Our people are core to what makes us successful. We’re committed to maintaining a highly skilled, trained and motivated team. Each employee is offered a £500 individual allowance each year towards training and development.
The training budget is designed to provide our employees with the financial resources they need to pursue various training programmes, courses, or certifications that can help them enhance their skills and knowledge. This could range from technical skills related to their current roles, to soft skills like leadership and communication, or even entirely new areas they are interested in exploring.
By continuously updating our employees’ skills, we ensure that Newable stays competitive. Training equips our employees with the necessary tools to perform their jobs better. It leads to improved productivity, efficiency, and quality of work. Employees who receive training feel valued and engaged. They see that we are investing in their future, which increases their loyalty and commitment.
With wide-ranging skills needed across Newable for our variety of roles and sectors, we have asked some of our employees to share with us the training they have undertaken, the benefits they have experienced and how it has impacted their career growth.
Jesse Orange
Jesse Orange, our Web Manager, has done various courses with Udemy focusing on web technologies and languages such as SCSS and JavaScript as well as development principles such as Test Driven Development and S.O.L.I.D.
Using the Newable Training Budget, Jesse has been able to stay on top of trends in the Web Development Landscape and become a more well-rounded programmer. This has enabled us, as a company, to undertake new projects without looking for expertise externally.
What was your favourite part of the training and why?
Definitely Test-Driven Development, as it enables you to make changes to projects confidently. One of my favourite things in programming is refactoring. Essentially, this is taking something ugly or inefficient and improving it. Without tests to back up code changes, it is hard to know whether a re-factor has achieved the desired goal. Plus, anything not backed by tests can be a mysterious black box.
How has this training impacted your career growth or aspirations?
The landscape of web development is characterised by diverse perspectives, with each stakeholder advocating for the superiority of their respective tools. My training has been instrumental in equipping me with a balanced perspective, enabling me to evaluate each approach based on its merits, rather than succumbing to popular trends. This ensures that I remain objective and informed in my professional decisions.
Would you recommend this training to your colleagues? Why?
Everyone has their own goals and aspirations, but I would, yes. These online courses, whether videos or e-books allow you to focus on areas of weakness. All these tools such as Udemy, PluralSite, etc. have a huge library of content so I would say it’s worth reading course reviews before any purchase – but overall worth it.
Katie Toone
Katie is our Ecosystem Innovation Specialist in the Newable Advice team and this year she undertook the Chartered Banker Institute Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance. Although she absolutely loved the course, she does recommend being prepared for the 130+ hours of recommended study!
What motivated you to choose this training?
An ongoing personal and professional interest in green and sustainable business and finance. Also an awareness of the growing need to share ESG information with the businesses we advise and our wider outreach.
What new skills or knowledge have you gained from this training?
I’ve gained a broader overview and greater understanding of the pressing need to work towards achieving Net Zero and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals across business and society, both at home and around the world.
How have these new skills/knowledge contributed to your current role?
This new and expanded knowledge of green and sustainable finance has been invaluable in supporting delivery of Investment Readiness business advice to companies across sectors. It is a resource to help to raise awareness of sustainability and encourage ESG in business strategy.
How do you feel about Newable’s initiative of providing a training budget?
Newable’s annual budget of £500 is a practical support for accessing relevant courses/ qualifications/studies. It is possible to add your own funds to the budget as I did in this case, and consider this a worthwhile investment for both me and the company.