RecruitmentKynetix IT Academy
- Become A Microsoft Certified Software Developer
- Are You Talented Enough To Enter Our Academy?
- Only The Very Best will Make it Through The Academy
- What Do We Expect of You If You Enter Our Academy?
- What Can You Expect of Our Academy?
- Beyond The Academy
- When Can I Join?
- What about Internships and Vacation Work?
- Apply Now
Become A Microsoft Certified Software Developer
An 18-month program to take your IT skills from graduate level to Microsoft Certified Professional Developer status with experience of the real world of IT.
Getting a degree is only the first step in your career.
Graduating with a degree in a computing-related discipline is a good sign that you enjoy computing. It's also a good sign that you have reached a level of understanding and competence with computers.
However, a degree doesn't really prepare you for a job in the real world of IT. We know this for a fact because almost every graduate that we have recruited remarks at some point "this is nothing like what we learned in university".
The real world of IT
We're an IT Consultancy that prides itself on our levels of client service. This means that working to deadlines is part and parcel of what we do.
We work in small teams of highly skilled people to deliver business-changing solutions using the latest technologies to our clients.
We have to deliver on time and to budget, so everybody we recruit has to be committed to working for the team and be capable of impressing our clients.
And guess what? Clients often change their minds or add extra requirements without increasing the deadlines. Welcome to the real world!
In the commercial world speed counts
Our clients operate in the fast-moving financial services industry and are constantly looking to IT to provide them with competitive edge. Therefore speed-to-market is vital to them.
This means that we need people who can learn quickly, who can code quickly, who enjoy working in teams, who can follow direction and who take pride in delivering on time.
Are You Talented Enough To Enter Our Academy?
To ensure that we have keep our development teams at full strength we have set up our Academy in our Croydon (South London) development centre with the aim of growing our own talent.
Each year we will have an intake of graduates who will be put on a 2-year plan to groom them into highly-skilled, Microsoft certified .NET developers.
Our goal is to make the Kynetix Academy the most highly sought- after place to develop skills with Microsoft technologies. And these will be real-world skills not just theoretical skills learned in a classroom.
To be accepted into our Academy you will have to prove to us that you are not just one of the brightest people in your peer-group but that you possess the natural flair and talent to become one of our top-quartile developers.
In addition to raw skills and potential we will also assess you to see if you have the personality that will work well in teams and who will go on to impress our City-based clients.
Experience has shown that less than 1 in 50 applicants will have the requisite skills and attributes to meet our criteria so if you qualify for entry then you can pat yourself on the back. But don't get too confident too early as there is a huge amount of learning ahead of you.
Only The Very Best will Make it Through The Academy
Acceptance into the Academy is only the first in many proof-points that you will have to pass.
In Stage 1 of the Academy you have major 2 milestones to pass.
The first 3 months are the most critical. This is when you will have to show to our teams that you belong in the Academy.
You will certainly want to impress our senior people and have them asking for you to be in their team.
You will have to show that you can learn quickly. In our experience the fastest learners also ask the smartest questions. And they don't usually need to be told twice how to do something.
You will need to have a voracious appetite for learning and be committed to investing your time in finding out everything you can about the technologies you will be working with.
After the initial 3 months we will have a good idea about whether you can be a top performer in the world of IT. The second 3 months will confirm our thoughts.
Stage 1 ends after 6 months and this is the most critical review point.
At this point you should have been part of at least one project team working to commercial deadlines. From this team environment it will be your peers who will make a decision on whether you have the x-factor that we seek.
If you make it through Stage 1 and have gained the respect of our development teams then there's a good chance that you can make it all the way through the Academy. However, there will still be some who fail to make the grade because they lack the commitment.
Stage 2 begins after your first 6 months and runs for another 12 months.
This is the Stage that will really test your skills as you get more and more exposure to client projects. Through this Stage you will work with multiple teams and team leaders and also with multiple technologies.
