Page content
This month, we are speaking with Nicola Shaw, who is head of HR at Pytilia. Pytilia has been an outstanding advocate for Degree Apprenticeships in Northern Ireland, and is a longstanding Employer partner of the University.
What should applicants know about Pytilia?
Pytilia is a fast-growing Northern Ireland-based software design and development company helping clients worldwide future-proof their businesses. Celebrating our fifth anniversary, we’ve grown to over 50 people and built a strong, diverse customer base. Our growth spans headcount, revenue, and innovation, driven by our commitment to people.
We invest in talent through knowledge sharing, early-career programmes, placements, and Degree Apprenticeships - with over 25% of our team in early-career roles; and apprentices comprising 11% of our workforce. We collaborate with local universities, including Ulster University on research and innovation projects, and we’re proud winners of the inaugural FinTech Scotland Innovation Call.
Our “Heart & Soul” culture blends a startup spirit with inclusivity, wellbeing, and giving back. We partner with Career Ready to boost social mobility, and champion diversity in tech and each year, we support a charity of the year. We have a very active Charity, Events and Wellbeing Committee, which is led by employees. We also have an Education Council, which our employees are heavily involved in, which coordinates participation in events such as Careers Fairs, Guest Lectures, Lunch and Learn, School Fairs, careers talks, etc.
We actively engage with universities through placements, apprenticeships, research partnerships, and skills development, playing a key role in strengthening Northern Ireland’s software industry. Pytilia’s mission commits to helping to “Future-Proof Business”; for apprentices, partnering with Ulster University, that commitment is to “Future-Proof your Career in Tech”.
What does a day in the life of a Pytilia Apprentice look like?
Nicola shared a few quotes from Pytilia's current apprentices to give us some insight:
“Pytilia’s apprenticeship program involves solving real world problems with global clients and knowing that the work that I’d be doing would make an impact attracted me as it gives me hands on experience and a motivation to improve myself to put out my best work”
“My day as a Degree Apprentice at Pytilia is absolutely exciting—it's a quick-paced, relentless blend! One moment, I'm up to my neck in the code, collaborating on an actual customer feature with Python and our seasoned developers, and the next, I'm focusing on my university work, knowing that what I learn this morning, I might be implementing commercially the next day.”
“One thing that is surprising is that it looks just like how a Software Engineer’s day in the life looks. We are treated the exact same. Typical things we do in a day will vary but to list some, development work (programming), meetings, helping coworkers.
Pytilia believes in learning on the job, from the very start we are given tickets and lots of support (mentors etc) that allows us to get up to speed quickly. Learning never really stops but you become more 'independent' as time goes on.”
How have apprentices contributed to the success of the organisation?
Apprentices play a key role in Pytilia’s growth and success by bringing fresh ideas, technical capability, and long-term commitment to our teams. Now in our fourth recruitment cycle, we’ve achieved a 100% retention rate, clear evidence of the value apprentices bring and the strength of our programme.
Apprentices currently comprise over 11% of our workforce, actively contributing to client projects and internal innovation. Their impact has strengthened delivery capacity, improved knowledge sharing, and supported our ability to scale sustainably. As we plan to double our intake over the next three years, apprenticeships will continue to be a core driver of business growth and an essential part of Pytilia’s talent pipeline.
What's one bit of advice that you would give applicants who are considering an apprenticeship?
From Pytilia:
Our advice to anyone considering an apprenticeship is to take full advantage of the opportunity to earn while you learn and develop both professionally and personally. Apprenticeships help make degree qualifications more accessible to a wider group of people, as it removes the economic barrier that may have previously prevented students from applying to university.
Apprenticeships provide a unique balance of structured learning and real-world experience, enabling individuals to apply their knowledge directly within a professional environment.
We encourage applicants to approach the programme with curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to learn from every challenge. Those who actively engage and contribute will gain not only technical expertise, but also the confidence, adaptability, and collaboration skills essential for long-term career success.
From Pytilia's apprentices:
“My one piece of advice for anyone considering an apprenticeship; do it. It incorporates aspects of both uni-life and work-life, meaning you get the best of both worlds. An apprentice builds experience in the professional world before fully plunging into it, as well as also getting to experience the university lifestyle. It is one of the best opportunities out there for anyone, and I would highly recommend becoming a degree apprentice.”
“The opportunity is great, because of this however apprenticeships are extremely competitive, apply to as many as possible. There are many opportunities available, career teachers can help, or independent research too.
Interviews aren't scary, in most cases interviews just aim to get to know you as a person so the company can see if you would be a good fit, if you have a learning attitude etc. You are not expected to know everything, you are expected to ask as many questions as possible.
Solidifying your CV. Employers want to see that you have a passion for the industry, and you are willing to learn. Things like code camps, part time work, sports teams, personal projects are all good things to have on there.
If you are stuck between Full Time university or an apprenticeship, you don't need to worry. You can still apply to all 5 UCAS university choices, apprenticeship applications are completely separate and managed by the company itself. So you can do both (recommended due to competitiveness)”
Finally, what does your application process look like?
We want to make our application process as accessible as possible to a wide range of diverse candidates, and so application is by CV. Following shortlisting of these against our published criterion, candidates are invited to attend for interview. Our interview focuses on both technical and professional skills. Following this, we make a decision on who we will appoint to our high demand degree apprenticeship roles.
