On Wednesday 9th February, Beth and Ruth, our Operations Director and Marketing Manager, headed down the hill from the ProvenWorks office to UTC College. They had been given the perfect opportunity to share their passion for all things technology, software and Salesforce!
UTC College, a local school in Reading, had invited ProvenWorks to run a careers workshop as part of their Industry Skills Specialist Teaching and Knowledge Programme. This business masterclass programme consists of weekly career sessions across mixed year groups.
An introduction to the Salesforce ecosystem
The workshop focused on careers in software, specifically within the Salesforce ecosystem. To start, Beth and Ruth shared their own journeys into software from very distinct backgrounds, showing students that opportunities in the industry are available regardless of subject choices and skillsets.
After an introduction to the range of jobs available within the Salesforce ecosystem – Administrator, Developer, Architect, Business Analyst, Consultant and more – it was onto a practical challenge!
It’s project time!
For the challenge, students had the chance to act out a role available in the Salesforce ecosystem through the lens of a specific time and budget restrained project. For example the Developer had to ask if they could build a solution rather than buy one, the Business Analyst had to assess the risks of the project, and the Admin had to research how user-friendly the proposed solution was.
“We learnt that there is more to making software for a customer than what the customer wants. The budget that is given to you needs to be managed properly to make sure that you stay under budget because there are many other costs involved within a project. There is great responsibility on the Consultant and the Salesforce Architect.”
Muhammad, Year 13 BTEC Student
Reflection and feedback
The session was rounded off with a reflection on the project as well as the highlights and challenges of each student’s role. By the end, Beth and Ruth had a classroom full of aspirational Developers, Admins, Architects and more!
“Students found the workshop very engaging thanks to it being such an interactive and team-based session. Students now know what it is like to be in a particular job role and understand the kind of responsibilities they may have in that job role along with expected salary.”
Monika Dongare, Computer Science and BTEC Teacher
ProvenWorks investing in education
At ProvenWorks we’re delighted to share our own career journeys into software. It is a privilege to deliver authentic stories and meaningful workshops to a classroom full of engaged students, seeing them solve problems, work together and reflect on their own skill sets. From what we’ve seen in the workshop, we can’t wait to see what the future holds!
Summarised succinctly by one up-and-coming Business Analyst: “Miss, that was a sick lesson!”.
About ProvenWorks
We mean it when we say we’re Salesforce experts. We work exclusively in the Salesforce ecosystem and our products are built 100% for Salesforce.