Readify launches two-year tech graduate program

Readify has put together a two-year graduate program for university leavers to train in a real working environment in the areas of development and programming, design and data analysis.

In an attempt to address the skills shortage in some of these areas, and the need for graduates to have practical experience, Readify will recruit four candidates to firstly work in its managed services team alongside a mentor for three months. They will then be apply their skills by shadowing consultants on client sites.

The course is free for select candidates, with most of it focusing on practical experience.

“The industry needs to step up to overhaul the way we train our talent, post graduation, in the same way other professions such as legal and accounting tackle this issue,” said Readify’s managing director, Graeme Strange.

“This will help ensure IT professionals maintain the right skills to tackle innovation challenges and the disruption occurring in many industries through emerging technologies, like the Internet of Things and big data. Not to mention the next wave of disruptive technologies like robotics and holographics.”

The company is also talking to universities to help shape their curriculum so that students are more ‘industry ready’ when they graduate.

“A Bachelor’s degree can only partly equip you for the workplace, and it becomes even more acute in the tech sphere where skills rapidly become obsolete. Universities struggle to keep up, and it’s obviously incredibly challenging to continually update a curriculum to remain relevant,” said Strange.

The candidates that Readify is looking for need to show they have a “bigger mindset” in terms of finding new ways to solve problems and contributing ideas and thoughts to innovations. Candidates need to solve a code puzzle challenge first, then submit their resume, with a couple of rounds of interviews.

“While Readify recruits candidates from around the world, we feel it is also our responsibility to invest in, and grow, local talent. Australians will always be strong consumers of technology but we need to encourage a new generation of ‘creators’ of technology,” Strange said.