"Start your own engineering apprenticeship program"
summary
Run a practical, paid pipeline rather than vague hiring promises: a six-month paid apprenticeship at Qantas Hotels alternates academy weeks and product work, uses daily exorcism exercises and pairing, and finishes with a breakable toy project as assessment. Hiring uses rubrics, structured interviews, feedback templates and pair programming sessions. Four apprentices transition into teams and remain productive two years later, showing hires, retention and on‑the‑job training that actually work.
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chapters (24)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:19Everyone wants to hire senior developers
- 1:49Your people are your most valuable resource
- 2:20Apprenticeship is... training in an art, trade, or craft under a legal agreement that defines the duration and conditions of the relationship between master and apprentice
- 2:54Apprentice Journeyman Master
- 4:38Apprentice: a person who is learning
- 5:42Hiring juniors makes for better team workflows Improves diversity Improved performance Increased productivity - Simpler explanations - Better understanding - Documentation Explicit communication
- 6:15Hiring juniors supports team development Improves retention Training Competitive edge Skills gap - Supports scaling - Saves time and money on recruitment
- 6:54What do you need?
- 7:09Company buy-in
- 7:24Team buy-in
- 7:47Person(s) responsible
- 8:02How do you start a program?
- 8:53Source candidates - How will you recruit candidates? - Define what you're looking for Decide pay grades - Decide on promotion channels Define the hiring process - Adjust for beginner level Set dates in calendar - Make the hiring a team decision
- 9:39How did we do it?
- 13:51Interviews
- 14:30Non-technical interview
- 16:01In-office visit
- 18:59Provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates
- 19:43Develop a program
- 20:05How to guide
- 21:46In Melbourne
- 23:21My apprenticeship program
- 24:42Technical book club
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