This has been a huge year for us at Mayden Academy, with our highest number of students to date joining us to train for a career in software development. We’ve continued to build on our 100% success rate, with each of our students finding local employment within 90 days of graduation from the academy. And that’s not all.
In August, Charlie joined Mike to double our training capacity and help us meet the demand for more courses from 2018. Charlie originally trained to be a developer in the first cohort of academy students, and then spent two years working as a software developer in one of Mayden’s software teams. So he knows the academy from both sides!
In September, we launched our pod/vodcast, 2 Devs on a Sofa – the hottest thing to hit the internet since the latest JavaScript framework. Every episode, Mike and Charlie do a deep dive into something that’s on their minds – from hints and tips on getting your first developer job, to gender diversity in the industry, to the tech scene here in Bath. Catch up with the full series here and don’t miss the latest episode, where we talk to Rosie Bennett from Bath SETsquared Innovation Centre.
Also in September, we moved to our new premises, giving our students a great space to learn, hone and practice their new skills. We’re co-located with Bath Innovation Centre and as such are surrounded by innovative tech firms, so our students are able to immerse themselves in the industry and get to know local companies before they graduate.
This year we’ve attracted more hiring partners than ever before, with Rocketmakers, NHS Wales, Edo, Secret Escapes, helpfulpeeps, moveGB and Pixie joining Mayden, Seccl and TRP, and enabling us to introduce even more potential employers to our students.
In June, we began offering interest free finance to students so that they can spread the cost of training with us. Students do not have to start repaying their loan until they are employed, giving them the best possible start to their new careers.
We also began offering training modules to private businesses in May, and in November delivered a training session for a major global finance firm. In the autumn, Business Skills West approached us to run employability workshops on their behalf to help job seekers write better CVs and prepare for technical interviews.
Our success attracted attention from South West metro mayor, Tim Bowles, and we were delighted to host Tim at our Widcombe offices giving us the opportunity to share our plans with him.
Finally, for the first time this year we have been able to give back to schools across the south of England. Bath Studio School and Ralph Allen in Bath attended a free programming taster session at our offices in Bath. We were able to introduce the pupils to a real office environment and provide a hands on programming session. We also visited Logic Studio School in London, to deliver the same session to two of their 6th form classes.
A final huge thank you to all who have been involved with the academy this year, and especially to our students. We can’t wait to see what 2018 brings.
