BBD’s Graduate class of 2021 has just landed!
Featuring 49 graduates from South Africa and 10 from India, this year’s cohort is the largest we’ve taken on, showing a commitment to actively growing the in-house Graduate Programme and helping build an inclusive and solid skills foundation in the fast-moving and demanding ICT field. Growing the Programme also makes sure that we continue to uphold our standard of employing the most talented individuals – no matter where they are in their career. The newbies who joined us have recently conquered their IT-related degrees and will dive into real-world projects while upskilling on a personal and professional level – building themselves as future industry leaders.
Over the course of the year-long Programme, the graduates partake in various learning initiatives covering not only the fundamentals but languages and tools that shape trends in the industry – giving them all they need to thrive as techies. The holistic nature of the Programme ensures that the graduates acquire deeper technical knowledge through a combination of individualised learning and project experience, all the while learning through fun.
Our dedicated training team takes a hands-on mentorship role throughout the year, guiding the graduates to make sure the transition to professional software engineer is not only seamless, but that they have every chance to grow into key members of their respective teams, and the company as a whole. With some having started their career as a BBD graduate themselves, these dedicated advisors are industry and community leaders in their own right, often speaking at international conferences and tech events.
A unique identifier of the Programme is that the graduates fully integrate into the BBD way of life where they have the ability to form relationships and to learn from incredible people working on interesting projects while enjoying all the perks that come with being a part of team BBD.
Having moved away from a classroom-centric environment, the Programme offers a host of online and in-person technical courses, hackathons, battle decks and guest lectures that the graduates can sink their teeth into – perfectly aligning to our distributed development model. The graduates are also able to take advantage of The Hive, our onsite tech lab, and have the ability to complete external certifications. “It all comes down to the fact that we support our grads not only in their career goals, but also in their need to play with technology to fully embrace it” explains Chris McCully, BBD grad master.
“Our goal is to make sure they take advantage of every opportunity given across the different technologies, sectors and solutions we work in so that they understand early that their careers are theirs to own” says Tony van der Linden BBD’s head of research and development and grad advisor. “Ultimately, it’s more than a graduate programme, it’s the launchpad to a successful career in software development.”
Being a BBDer means being part of a dynamic and talented team of people who love what they do and have fun doing it in an environment that supports growth, career development and innovative ideas.
If you know a grad who fits this formula, or are one yourself, find out more about the our Graduate Programme from our Grad Book, or click through to the Grad page.
2022 applications are now open!
