Software development apprenticeship program at PicScout

In May 2013 we were happy to start a software development apprenticeship program. This program is in cooperation with the Atidim program, which encourages engineering studies combined with an internship in Israeli high-tech and industrial companies.

Since the program started, we have focused our efforts on training apprentices for excellence and encouraging their growth and learning in accordance with PicScout's culture and core engineering principles:

·         Simplicity - creating simple and business oriented designs

·         Efficiency and transparency - writing clean and readable code that others can easily maintain & adjust per business requirements

·         Innovation ­- nurturing innovative thinking as a key to growth

·         Creativity ­- bringing new and better ideas and finding creative solutions for identified problems

·         One voice ­ - embracing collective responsibility

How does it work?

a) Our apprentices receive effective and solid training that provides them with the right tools on their way on becoming great developers.

b) The apprentices receive a wide range of tasks throughout PicScout's management and they experience the full lifecycle of a product.

c) With their arrival to PicScout a few mentors are assigned to help facilitate easy and friendly integration- both technically and socially.

d) The initial training period includes getting to know PicScout's products and architecture, understanding the organization's culture and going through technical training.

e) The apprentices are provided with an extensive reading list, tools and technology reviews. We don’t only focus on a high level review, but actually delve into details explaining the trends, whys and hows behind every tool and technology.

f) We review PicScout products, explaining why the business decisions were made as they made and how our architectural and design solutions meet the business requirements

g)The apprentices come to Picscout once or twice a week. Their ongoing work includes R&D tasks, design and code reviews, and participating in educational meetings, Hackathons and SW craftsmanship events.

h)In addition, each apprentice gets a chance to lead a small project end to end –

Starting from the design phase and going deep into production’s maintenance phase.

What's next?

We are very pleased with the progress of the program so far and we can already see the fruits of both sides efforts. We are looking forward to integrating the apprentices in our company once they finish their studies and to welcome additional apprentices in the future.