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Fancy a Career as a Professional Software Tester?

Professional Apprenticeships in Software Testing & Quality Engineering

We Build Software Testing & Quality Engineering Careers! Testing is critical in the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Often outsourced to 3rd parties the trend over the last decade has been towards companies building their own internal software testing and DevOps teams.

Whatever project methodology you follow, we can help you recruit, train and deliver credible, capable and highly skilled Quality Engineers to ensure your software projects deliver faultlessley.

You can’t outsource risk, and with off-shore testing by 3rd parties often suspect, we encourage companies to invest in their own people.

Software Testing Apprenticeship

Our pioneering 15 month Level 4 Software Tester Apprenticeship produces well-rounded test engineers that would benefit any software development team.

The course has been developed to version 1.1 of the ST0129 apprenticeship standard.  Implemented with all original theory content rooted in the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level syllabus.  Enhanced throughout with premium & proprietary theoretical topics, hands-on activities, projects and software testing exercises.

To deliver work-ready participants in record-time, the majority of off-the-job learning is front-loaded in a 10 week immersive bootcamp, that includes development and automation of test cases, the use of industry standard tools & testing based toolkits; culminating in a team project to plan for, design, and test an actual software product developed exclusively for this academy.

By the end of the course, new testers will be able to confidently navigate their new role, not just with hard technical skills underpinned by modern testing techniques and principles, but also with resilience, collaborative communication and empathetic understanding of the mind-set of others involved throughout the software development lifecycle.

Realistic Job Training

Whilst in learning, apprentices act like testers in production teams,  taking part in daily stand-ups, task management with tickets, burndown charts, reviews, white-boarding sessions, reading documentation to contribute to projects, writing documentation – the lot.

Our ‘front loaded’ hot-start delivery option gives apprentices knowledge and skills that they will be able to apply quickly once they join production teams full-time to significantly reduce onboarding time.

Pioneering Execution

The saying goes that ‘content is king’ and this is as true of tech apprenticeships every much as is true for software itself.

 Yet to be king, one would expect the quality and substance of content to be far superior to that of the competition.  We believe one differentiator that grants us that crown, is that we truly pioneer delivery of tech courses that carve out new territory to skill the workforce with innovative, insightful and relevant content.

Consider our software testing apprenticeship.  Not only does this provide original content to industry standards, but the course goes beyond that.  Our front-loaded three month bootcamp is designed to also extend that scope, so test engineers are primed to become well-rounded members of software development teams.

Our combination of engaging industry experts, bootcamp specialists, and apprenticeship educators, provide the perfect blend for development of courses that break new ground and bring competitive advantage to our alumni.

Government Funded Apprenticeships

We Source, Train & Deploy YOUR Software Testing Professionals

Need a Hot-Start?

Our software tester L4 professional apprenticeship is usually delivered via our ‘Hot-Start’ front loaded 12 week immersive bootcamp. Delivered by elite instructors to ensure our bootcampers land in their employers teams on week 13, confident, credible and ready to begin their professional careers. Employers can choose between a hot-start or traditional block release programme to suit their needs.

We are a UK Government approved apprenticehsip provider regulated by Ofsted and the ESFA with a 100% focus on quality outcomes for employers and apprentices.

Choose from several industry leading apprenticeship programmes or, for employers, enhance programmes to suit your employment needs.

KEY FACTS

12 - 18 Months of Training

provided in residential blocks, day release or ad-hoc to suit employers.

Targeted Role Based Training

and education tailored to the actual role, and, often industry, to develop professional careers.

L

For New Hires or Existing Employees

Train existing employees, or new hires, to help employers boost in demand skills

Recruitment

is free for employers placing new hires onto out apprenticeship programmes

Fully Funded Training

for apprenticeship levy payers and heavily subsidised for non-levy employers

A Credible Career Strategy

when compared to traditional university routes providing paid, job specific, learning instead of university debt.