You will be expected to pass a number of Microsoft exams and to start developing expertise in one or two key Microsoft technologies.
What Do We Expect of You If You Enter Our Academy?
The 18 months you spend in the Academy will be some of the most hectic months you will have experienced. They will also prove to be some of your most exciting and rewarding months and they will be the foundation of your future success.
Given the potential outcome for you and the input from us, it is only right that we should have very high expectations of you. Here's what we expect of you
- You will commit to a continuous program of learning. This stretches beyond the workplace and will be key to you quickly coming up to speed.
- You will pass a minimum of 4 Microsoft exams in order to achieve the certifications we require of our people as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
- You will follow the instructions of your team leaders and will demonstrate that you are somebody who can be trusted to get their work done with the minimum of supervision.
- You will follow corporate programming standards. There are good and bad ways to program. We want to ensure that you follow the right path.
- You will turn up on time every day. This is an early indicator and a strong pointer to future behaviour when at client sites.
- You will be prepared to work in different locations if required (usually around London). You will always be supported by other team members in such situations.
- You will be prepared to work with the Microsoft technologies and platforms that Kynetix choose.
- You will also be expected to have fun doing the above!
What Can You Expect of Our Academy?
Our goal will be to turn you from a raw graduate into a top-notch Microsoft Software Engineer with prospects for a fantastic career in IT.
Here's what we'll do for you
- We'll pay you an initial salary for your first 6 months while you prove to us that you belong in the Academy.
- Thereafter your salary will be incremented each 6 months at greater than 20% based on your performance.
- We'll assign you to one of our consultants (a Microsoft Certified Professional) who will act as your buddy through your initial months in the Academy
- We'll expose you to the latest Microsoft technologies under the guidance of our consultants.
- We'll enable you to set up a home environment with all the technologies you need to continue learning.
- We'll assist you in finding accommodation in Croydon if you are not within commuting distance and we will pay your first month's rent.
- You may qualify for re-location assistance if you are moving to Croydon from a distant location.
- You will attend events & seminars at the Microsoft campus in Reading to further your knowledge about their platforms. Some of these sessions are only available to Microsoft Gold Certified Partners such as Kynetix.
- You will attend regular scheduled in-house training sessions under the supervision of our Chief Technology Officer.
- You will attend online seminars and training sessions (webinars) presented by Microsoft and other parties.
- We will provide the training materials for each of the Microsoft exams that you'll take. We'll also pay the costs of sitting the exams.
- You will work in a small development team under the tutelage of a team leader (a Microsoft Certified Professional) who will be responsible for growing your skills.
- You will be provided with a high spec, dual-monitor PC.
- You will have access to an extensive library of computing books and magazines
- You will be entitled to 10 days holiday during the first 6 months. If you make it to Stage 2 then you will be on 25 days holiday per annum.
Beyond The Academy
Anybody who successfully graduates from our Academy will be able to rightly regard themselves as a top-quartile developer.
You will have worked with multiple technologies, in multiple teams and on multiple applications. The experience you'll have gained will be unlike anything you can get working for any single organisation. In short, you will have laid the foundation for an exciting career in IT.
We have high standards at Kynetix and have high expectations of our people. If you can match these expectations then you can expect to be offered a role as a consultant with us.
And if you accept our offer and are prepared to commit to a further two years then we will offer you a signing-on bonus that could go a long way to paying off your university debts!
When Can I Join?
You can join the Academy at any time. We will be taking on candidates throughout the year. So if you have just returned from a post-graduation trip around the world or you are about to graduate then we are ready to assess you.
What about Internships and Vacation Work?
We will have a limited number of openings for final-year students to work with us on an internship. In order to qualify you will have to meet the same rigorous criteria as potential Academy entrants and you must demonstrate that your chosen career is in software engineering.
Apply Now
Interested? If you are, then in the first instance please email us a 250 word (or less) summary of the reasons why we should accept you into the Academy. Send your application to academy@kynetix.com. At this stage DO NOT send us a CV. Good luck.