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Monday, 10th July 2023

Shoothill shows local secondary school student the ropes in software

At the end of his work experience week at Shoothill. we sat down with Blake to ask about his time with us and what he’s learnt about the software industry. The team were incredibly impressed by the student’s abilities and work ethic. Spending time in each department, he was eager to learn about how Shoothill works. Witnessing the design of our systems, the skilled development process and the implementation of our work undertaken by the Operations team.

Within a few hours of being in the office, Blake was helping out with testing our new homes software solution Housebuilder Pro and assissting the users of the platform.

What were your hopes ahead of your work placement?

To find out what working in software is like and what office work entails. I knew of Shoothill’s existence, but not what they do on a day-to-day basis. I didn’t know of any of Shoothill’s projects so was looking forward to seeing them in action.

Could you describe your overall experience on work placement with Shoothill?

The atmosphere was pretty fun, the office bounces off of each other with a good balance of work and play. It wasn’t boring, I’ve only been here 5 days. If you can get school to let me leave, I’ll come back.

Is there anything in particular that you have enjoyed learning about?

I’ve done Computer Science in school but none of it really comes in here. The projects and software Shoothill build are so much more advanced and intelligent than what we’re shown in school, it’s very insightful.

I’ve had a career meeting in school, and I’ve delayed looking at A-Levels and colleges until after my time at Shoothill. They have helped, I know what it’s like and plan to pursue a more science-based path after this experience.

What will you tell your friends about working in software?

Dave and Rod were saying that you don’t get much credit. You look at Windows and you don’t think about the people behind it. You see all these apps and don’t realise there is the team a designed, planned and built it.

They have to take pride in what they’ve done, as the people in the software industry don’t get the recognition they deserve. Each app has a whole host of designers and developers behind it.

What else would you like to know about working in programming?

I don’t really know much about the programming side of things. I just know the basics of Python and Scratch from school, it’s just blocks you put together. It was great to see the team using SQL, even though I don’t quite understand it yet!

How do you see that Shoothill can further help you in your career when you go back to your school?

It would be great if Shoothill could further guide my choices in education. Everyone in the team has been very keen to show me their job and how they got there. I’d like to speak with them all when I’m closer to making larger career decisions.

Rod, the Managing Director, gives inspiring speeches about all sorts of topics that mainly revolve around his experience in the Navy. I came away from my chat with Rod with more insight into what I’d like to, saying that if you do something you like, you’ll work at it and be good at it. With work taking up much of your time, it’s important to not do something you hate. Guidance like this exactly what I came for.

Managing Director, Rod Plummer said: “It was great having Blake on board this week, Shoothill is in Shrewsbury as I believe that it’s important that more rural areas have access to award-winning software development teams. As a part of this we need to inspire and help cultivate young industry talent. This week I think we can safely say that we’ve achieved this and are looking forward to seeing the professional that Blake becomes. I’d be keen to have him back to show him more of this great industry'”.

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