Parallax Continues to Create Work Experience Opportunities

Throughout the years we have run work experience opportunities for students from schools and colleges. Placements have catered for students as young as 14 years old, coming into Parallax for 1-2 weeks to see what it's like to work in a Leeds Digital Agency. It is great to see so many schools have started to teach code as part of their courses. They are mainly focusing on Python, which gives students a headstart in understanding the core fundamentals of programming.,Having already provided 22 young students with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of all things digital since 2017, Parallax is proud to increase those numbers, providing students with new opportunities to learn. Parallax believes that providing young people with opportunities to learn, is both important for business growth and young people’s personal development. Quite recently, the management of internships moved from Director, Andy Fitch to Katie Miles/Jamie Sefton and we're looking to the future, where more young people will be given an opportunity to learn. Students who come on board can develop through learning based options ranging from weekly placements and ‘hack days’. A hack day gives students and Parallax employees the opportunity to invest in ideas and develop digital processes. If a young person happens to be on work experience during a hack day, they’ll be exposed to a range of creative experiences, and given the opportunity to fully participate. Our previous hack day projects included the award-winning Topple Trump, a game developed and hosted inline with United States presidential election campaign.

Leeds hosts several digital-based events that young people can attend, including the ever-popular Leeds Soup and the Leeds chapter of Glug Events. Leeds Soup gives both young and old people an opportunity to get together to explore a range of pitched ideas, whilst eating soup and voting for a project they believe best suits and benefits the community in Leeds. Whilst Glug Leeds is a fine example of a company who champion creative ideas and perspectives from within the city.  Frazer Sparham helps to run Glug Leeds and he's personally got the first-hand experience of starting out in a work experience role. Work experience can in some case lead to full-time employment as was the case with Designer, Frazer Sparham who joined Parallax in January 2017 on a two-week work experience placement. Parallax gave Frazer an opportunity to hone his skills as a student and after recognising his talent and abilities, he was offered a permanent role. Looking back to when I initially joined Parallax, I wasn't expecting to be given a full-time position at the end of my placement. I guess at the time, I threw myself into several innovative projects and quickly picked up new skills which I still use now in my role as a designer. I'm thankful to have been given the opportunity to have a work experience placement because it ultimately gave me the opportunity to get my foot on the ladder after completing my University degree in Design.

Leeds pretty much has it all and when Parallax takes on willing students, we feel the office and its surroundings help those learning feel at ease.