Apprentice Software Developer

Job Description

Employer description: Situated in Yorkshire and Liverpool, we are a forward thinking Microsoft Gold Partner specialising in Microsoft solutions and bespoke software development. Our in-house team of Business Analysts, Project Managers and Software Developers are expertsin creatingand delivering software solutions for all of our customers.Offering a consultative and comprehensive approach, we provide our clients with the assurance they need to make us the digital partner of choice.Overview: Blacklight Software are looking for an Apprentice Software Developer to join our development team.Initially you will be on a guided learning path to gain exposure to the technologies we use, especially around Microsofts cloud stack (Azure, Office 365). Once completed you will join the development team and contribute to successful projects.As a junior member of the Development team you will be involved in providing technical solutions for our software projects and our 3rd party customers products under the supervision of a more experienced developer. You will work directly with the TechnicalLead and Project Mangers to develop features and resolve bugs to ensure the continued success of these projects.In addition to project work, Blacklight Software will sponsor your continued learning on the Software Developer Apprenticeship L4.Job Title: Apprentice DeveloperDepartment: DevelopmentReports to: Technical LeadMain responsibilities

• To code, in a manner consistent with published coding standards, as part of a team to ensure all objectives are delivered to a high standard of quality and accuracy.
• To work closely with other members of the team by understanding your own contribution to the teams goals, taking ownership of any potential problems to ensure they are resolved.
• To design technically and document aspects of the software project, including but not limited to database, business rules and presentation. Documentation must be produced to a high level of accuracy, be unambiguous, and kept up to date.
• To identify and highlight where productivity gains can be achieved either through new techniques or adoption of programming tools. If appropriate design, develop and implement programming tools for internal use.
• To practice test driven development.
• To help the project managers identify and classify programming defects and then develop a solution for these defects that satisfies the specification.
• To deploy updates onto target infrastructure, performing any necessary system tests and ensuring accuracy of deployment, either remotely or on a customers site.
• To be aware of current trends and new technologies within the industry and keep skills up to date through self-study and research.
• To perform other functions as required by line manager or Blacklight Software senior management.

Our Ideal Candidate:

• You will be an enthusiastic software developer with experience working within the .NET ecosystem during your L4 apprentice program.
• You will be passionate about writing software and will be familiar with techniques used to delivering high quality, tested, scalable and maintainable code.
• You will be adaptable. As a software agency we get requests to do weird and wonderful things with weird and wonderful technologies. This should excite you.
• You will have an appetite to learn and will share your findings. Working at Blacklight provides a lot of variety. Combined with regular knowledge sharing sessions, this is a great opportunity to learn.

Desirable skills / experience:

• Agile Methodologies
• TDD
• JavaScript
• Office 365
• Azure

Desired qualifications:

• 7 GCSEs, grade A-C
• A-Levels in ICT or Maths
• Or an Apprenticeship in a similar subject (this must be at least the level below the planned programme)
• Or an International Baccalaureate at level 3 in ICT
• Or a BTEC Extended Diploma in IT (180 credits)

Salary:Onboarding and Initial Training: 3 months (stage1):

• Starting Salary of £16k

Further Training: 3 months (stage 2):

• Salary of £18k

Gaining Experience: 12 months (stage 3):

• Salary of £20k

End Position:

• Salary of £25k

Benefits of working at Blacklight Software:

• Two development teams, project and support
• Agile approach, Scrum for projects, Kanban for support
• Relaxed environment
• Regular SUKS (stand up knowledge share) sessions encouraged
• Flexible working hours
• Arcade machine
• Training available material for MS certifications

Important Information:QAs apprenticeships are funded by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an executive agency of the Department for Education.To be eligible for a Government funded apprenticeship you must have lived in the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) for the last 3 consecutive years.