How a learning culture can develop in-demand digital talent

Olamalu case study

Tech company Olamalu scored a hat trick with its apprenticeship scheme over the past year. Firstly, the Oxfordshire-based company won the local SME Apprenticeship Employer of the Year award. Then it won the Department for Education’s regional award for IT SME Apprenticeship Employer of the Year in the Department of Education’s National Apprenticeship and Skills Awards. And finally, it was highly commended in national DFE awards to cap an amazing few months.

Half of Olamalu’s workforce either are or have been apprentices. Two employees recently graduated from a Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship through The Open University (OU), while four employees are at different stages of the same programme.

The importance and benefits of developing your own talent pipeline

Kate Berman, who founded Olamalu with her husband in 2009, says they have always taken learning and skills development very seriously. "Right from the early days of the business, we knew learning needed to be a core part of the business culture. We want to train our own people, both because it’s a good way of developing new talent, but also because we were given lots of really good opportunities in our own careers to learn so have seen the value of this for ourselves."

As a small, rural employer, Kate says the web technology business faces two big challenges. Firstly, attracting and retaining tech talent. Secondly, ensuring they have the tech skills they need in an environment where skills are evolving all the time. She says apprenticeships solve both problems at the same time. The OU’s Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship was particularly appealing as there is a real shortage of talent with high quality software and web development skills. It was also important that any recruits could learn remotely and flexibly.

When we found this apprenticeship, we thought it was the perfect opportunity. We can develop our own talent path, taking people through this programme. At the end of it, they come out as really well qualified software engineers, not only with a formal qualification, but with four years’ experience of building real things for real customers.
Kate Berman, owner of Olamalu

Local solutions for a national problem

There is an acute shortage of digital skills across the UK, but organisations are often reluctant to train people up for fear that they will poached by competitors. This creates a barrier to entry - many people trying to embark on a career in IT find that employers don’t want to hire people who don’t have the requisite experience. It is particularly difficult for young people, who typically don’t have experience of the workplace either.

At Olamalu, however, they are happy to train people up and give young people a foothold into the industry, provided they demonstrate the right attitude. “An aptitude for learning is more important than anything else - if somebody is keen to learn, they will learn really fast.”

Niall’s apprenticeship journey

One of Olamalu’s recent graduates from the OU’s Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship programme is Niall Middleton. Niall joined Olamalu soon after completing his A-levels. He knew he wanted to be a software developer, but had decided against the traditional university route, largely because of the costs he would incur, but also because of uncertainties around the jobs market.

“At university you get to learn the content but not anything else, so even with a degree and a sandwich placement, I knew I wasn’t guaranteed a role I would enjoy, or even a role at all. But with an apprenticeship, I was promised the qualification and the experience I wanted.”

As Niall progressed through his apprenticeship, he learnt a wide variety of skills and not just technical ones – he learned about dealing with customers, about team working and time management, for example.

My skills grew and grew as I went through the apprenticeship and now I’m at a place where I’m proud to say that I’ve completed the apprenticeship and I have the skills to do my role to a really high level.
Niall, Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree apprenticeship graduate

As well as his web developer role at Olamalu, Niall is also now managing any apprentices coming up through the company, having discovered an aptitude for coaching and mentoring. That’s something else Niall has enjoyed about doing his apprenticeship at Olamalu – because it’s a small company, he has had to wear many hats. Kate agrees that this is hugely beneficial, giving apprentices a very broad understanding of how businesses work. “They get a really good business overview – they’re involved in strategic planning, in implementation, in different initiatives…”

Keep talking

Crucial to the success of the apprenticeship is that Kate and Niall maintained a constant dialogue throughout the programme. They discussed his learning, work performance, career aspirations and how they both thought his role could evolve at Olamalu once his studies were over. Kate says it is vital this happens with every apprentice as it benefits everyone.

“As they go through the apprenticeship, you get to figure out what excites them and what they’re most interested in and it enables us to stretch people in different directions. We can create roles around people’s strengths – what does the business need and how does that overlap with what this person is interested in?”.
Kate Berman, owner of Olamalu

And all of this at very little cost. Some of Olamalu’s apprentices were funded through levy transfer from Pearson which was facilitated by the OU – when levy-paying employers transfer their funds to a non-levy paying employer. The others have required a small contribution from Olamalu. “It’s a really small cash outlay,” says Kate. “The real investment is time, but that’s not a bad trade-off for an SME.”

Kate and Niall’s top tips for a successful apprenticeship programme:

People who are keen to learn, learn fast. Provide lots of learning opportunities
Explore levy transfer – it could cover 100% of your costs
Consider remote, flexible options if travel is a barrier
Planning and time management skills are essential to complete the programme around work
Encourage mentoring across apprentices within the organisation
Ensure apprentices are exposed to different areas of the business
Keep talking – know how the apprentice is getting on in their studies and in the workplace
Know what the apprentice’s career aspirations are and how your organisation can fulfil them

To find out more about applying for levy transfer funding visit: GOV resources and/or OU resources.

Find out more about how the Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship can benefit your organisation, visit: Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship.