic Training which offers apprentices in tech and related sectors. Maybe they can help you.
This is an interesting thread for me, largely because I recently took a redundancy pay off after 18+ years with the same company (doing graphic design) and have decided to re-train as a developer. I've covered HTML and CSS on Codecademy and am 40% into the Javascript course. Once I'm reasonably up-to-speed and have built a portfolio I'll be looking for an apprenticeship or a junior dev role to get me started in the 'real world'.
This is an interesting thread for me, largely because I recently took a redundancy pay off after 18+ years with the same company (doing graphic design) and have decided to re-train as a developer. I've covered HTML and CSS on Codecademy and am 40% into the Javascript course. Once I'm reasonably up-to-speed and have built a portfolio I'll be looking for an apprenticeship or a junior dev role to get me started in the 'real world'.
Relocation's out of the question unfortunately. My OH is the breadwinner by a massive margin so the location of her job (Leeds) takes precedence, along with the fact that I don't want to be too far from my elderly parents. There's a good dev scene in Leeds and we're well networked with developers as I'm working with some on a tech start-up that we're doing in our spare time, so I'm hoping to find something local when the time comes. Good to hear that someone would consider me a good fit though!
Doubt they will be Junior level if using LinkedIn or going to MeetUps.
Checkout the companies that offer youth training schemes in IT.
You could inquire about the government Apprenticeship schemes.
http://stackoverflow.com/jobs
Checkout the companies that offer youth training schemes in IT.
You could inquire about the government Apprenticeship schemes.
http://stackoverflow.com/jobs
Edited by 4x4Tyke on Sunday 18th September 21:24
That was my concern, tricky to tap the right source. I'd forgotten about Stack Overflow - worth a shot.
I'm going to give http://www.theapprenticeagency.co.uk/ a try ...
I'm going to give http://www.theapprenticeagency.co.uk/ a try ...
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