From teaching PE to professional software developer!

Jake Francis, software developer at Graham & Brown talks to us about how Code Nation supported his dream to become a software developer via the apprenticeships we offer. He's been working at Graham & Brown for the past couple of years and absolutely thriving in the role.

What has the apprentice experience been like for you?

My experience has been an adventure of learning a completely new set of skills in comparison to my last career path, changing careers from being a teacher to a software developer was a new challenge that required focus and determination to become successful at to try and excel at something new. I have progressed from very minimal knowledge of software developing to having an understanding and experience that has progressed me into a Mid-Level Developer Role in a little over 2 years with hard work!

What does a typical day look like for you?

The day starts with a ‘stand-up’ meeting with the rest of the team to discuss our progress on the tasks we are working on and to give the team visibility on what everybody is working on that day. My focus for the day will usually involve a stretch of coding for a period of time so I will make myself a coffee, put on some instrumental music for concentration and crack on with the task at hand.

I usually concentrate best for a couple of hours at a time before taking a break where I will go for a walk or stretch my legs before lunch. After lunch I will generally assess my progress on the task and create an endpoint I would like to have reached before I log off for the day; I have another coffee (or Monster if it’s a mammoth task!), put back on my music for concentration and go off again writing my code to the point I have set myself. Most of the time the target gets reached, but I’m not too hard on myself if the target progress hasn’t been reached but I have still made good progress. This is a typical day of working on a coded project, there are other aspects of the job that tie in to the day such as Support work, meetings and calls to help other members of the team and offer support to them; day to day can be quite different with these factors considered.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the role?

My biggest achievement in the role is being offered a Mid-Level Developer role far sooner than I ever expected and being told by my managers that my hard work has paid off and not gone unnoticed in the business. It’s evidence that putting in the effort can and will pay off!

What advice would you give someone thinking about apprenticeships?

Be willing to work hard in the beginning when your understanding of the topics are very minimal. It gets easier and the more effort you put in to learning at the beginning, the better it will be when applying the principles in the real world once your skills develop. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions and be shown how things work, this helped with my understanding massively! 

Support is key to developing as a junior developer. Who would you single out for helping you on the journey?

I'd like to thank CodeNation for giving me the stepping stone to learn a completely new set of skills and forge a new career. I would also like to thank my manager and Technical Architects at G&B for taking a chance on me and thank every colleague who has ever sat with me to answer questions, offer advice or guidance and help me improve my skills as a software developer.

Jake is obviously loving life as a software developer at Graham & Brown and has clearly flourished with the support network around him. We are super proud of what he's achieved in such a short space of time and this is testament to the hard work Jake's put in but also the infrastructure the team have implemented.

We are constantly approached by people, just like Jake, who are looking to change their career and enter the digital sector as an apprentice software developer. We believe our model allows people to enter the workplace with an accelerated set of skills as an apprentice and add value to the team from day 1.

If you are interested in supporting apprentices to take their first role or keen to learn more about Code Nation. Please do not hesitate to contact me at Chris@wearecodenation.com