BJSS, the UK’s largest privately-owned IT consultancy and recent winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, has introduced a Platform Engineering Academy for ex-armed forces personnel wishing to retrain for technology careers in the private sector.

Delivered by BJSS in Manchester, and in association with AWS, this 12-week long programme equips candidates with a range of Platform Engineering skills and is constructed on BJSS’ software delivery approach, Enterprise Agile®.

Upon successfully completing the programme, candidates wishing to apply for roles at BJSS are fast-tracked through the company’s recruitment process. All three candidates who recently completed the programme have taken full-time permanent roles at BJSS as Platform Engineers and are now contributing to client deliveries. Through this initiative, BJSS has demonstrated that viable career opportunities are available to service people when they leave the forces.

Stephen Davies, former Corporal in the Royal Air Force, recent graduate of the BJSS Platform Engineering Academy, and Platform Engineer at BJSS says: “Leaving the Military is stressful, but the help and support I received from the BJSS Platform Engineering Academy has made me a confident and competent Platform Engineer. Having been offered a permanent role at BJSS and knowing that the company will still support me as I continue to learn, has made my transition into civilian life easier.”

Matt Whalley, Head of Delivery at BJSS continues: “With the digital landscape set to become an even bigger part of Britain's economy over the next few years, technology organisations such as BJSS have a role to play in ensuring that as many people as possible are equipped to pursue careers in this space. The BJSS Platform Engineering Academy allows our ex-service people to develop the skills they need to transition into viable and rewarding technology careers in the private sector. This is a further demonstration of the commitment BJSS initially made in 2017 to the Armed Forces Community by signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant.”

This programme is part of several CSR initiatives spearheaded by BJSS to encourage greater diversity in the IT sector. Much of this CSR support is delivered from BJSS’ Manchester Development Centre, such as extensive pro-bono engineering support to Turinglab, an organisation dedicated to teaching fundamental coding skills to school children. This has resulted in free Turinglab learning being delivered to 2,552 students across the UK in 2017 alone, 1,309 of whom were girls and 14% of the total students from the North West.