The future’s bright for fantastic four

A quartet of Teesside University graduates has secured jobs at a leading digital company after impressing senior staff at an annual showcase event.

The foursome all landed full-time roles at Amplience as a direct result of exhibiting work at the University’s ExpoTees festival.

ExpoTees is an annual showcase of outstanding work by final year students from the School of Computing. It provides an opportunity for businesses to come and meet students and recruit bright new talent to their organisations.

This year’s event took place at the University’s Darlington Campus in May and the four graduates have now all taken up their roles at Amplience’s Middlesbrough office in the Boho Zone.

Shelley Weeks, 28, is employed as a front-end developer, Samantha Waistle, 21, as a QA engineer, John Porritt, 22, as a back-end developer and Sara Watson, 27, as a front line support analyst.

Amplience, which also has offices in London and the United States, helps clients create interactive rich-media content for their digital channels. In the last three years, the firm has recruited eight Teesside University graduates directly through ExpoTees.

Samantha Waistle, who graduated with a BA (Hons) Web and Multimedia Design, was delighted to secure a job so soon after completing her degree.

She said: 'ExpoTees gave us the opportunity to showcase our work and talk to industry professionals.

'I was approached by Amplience - they were impressed with my project and offered me a job. I am really enjoying the challenge, every day is different and it is great to be working alongside so many other Teesside University graduates.'

John Porritt, who also graduated with a BA (Hons) Web and Multimedia Design, said ExpoTees gave him the opportunity to kick start his career.

'I’ve never had a professional job as I have always been studying,' explained John.

'To be working at Amplience is fantastic. It was because of the exposure I received from ExpoTees that I was able to take the opportunity – it is a great event for linking graduates with business.'

Fellow Teesside University graduate Scott Smallman works as a User Experience Business Analyst for Amplience. He too was given his career break on the back of ExpoTees and is now involved in recruiting staff for Amplience.

He said: 'We keep coming back to Teesside University because, in our experience, the students are always well prepared for industry. They have the right attitude, skills and experience to succeed and we look forward to coming back to recruit more talent next year.'

Senior Lecturer in Computing and ExpoTees organiser Jo Noble said: 'We are thrilled that Amplience has employed four of our graduates as a result of what they saw at ExpoTees. They recruited from the event last year too and it is a great endorsement that they keep on returning to seek out the best in young digital talent.'

---