Online bank Egg is working with a local university on a pioneering IT academy to help address its IT skills shortage at low cost.

The partnership between the bank ­ now part of financial services provider Citi ­ and the University of Derby started six months ago and so far four graduates have been selected for the programme.

Robin Young, chief information officer at Citi UK Consumer, told Computing that the decision was prompted by the tough economic challenges faced by the financial services industry.

“The motivation for setting up this academy is purely financial,” he said.
“Banks are quickly disappearing from the market and the consequences of the recession are reaching a larger scale, so I think the best way to develop IT is locally, with global architecture principles.

“But to do that, I need to keep staff affordable. It is a simple calculation ­ we found a way to reduce our overall cost base and still have the same output, as we will work on developing workers’ skillsets and get more for our money.”

Derby-based Egg is one of the largest IT employers in the east Midlands, with a 300-strong IT department including more than 100 developers.

The aim of the IT academy is to recruit high-achieving computing graduates and undergraduates with a good knowledge of database and web design.

During 13 months of work experience as part of their degree course, students receive a salary, mentoring by Egg staff and the opportunity of a permanent position after their final year.

“From day one, the interns are involved with real projects. Typically we have them working on the Egg web site and core functional and application change around this platform,” said Young.

“The reason for choosing these areas is that the front-end technology is typically where their skills lie so they have a very simple process to get on board.”

Young created the programme six months ago, basing it on a similar scheme he set up in his previous job as head of IT for HBOS Retail in 2006, to reduce the cost incurred by the bank’s various outsourcing agreements.

At HBOS, the intention was to set up an IT skills centre for graduates and school leavers, and create about 50 jobs each year.

“One problem with the HBOS scheme was that it was set up as a standalone unit as opposed to an integrated project. The programme as a whole ­- including people and output -­ was good, but it lacked the embedding element, which is essential to deliver results,” said Young.

At Egg, the graduate scheme faced some initial resistance from IT staff but the interns’ ability to contribute to projects helped achieve greater acceptance.

“We had many people saying that they did not want to be graduate nannies, but the fact that we are selecting the brightest people means that they don’t just sit around or make tea. They are an immediately valuable part of the team,” said Young.

“The selection process is really tough and we do not just test their technical capability, but also their aptitude to adapt to a business
environment.”