February Spartan of the Month: Thomas Wolstencroft

What and where did you study at university?

I graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University, studying Computer Science. A few years after graduating, I joined Sparta Global in June 2022.

 

How did you decide Sparta Global was the right career move for you?

I decided that Sparta Global was the right career move for me after a few life changes occurred. When I left University, I worked in a bakery for two years to then later become a self-employed video games developer for three years. However, throughout this time I noticed the difficulty of getting my foot in the door with tech companies due to my experience levels. All this changed when I found Sparta.

 

How did you find your training at the academy, and how did your training prepare you for work?

I enjoyed the training course! I had great classmates and a great tutor. The training has given me a strong start to my career, both in terms of technical and soft skills. Thanks to the ongoing positive feedback from my work colleagues, I feel I am on the right path.

I’m thankful that I have had the opportunity to make connections with fellow Spartans who were on the same course and with the Senior QA that I worked with at the start of my placement.

 

What is your current position and within what company?

I am a C# Software Developer and Engineer in Test (SDET), but my current role within the Public Sector is as a Lead QA Tester. My day-to-day role revolves around ensuring the project is produced at a high quality for the end users. I manually review each user’s journey of the project and create test cases which I can then later add into a test framework, which is a program that I have built using Java and Selenium WebDriver.

 

How have you found your first tech role and are you enjoying working in the industry?

I like my role! Being an SDET allows me to take a step back and view the projects I work on from a different perspective, mainly from the user’s perspective and report any issues found to the developers. This gives me satisfaction as I know the users will not be affected once the issues have been fixed.

Working in the tech industry has been enjoyable for me as it’s brought me new challenges which I have successfully overcome! And I have met a lot of friendly and supportive people along the way.

 

Do you feel you now have the passion and skill to carve a long-serving career in technology?

I have always been passionate about technology, and I now with my current skills I know I will for the foreseeable future and have a long career in my current role. I am looking forward to working on new projects and delving into them to surface any issues that could affect the team and end users. Furthermore, I am looking forward to improving my skills through learning from others alongside my studies.

 

How did it feel to be named Spartan of the Month?

It was unexpected for me, as being passionate and dedicated to my work is a normal part of my life. I appreciate the recognition for my work as it shows people are happy with my efforts, which gives me motivation.

 

Would you recommend Sparta to other graduates and if so – why?

Yes, I would recommend Sparta Global to graduates and anyone who is thinking of a career change as the format of being trained and then being put on a placement with another company is a great way to start a career!