Launching a small apprenticeship programme
Next year Arcwell will take on its first apprentice. It is a small step — quite deliberately so — but it is one we have been thinking about for a long time, and we want to do it properly rather than at scale.
One person, done well
We have decided to take on just one apprentice a year. That might sound modest for a studio of eighteen, but it reflects the kind of place we are. We do not have a large pool of routine work to hand to someone learning the ropes, and we do not believe in throwing a newcomer in at the deep end and hoping for the best. Instead, our apprentice will be paired closely with senior engineers from the start, working on real projects alongside experienced people who have the time to explain things properly.
The thing we most want to pass on is not any particular technology — those come and go — but a way of thinking about software. How to understand a problem before reaching for a solution. How to write code that the next person can read. How to change a live system calmly. These are the habits that make the difference between a competent engineer and a trusted one, and they are best learned by working beside someone who already has them.
Why now
Two things came together. The studio is finally large enough to give an apprentice the attention they deserve without stretching anyone too thin. And several of us have benefited, earlier in our own careers, from someone who was willing to invest the patience. This feels like a way of returning that.
We will be working with a local training provider to open the position in the new year, with a focus on reaching people who might not otherwise see a route into this kind of work. If it goes as we hope, it will become a quiet annual tradition. We will share how it unfolds.
Published by the Arcwell Systems team. Have a question about anything in this article? Get in touch — we're happy to talk.