Thanks to this partnership, recent Le Wagon graduates have the opportunity to take on a hybrid role developing their tech skills while contributing knowledge and expertise from their previous specializations. Cobalt and an alumnus who has already benefited from the partnership have given positive feedback about the experience.
Cobalt Intelligence develops incident management automation software for enterprises. Founded in 2018, the company has grown to a team of 13, and they have an aggressive hiring plan for the year ahead. Consultant Julie Lacasse has been overseeing their growth plan.
Eryk-Alexandre, who graduated from our intensive Web Development program in December 2020, met Julie at a networking and recruitment event organized during the bootcamp’s Career Week. It was a perfect fit for Cobalt — Erik-Alexandre joined the team full-time for three months and divided his hours between the customer success team and the technical team as a developer intern. Today, he works full-time as a full-stack developer.
A hybrid job offer that meets the growing need for talent
The hybrid nature of the job means graduates spend half their time working on a technical team and the other half on tasks involving their skills and experience acquired before they started the Le Wagon program in Montreal.
"When I joined Cobalt Intelligence, I noticed the lack of human resources right away, and given the competitive market, I saw an opportunity to hire individuals with less IT experience who wish to develop their skills in this field," says Julie.
As a matter of fact, due to their prior professional experience, Le Wagon alumni looking for a career switch have diverse backgrounds, are more mature, and are good self-learners. "Offering a hybrid role perfectly suits Cobalt's needs and what the market is currently offering," explains Julie.
In other words, the hybrid offer consists of a 20-hour internship with the company’s technical team, working as a full-stack developer on joint projects, and 20 hours employed on the development of internal projects based on the individual’s experience and skill set. This setup lasts three months, during which the interns/employees have time to expand their programming skills.
"In my first month, I learned a lot of new technologies such as Node.js and AngularJS. Then, we worked in teams with the other hybrid employees to develop an internal project. The rest of the time, I worked with the customer success team on their various projects," says Eryk-Alexandre.
A “win-win” solution for everyone
A hybrid job arrangement benefits both the company and our alumni.
For Eryk-Alexandre, the opportunity to gradually step into a dev role was extremely beneficial. "Being new to the world of programming, it was reassuring to get to spend half my time working on things I’ve already mastered. It also gave me enough time to learn on my own. Each day, we dedicated an hour to ask questions about the technical project, and we spent the remaining time learning on our own." This arrangement also allowed him to find his place within the world of programming. "I noticed that I really like working as a full-stack dev, whereas when I finished Le Wagon, I was mostly only interested in the back-end."
Cobalt recognizes the advantage that interns/employees provide with their varied professional backgrounds, even if they are sometimes far from the world of tech. They are more mature and have a better grasp of the bigger picture.
"They’re also quicker to adapt to the company's processes," Julie adds. "These new hires are more agile, which benefits startups because they don’t have to worry as much about flexibility and potential failure as a result of different processes during training." Finally, it gives the company a significant financial advantage because hybrid hires are remunerated only for their work as employees, not their role as interns.
An offer that corresponds to Le Wagon alumni profiles
Julie recognizes that the curriculum’s excellence and the fact that we provide a practical, hands-on education are huge assets. Having already built their own web projects, students learn how to work autonomously. Additionally, the bootcamp prepares students for teamwork by emphasizing interpersonal skills and teaching the same workflows and collaboration tools used by developers.
"In the corporate world, there is often a lack of time and resources to mentor new developers, and Le Wagon alumni have already established a knowledge base and a solid foundation," concludes Julie.
Eryk-Alexandre credits Le Wagon’s program with teaching him the logic behind learning a programming language. "It makes it easier when it comes to switching from one technology to another. I learned Node.js and AngularJS much faster because of the techniques I learned during my training."
If, like Cobalt Intelligence, you’re interested in meeting and hiring hybrid talent,
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