In the first summer of lockdown, an enterprising year-10 student got in touch with Cloudy IT Managing Director David Hall on LinkedIn to ask for online work experience and advice on a career in computing.
Fast-forward 12 months and fresh from finishing his GCSEs, Aaron Chauhan has now landed a summer apprenticeship with the Cloudy team, developing his skills while working on real-life projects for our clients.
This is Aaran’s story.
How it all began
Prior to the pandemic, we’d been running an award-winning programme, The App-Prentice Challenge, for schools in North Buckinghamshire and Aylesbury, but Covid meant the doors had to be closed. We didn’t want the students to miss out, so we came up with a workaround.
We decided to launch a charity – the Cloudy Foundation – and become CSR (corporate social responsibility) accredited. This way, we could still deliver challenges to young people and nurture their IT skills, but virtually instead.
This gave students the opportunity to work on conceptual projects, such as making apps to create solutions for organisations such as local councils, and our Enterprise Academy community of students and businesses has grown throughout the pandemic.
Originally, these challenges had been hypothetical, and sadly the apps made by the students were never used. But when Aaran contacted us, David came up with an idea – to get him working on a real-time project alongside the rest of the Cloudy team for one of our clients, Campbell Park Council. Aaran jumped at the chance.
The challenge was to develop an app that members of the public could use to report anything amiss in their green areas and help maintain their parks. For example, the app needed to have the option to flag fallen trees, litter and other issues as well as be able to rate the urgency of the situation. Within a few hours of David explaining the concept, Aaron had already made a prototype, using Microsoft Forms and Planner tools.
Find out more about Aaran’s first experiences as a junior app developer here:
Why become an app developer apprentice?
Until he starts college in the autumn, Aaran is back with us as our new App Developer Apprentice, supporting the Cloudy team and working with our clients to make bespoke apps for them to use, from the start of the process to the final handover.
He’ll also gain valuable industry experience and develop his skills, not just in IT but in learning how to collaborate with a team and communicate with clients – impressive stuff for a 16-year-old just out of school!
And it will undoubtedly help Aaran make a better-informed decision about what he wants to go on and do after college – which he’s already thinking about.
Find out more about Aaran’s journey here and about how his life has changed since he made the Green Spaces app for Campbell Park Council last year.
After working virtually for 12 months and having endless Teams calls, David Hall drove past Aaron’s hometown one day and decided to drop in and meet him in real life. David met Aaran’s mum, dad, and twin brother Jay – who may also be joining Cloudy in the near future. Keep your eyes peeled for that!
‘It was great to finally meet Aaran in person, and it was lovely to meet his family and find out more about his interests – and to speak in person rather than over the phone! I can’t wait to see what else Aaran is going to achieve with us over the next few weeks.’
Photos above: David meeting Aaran and Jay, some of the work Aaran has been doing and him on Teams calls with the wider Cloudy team.
Want to get involved
At Cloudy, we really enjoy encouraging and guiding young people into their careers within IT.
If you’re feeling inspired by what Aaran has achieved over the past year and would like to get involved, or have a family member or friend who’d be interested, please share this with them.
If you’re a school or student interested in joining the Enterprise Academy, please register your interest by completing the form below.
Likewise, if you are a council, business or charity interested in working with us in nurturing a stronger workforce for tomorrow, email us or complete the form below with your details.
To see more from Aaran and the work he’s done at Cloudy, see his previous blog: A Cloudy Enterprise Academy Tech Star is Born – Cloudy IT
