1-Up with LevelUp Notts

8th January 2020

The world of tech is a notoriously hard industry to get into – ask any recent grad why and they’ll either break down in tears (too much money on student loans for what?) or offer a forlorn look and mutter the words “lack of experience”. You’ll probably want to give them a cuddle #SaveTheTechGrad

So what to do? Our powerlifting, CV eating (this is a real thing, I will find the link and update #watchthisspace) fellow dev, tech recruiting genius Leigh Edwards has come up with an idea to bring tech meetups to the underdogs. Those who haven’t broken into the industry yet, those who don’t dare to go to the experienced Notts Tech MeetUps because, well, aren’t they for experienced techies??? And for those who just want to learn more, perhaps an undergrad who isn’t there yet, but is looking to get 1up on their fellow student and know how to play the game before the cards are on the table.

So without further ado, I asked Leigh, what, why and when?

Oh ps: there is FREE food!!!!

Why LevelUp – What does it mean?

At the risk of sounding ‘difficult’, it isn’t meant to have a big meaning to be honest. From my perspective, this is a meetup that will hopefully enable people from all backgrounds to “level up” their careers, and bring them closer to their goal of grabbing their dream role/career in tech.

Also, this answer means Nintendo can’t sue me for the sort-of-but-not-really 1UP similarities in the logo…

You’re a recruiter – isn’t this just some recruitment type ploy? What makes this different?

Nope. In fact, our code of conduct literally stops me or any other recruiter from using it that way.

That’s not why I’m doing this, and besides, there’s DEFINITELY easier ways to recruit haha.

Sure, the ultimate aim of LevelUp is to help people get their first job in tech – or at least lay the foundations needed to do that – and I’ll always encourage speakers and attendees to network and speak to each other about job vacancies and stuff like that (I’ll even offer CV/recruiting advice) but I won’t personally be using it to recruit.

So now I know Why, what’s the What??? What actually is this all about? What do I get out of coming along?

The “what” is probably the easiest one to answer. Getting into tech is really f*cking hard! There’s about a million different avenues, technologies, and companies that are all crying out for developers or engineers, but getting that first job as a graduate or a junior is an absolute nightmare because, ultimately, most tech jobs are very vocational and rely on you already having X amount of skill in Y area.

We’re really lucky with Nottingham because there’s a great community, and the universities really do try their best to provide careers events, but there’s a lot more to it than that, and it can be super daunting and stressful to know what to do or how to approach that first junior role.

That’s what LevelUp’s all about. We’ll have regular speakers, guests, and even reps from local companies who’ll be able to tell you exactly what they’re looking for and what you need to do to nab that first role. It’s always a sneaky way to keep fresh graduates and other super-smart people in Nottingham – because it’s an amazing place to be

We’ll also have plenty of people who’ve been in the shoes of many a junior dev – they’ll talk about their journeys, how they got into tech, and also tell you all about the cool tech they work with now.

I think that’s a decent explanation?

Yeah, that’s cool, so who can come? I’m just about to graduate from Uni, is this for me? And if so can I also bring my mate who’s a junior Android Dev, will he find it useful too?

Anyone. Seriously. EVERYONE IS WELCOME. My ultimate aim is for this to become a community – a place where people can come, meet with familiar faces and new ones, and just talk about life working in tech.

Obviously, the people that will find it the most useful will be people that are current at uni or studying to work in tech, but I’m pretty sure the topics that our speakers will cover will still be more than enough to keep veteran techies or your ‘entry-level position’ friend interested.

The more people we have from different backgrounds, the more we can share knowledge and advice, and that’s what it’s all about!

Sign me up, where and when?

So the first official event will be on Thursday 30^th January 2020 @ 6 pm. People will be able to sign up on the meetup page which should go up in about…3 days? But if you follow us on meetup.com you’ll get a notification anyway https://www.meetup.com/LevelUp-Notts/

We’ve got some pretty cool speakers lined up for month uno, and there’ll be plenty of food and drinks there for everyone too. I can’t say too much at the moment (I’m sworn to secrecy) but all shall be revealed…

See you there!

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