Supporting Software Careers: Sheffield Hallam and 3Squared
Sheffield Hallam University and 3Squared’s 19-year thriving partnership has recently seen the team support Hallam students in a new ‘scrum week’ project. Since the partnership was established in 2004, 3Squared has had the pleasure of supporting many students, and we have been delighted to offer over 60 students full-time roles at 3Squared.
Having worked on a similar project during his second year studying Software Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, our Associate Software Engineer, Jacob, Minor suggested 3Squared could get involved with this year’s ‘scrum week’.
Scrum week sees Sheffield Hallam’s University Software Engineering and Computer Science students work on a software brief, in turn gaining an insight into the lifecycle of software development. We set the groups the task of building a ‘live map’ detailing train services running across the UK.
Through the project, students develop skills across the board, from coding to user interface design. Students have the opportunity to interact with real clients to gather requirements, design and develop a solution and effectively manage a project.
To reflect the typical software development schedule, the ‘scrum week’ project ran for 9 weeks in the form of ‘sprints’. After the first sprint, our team visited the groups to see the level of development made. The demonstrations showed that the teams had already made great progress in achieving the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the project. This also gave us the opportunity to discuss plans and ideas and to help them further enhance their solutions for the next sprint.
When the project came to a close, Jacob Minor, Associate Software Engineer commented: “We’re pleased to see the students enthusiastically approach the task and create impressive final solutions. This was a great chance to ‘pass the baton’ to fellow Sheffield Hallam students and to help foster their passion for software development.”
Jacob also gave a demonstration of our BulkSmart solution’s National Map to give the students a clearer understanding of what we were expecting them to create and to allow them to ask questions about our implementation.
Jacob’s experience when he was an undergraduate supported his career development, propelling his learning and giving him the chance to apply what he learnt in his course to a real-world situation. This led him to his current role as Associate Software Engineer with us at 3Squared. Now the opportunity to run the ‘scrum week’ project himself has allowed Jacob to build his skills in project management.
Ross Bray, Technical Services Director said: “For 3Squared, it is fantastic to get involved in projects like this, allowing the company to give back to Sheffield Hallam and potentially spark an interest in students. Providing practical opportunities gives students tangible, real-life experience in software development, helping them to grow their understanding, knowledge and ultimately, their career.
It has been brilliant to support the next generation of software development talent here in 3Squared’s home, Sheffield.”
We’re looking forward to inviting the students to 3Squared’s office to give them the chance to showcase their projects to our wider team. Our team is also excited to get involved with future ‘scrum week’ projects!
If you would like to find out more about opportunities at 3Squared, head to our careers page.