BBC North Future Media: Higher Level Apprenticeship Scheme

Hi, I'm Gavin Barton, Development Manager for Knowledge & Learning (K&L) at the BBC Future Media in MediaCity, Salford and the Subject Matter Expert for the BBC North Future Media Apprenticeship scheme.

I am delighted to confirm that BBC North Future Media at MediaCityUK, Salford are piloting a brand new Higher Level Apprenticeship Scheme in IT, Software and Web Technologies. The scheme will give young people the opportunity to work on the amazing products that BBC Future Media is responsible for, including iPlayer (TV & Radio), Sport, CBBC, CBeebies, iWonder and Homepage & Search.

For many reasons employers are finding it difficult to recruit talent in the north for Software Development and Digital Services. Fewer young people are choosing to go to university and there are not enough higher education courses offering the right mix of Software Engineering, Test, Technology and Computer Science skills that we need. Whilst the Apprenticeship scheme won't address all these concerns, we do recognise that young people want to learn in different ways. Launching this scheme means we can bridge some of the gap by giving young people an alternative route into employment.

I am really passionate about developing talent and am thrilled that we are offering the opportunity to young talent to work on BBC products and to start their career through this scheme.

Our apprentices will have the opportunity to specialise in one of the following disciplines:

• Web Development

• Software Testing

• Business Analysis

Traditionally a Higher Level apprenticeship has a duration of 2 years, however we have taken a different approach and created a 3 year scheme in order to give our apprentices more time to become proficient in the disciplines involved as illustrated below:

The first 2 years have the traditional parts of an apprenticeship scheme however in the third year our apprentices will have a more in depth focus in their chosen discipline, where they will gain a British Computer Society (BCS) Foundation qualification. By taking this approach we believe that our apprentices will be in a much stronger position for the future and will be more highly skilled. In addition to this the apprentices will also have a structured development and training plan built in conjunction with Manchester College and the Skills for Information Age (SFIA) framework.

Role & Responsibility

We are looking for apprentices who have good analytical, creative and logical reasoning skills alongside raw ability and a strong passion for software engineering and digital services. In addition, they should have good numeracy skills and have a strong commitment to complete the Apprenticeship Scheme. Apprentices will work with a variety of traditional and emerging technologies, frameworks and platforms and typical day-to-day activities include:

• Contributing to the design, development and testing of software in line with standards and practices outlined within the department

• Working within an Agile software development environment

• Collaborating with the team and other stakeholders to achieve successful delivery of high quality software products

More Information

To find out more about what is involved in a career in BBC Future Media, watch this short film and have a look at these blogs which show the exciting work we do in BBC North Future Media:

• BBC Sport app launched on Android

• BBC iPlayer comes to the Sony PlayStation 4

• BBC iWonder interactive guides: navigation and user experience

• New BBC iPlayer for TVs out of preview

• BBC iPlayer apps on Chromecast

The cut off for applications is the 22nd June so visit the BBC Careers website to find out more. Update: The closing date for applications for the apprenticeships is now 24th June.

I'd welcome any questions you have on the scheme either in the comments below or e-mail [email protected].

Gavin Barton is Development Manager, Knowledge & Learning. BBC Future Media