Orientationfds

Apprenticeship Opportunities and Risks

1. Intro2. State of Engineering Talent3. Is Apprenticeship a Solution For You?4. MAP5. Learnings6. Resources

Outline

A leading Chicago design and engineering agency.

10 straight years of growth40+ people400 clients60+ launches/yr16.3M unique users in 2015

Chicago focus

State of Engineering Talent

Ecosystem:1. What is a junior engineer?

a. CS degree, Bootcamp grad, 1 yr of experience, 2 years of experience?

2. Supply: Huge increase in pre-first job engineersa. Chicago bootcamps alone produce 200+ a yearb. Big 10 schools graduating 100’s, but few know web-development

3. Demand: Increasing for all engineers w/ at least 1 year of experiencea. Greater gap means more linkedin stalking from recruiters :(b. Also means a continued lack of mid-level engineers

What is an Apprenticeship?

Guided mentorship in skilled profession, based on belief that the journeyman shows potential

• Started in 1600’s• Strong history in Chicago• Varying skill levels• For people who have selected this work as a career• Paid a stipend• Set end date or skill goal

Is Apprenticeship A Solution For You?

Should you?

1. Are you having trouble finding and hiring qualified juniors?

2. Do you require some hard to find skills, have lots of proprietary engineering process?

3. Is your team willing to use and pay recruiters, hire more internal hr resources, use job boards etc?

Can you?

1. Do you have engineer bandwidth?

2. Are your engineers interested in mentoring?

3. Do you have space and work for apprentices?

Benefits and Costs

Benefits• Increased clarity around hiring needs• Able to hire more diverse talent pool

coming from non-CS programs• Junior Engineer loyalty• For existing team:

– Deepened understanding of craft

– Mentorship opps– Improved communication

Costs• Time commitment:

– For mentor (2-3 hours per apprentice per week)

– Person organizing (up to 10 hours per week)

• Cost if you pay apprentices

• Difficult hiring decisions

• If doing real work, mistakes could cause problems

Goal: Can we imagine this person being a great full-time hire three months from now?

1. Recruitment - 6 weeks priora. Tested HTML/CSS/JS, MVC knowledgeb. High Demand from applicants from bootcamps

2. Onboarding - 2 weeks priora. Markup, CSS pre-work

3. Program w/ Individual mentor throughout - 10 Weeks

a. Engineer led sessions to intro technologyb. Week long projects to explore, learn, and get feedbackc. Day long challenges to gauge progressd. More apprentice autonomy over time

4. Hiring - Week 11: a. Based on assessments, project evaluations, and mentor feedback

Clique’s Modern Apprentice Program

Mentorship (Skill, Time)• Set time expectations as early as possible for mentors and mentees• Mentoring of juniors should be opt-in

Appropriate content• Don’t assume knowledge: Our apprentices didn’t come in knowing enough front-end• Prioritize what you need an apprentice to learn vs. what would be nice for them to learn

Evaluation and definition• Give 1 on 1 feedback consistently• Assessment skills at least every 2 weeks to make sure people are on track

Takeaways from MAP 1.0

Any Questions?

Resources:• Apprentice Patterns• Chicago Apprentice Series• Chicago Apprentice Meetup• Modern-apprentice.com• Thoughtbot’s Retrospective• Thoughtbot’s Apprentice Packet• White Paper on Apprentice Programs