Hatless' Commitment to Talent: Solving the Talent Crisis in the South West

Hatless Studios sits in the unique position of being able to nurture the next generation of the South West’s tech talent from the ground up. We often engage with aspiring tech professionals from their first week of university, and provide them with an environment to grow their skills so that they can find the best jobs once they fly the nest. Unlike most companies, we not only expect our employees to go on to better jobs after they leave but actively encourage it - providing role-specific mentoring and using our wide network to ensure our graduates get the best jobs possible. Through our excellent links to the top tech companies in the world, and our skilled team of student mentors, Hatless Studios continues to prove to be an incomparable incubator for the next generation of tech talent in the South West.

At Hatless, we conduct regular paid training sessions in which our students can learn valuable digital, business, and social skills in a constructive and collaborative environment. In fact, since Hatless began, our team members have attended over 1000 hours of training for in-demand tech skills and methodologies. Topics include mobile and web development, agile, project management, client engagement, marketing, UI/UX design and a range of new development languages and frameworks. This technical training is complemented by a commitment to instil crucial soft skills into the repertoire of our students - examples include productivity, confidence, remote working, and networking. This training allows students to make strides in personal growth which they otherwise would not have the chance to do. All of our training is provided by our students who also gain the skills of teaching and leadership when sharing their knowledge with the team.?

Alongside formal training, our students have quoted the ability to work on real-world projects, usually for the first time in their careers, as a key driving factor towards their professional development while at university. University courses generally shy away from exposing students to the world of software consultancy, but Hatless considers this exposure a vital element towards building a well-rounded tech graduate who can be trusted by their next employer. Working with local companies who are creating a wide variety of software products ranging from VR to FinTech allows our students to find their passion early on. These local companies often find themselves blown away by the drive and passion of our students, offering them employment opportunities after they’ve graduated.

Hatless’s upskilling model provides students with a learning environment unlike any other - students learn core theoretical knowledge in their degrees, then are immediately able to apply and test that knowledge in their work. Students may find themselves taking UoE’s ECM2419 Database Theory and Design module one week, then implementing a relational database for a paying client the next. This applicative reinforcement approach to learning results in a blossoming cohort of highly skilled students whose knowledge and skills grow exponentially. Hatless complements the students’ academic endeavours too, with most achieving First Class awards in their university degrees.

We always encourage Hatless students to stay within the innovative, growing region of the South West by offering them great local opportunities for post-graduation. The world’s most successful tech companies love our students too, and find them to be obvious candidates for high-responsibility, high-paying roles. To date, not a single Hatless student who applied to Google has been rejected - four ex-Hats (past employees) are sharing their knowledge and ideas across Google’s campuses right now. Other companies who our students have gone on to work for include Bloomberg, CERN, and The Independent.

Hatless Studios has consistently proven to be a driving force in the South West’s commitment to nurturing tech talent, and is constantly finding new ways to develop the skills of the next generation of tech workers. Through Hatless’ mentoring programmes, application-based teaching, and focus on collaboration, students studying at South West universities have been provided with an incomparable opportunity to grow their skills while studying.