Any time anyone asks us ‘what’s the best route into software’ we’ll always say there are many ways to enter this industry, and our latest recruits prove this.

We have worked closely with the College of Richard Collyer in Horsham for the last few years, giving support to students completing T Levels with practical work experience.

T Levels are an alternative to A levels, apprenticeships and other 16 to 19 courses. Equivalent in size to 3 A levels, a T Level focuses on vocational skills and can help students into skilled employment, higher study or apprenticeships.

After welcoming them in for the last couple of years and getting to know them, we’ve recruited two of the students to Red River.

The former students, Jude Ellis and Joe Hardstaff, joined us at the beginning of September after impressing us with their work ethic and skills as full time developers.

We also work closely with the boot camp at Tech Native Digital and have recruited Jo Pickering from the programme as a Product Owner after being blown away by her abilities.

Technative Digital is a new concept in software development bootcamps, bringing together industry sponsors and prospective students and delivering free 16-week intensive courses.

Red River director, Simon Pringle, has been working with Technative Digital since its creation and sees the value these initiatives, as well as T Levels, can bring to business.

He said: “We will often bang on about real experience being so much more useful when it comes to this industry, and this latest recruitment drive is putting these opinions to practice. We’re thrilled to have three such talented people join Red River and are sure that, whatever their route in, they’ll be a good fit for us.”

Red River currently has apprentices going through their training with the company, alongside attending Chichester University once a week, another route into the industry.

For more information on working with Red River, go to www.river.red