Skills Bootcamps Testimonial — Peer feedback from Joshua

Created to reduce the digital skills gap, Skills Bootcamps are Government-funded employability programmes that help people retrain for IT. Learners say that Firebrand Skills Bootcamps have really helped them kickstart their careers. But how do employers feel about them?

We recently caught up with Joshua Young, a Junior Consultant at Capacitas, to talk about his experience interviewing and working with Skills Bootcamps graduates. Capacitas is an industry-leading hyperscale-cloud consultancy based in London, UK, whose clients include John Lewis, Sainsbury's, and Harrods.

Josh has a different background from Skills Bootcamps grads. “I came from a school that said ‘uni or nothing,’ so I followed a more traditional path.” After traveling and working in the US, he studied Computer Science for three years, followed by one year of work experience. He decided to bypass the Master’s and get a full-time job instead. “To bolster my application, I did a 3-day Network bootcamp, the way they were then” – and he joined Capacitas.

Since then, Josh has come to learn more about Skills Bootcamps while interviewing job candidates and working with them. 

In summer 2022, the Capacitas CEO inquired about Firebrand Skills Bootcamps as a way to recruit staff. By partnering with Firebrand, Capacitas received access to an applicant pool with the exact skills they needed.

Capacitas ran these interviews as part of their normal recruitment process, interviewing Skills Bootcamps graduates alongside university graduates. Josh was part of the recruitment team.

“I first found out about the Government’s reskilling initiatives during the pandemic, seeing how popular they were. I thought they were absolutely fantastic!

“These jobs were all junior positions, entry-level, and there was massive difference between the university graduates and the Skills Bootcamps graduates we interviewed.

“It was clear that, through the bootcamp, candidates had developed the knowledge of these technical tools and they understood how they translated into the business scenario. Aside from this, they also showed very good soft skills and communication skills. I thought, wow! You’re ready to walk into a business and go.”

In the end, Capacitas hired three Skills Bootcamps graduates that were “absolutely brilliant” – one Data Analyst and two Data Technicians – for Junior Consultant roles in Performance Testing.

The complex roles required candidates to understand technical problems, solve them, and be able to communicate about them to the team. The tech stack combined open-source with Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, and other Microsoft packages.

Working alongside bootcamp grads, Josh admired their resilience. A mature student himself, he remembered the difficulties of returning to uni, surrounded by “much younger people” who were clearly not as motivated. “My classmates were lovely, but they were mainly there to have a good time! I wanted to get ahead.”

“What I really like is that Skills Bootcamps help bridge the gap for more mature learners. They offer that experience without having to deal with the whole uni stuff. Had I been aware of Bootcamps, I probably wouldn’t have gone to uni.

“For example, one of our Skills Bootcamps graduates had Microsoft exposure from day one. I do Power BI dashboards; from day one, she knew how to operate them and actually helped us improve them. This knowledge was directly beneficial to our business and I can see how useful it can be for any industry.

“It was also really easy to nurture Skills Bootcamps graduates within teams, to integrate them. Because they’ve had jobs before, they’ve had to learn to communicate. They would have had good moments, stressful moments; a lot of younger people become overwhelmed. Their experience taught them resilience, and they’ll go really far. They’re intelligent and really personable.”

Since working with Skills Bootcamps graduates, Josh says, “I've become an internal driver for having them on the team. I would absolutely recommend them to any workplace.”

“Also, for people who studied IT in the past but took an extended leave, such as parenting – it gives them that confidence to return to the field. If I ever started my own company, I’d really value candidates with diverse experience and skills.”

What about Firebrand?

“My favourite thing about Firebrand is your keenness to support people on this career path; I could clearly see how passionate Emma [Pharaoh, the Capacitas Recruitment Advisor] was about learner success and our business success. ‘How can we get you the best people?’ It’s excellent to see Bootcamp graduates being supported by individuals who are just was passionate about their development as they are.

“The business relationship between Capacitas and Firebrand works really well. It’s fantastic that Firebrand can facilitate people going back to school. I’m really happy to see those worthy of a good chance and a career have that door opened by Skills Bootcamp training.”

We’re thrilled that our Skills Bootcamps candidates have made a difference for Capacitas. Thank you for your feedback!