We give our Apprentices Exposure toA WORLDof Different Technologies

We call our apprenticeship ‘enhanced’ for a reason. Our approach of ‘front loading’ 10 weeks of intensive learning allows our learners, your employees, to hit the ground hot. Providing useful skills from day 1. Then, already armed with more learning than any other training providers can give, the remaining 12 months of their apprenticeship can be loaded with multiple ‘masterclasses’ to suit an employees particular tech stack needs.

Get a Capable junior software tester hired by your company in less than 4 months after your first contact with us!

We have dozens of screened, capable, motivated apprenticeship candidates ready to hire right now. Get in touch to find your perfect new hire and we will train them to outstanding levels.

(1) Better, Modern, Fit-for-job
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(1) Better, Modern, Fit-for-job

Enhanced Apprenticeship Co-Design

As an Ofsted regulated business we have minimum standards to achieve. But for every programme we deliver we have redefined quality by working with industry leaders to co-design new curriculum’s bursting with job-ready, industry relevant knowledge and certifications.

(2) - Right Attitude, Right Aptitude
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(2) - Right Attitude, Right Aptitude

Specialist Recruitment & Selection

We leverage our sister comapany, S&A Resourcing Solutions, an expert recruitment business in tech, science and business change to assists us in finding, selectiong and hiring new apprentices, your employees, at no cost to you.

(3) Industry Experience, Practitioners
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(3) Industry Experience, Practitioners

Expert Course Delivery

We’ve designed a better course and selected brilliant people. Now we deliver our training with the perfect blend of academic qualified teaching, industry experienced practitioners and real-world working project experiecne.

Industry Relevant, Job-Role Specific

Note – This is a L4 Apprenticeship

Don’t be fooled by ‘do everything’ training providers who, almost without exception, use generalist instructors and only deliver a lower L3 programme.

We have rebuilt our modern apprenticeships from the ground up, enhancing them with countless value added modules, projects and real world experience. Both our bootcamp, where we take all apprentices full time for an upfront 10-12 weeks intensive learning experience, or our more traditional weekly or monthly day release programmes, are designed so our apprentices are job-ready fast.

  • Delivering Complete L4 SW Tester Curriculums 100% 100%
  • Enhanced with Additional Skills and Certifications 78% 78%
  • Delivering Useful Employee Skills for the 1st Day on the Job 74% 74%
L4 Enhanced Professional Apprenticeships

A Footnote for Employers…

With a decade long, worldwide engineering shortage, appropriate resource planning has traditionally been extremely difficult. Here’s your opportunity to take ownership of your talent pipeline – by creating your own developers on a course that’s built for your business. Our software development team comprises technical experts, passionate coders, and professional teachers. We’re part of The S&A Transform Group and we can, and do,  utilise the expertise and industry knowledge the whole of the business and technology transformation teams can give us to train our own apprentices. Through 2022 we reimagined exactly what a modern software development programme should look like. Adding modules on agile, project management, web3, lowcode and other appropriate subjects so our apprentices understand much more than just isolated coding skills. They know how to develop but also how to fit into a modern SDLC working environment. We then put all our knowledge into our 12 week bootcamp. Our course has been built from the ground up with robust education principles baked into every single day to ensure our (soon to be your) junior talent is ready to go on day one. Within 3 months you will have a useful, and safe, addition to your team. From there they develop fast. The learning doesn’t stop. Our Software Developer Apprenticeship is a 18 month programme, with masterclasses and modules interspersed throughout the learning journey. Our core differentiator is our ability to bespoke aspects of the curriculum to suit employers around the UK. We’ve got Python, we’ve got C#,  and we even have fairly niche masterclasses in things like Linux, Yokto, C++ and the amazing Lightning JS tool. If you need something else, just ask us. Our software development experts will work with you to create a junior developer programme that targets the key areas you require now, and help you prepare for the next 6, 12, 18 months ahead – and beyond.