At Devoteam, we firmly believe in learning by doing. For us, there is no better way to grow and learn than putting your skills to the test in the real world, and learning from your successes and mistakes. It is important that we create an environment in which every one of our consultants gets this opportunity, and can call on support from colleagues and experts to guide them.
With the upcoming launch of our fifth Futures traineeship; Software Engineering with .NET, I would like to take some time to reflect on our Futures program and our approach to education.
Our Futures Tracks
This reflects in the way we view the education of people new to the field of IT. We want to give them those skills they need to succeed in the real world. In our Futures Tracks, Futures spend roughly the first two months of their education on the more theory-focused “Premaster”, where they learn the basics of their chosen fields. After that, they move on to what we call the “Challenges” phase, which takes another two months. During this time, Futures are given assignments that are as close to real-life scenarios as possible. Here, all the basic skills have to be used together to deliver an actual solution, and Futures will navigate the difficulties and pitfalls of dealing with different toolsets and stakeholders.
After these 4 months of intensive training, every Future is assigned to one of our actual customers, to work under the supervision and mentoring of an experienced Senior Consultant. For us, it is important to make sure Futures can start accruing experience as soon as possible; actually working on a project is the most educational experience.
The .NET Futures track
The newest Futures Track we have added to our traineeship offerings is the ‘Software Engineering with .NET’ track. Given the success of our ‘Software Engineering with Java’ track, and a clear demand for .NET professionals from both enterprise and governmental customers, we are launching the .NET track, with the first class starting August 1st, 2022.
This Futures Track will prepare the next generation of .NET Engineers. It not only teaches candidates how to write C#, but also skills like working in a Scrum-team, building and releasing their own software, and making use of the ever-growing possibilities of (public) Cloud offerings. With this solid base of real-life useful skills, our Futures are perfectly suited to jump into assignments as Junior Consultants, and get up to speed quickly.
Career-long learning
Learning does not stop at the end of our Futures track. We encourage every consultant, from Future to Lead consultant, to keep honing their skills and deepening and broadening their knowledge. To that effect, we have educational partnerships with our technology partners as well as tech educators like Udemy and PluralSight.
We pride ourselves on almost never saying “no” to any consultant who wants to take part in relevant training, requests materials to study for a certification, or otherwise asks for support in enhancing their technical- or soft skills.
Your growth is our growth too.
Every consultant on any level within Devoteam has their own Personal Development Plan, which is created by the consultant themselves, and used to help guide them on their development journey. The responsibility for your development ultimately rests with you; at Devoteam we enable you and give you all the opportunities you might want, but it is up to you to decide what development path you take. Next to the individual training and development opportunities, we also value knowledge sharing, our well-attended Tech Thursdays being a great example.
More information
At Devoteam M Cloud, we value your development and try our best to enable you to grow the way you want. Click here for more information about our Futures tracks or get in touch with us. Now I should really get back to studying for the renewal of my Microsoft AZ-400 certification. As Tribe Lead, I think I should be setting a good example!