A Leap of Faith. David Farrell-Shaw General Manager Specialisterne Scotland

Transcription

1 A Leap of Faith David Farrell-Shaw General Manager Specialisterne Scotland

2 Background Specialisterne Scotland was formed in The company is a licencee of Specialist People Foundation in Denmark, and replicates the successful Danish software testing company and social firm, Specialisterne (established 2004), 75% of whose staff are diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Its software testing services operate on a fully commercial basis with a client list that includes some of the leading IT and telecommunications companies in the world. Specialisterne staff receive market-rate wages, with some public funding used to offset the cost of their additional training and support needs.

3 Specialisterne provides a supportive working environment for its employees, which enables them to make best use of their skills. Its charitable parent organisation, Specialist People Foundation (SPF) is regarded as one of the most significant international social firm developments to date as it works with a range of partners to establish social firms that transform attitudes and lives for people with autism. That was the theory more of which later

4 Individuals with ASD are good at specialized work where the requirements for being systematic, having a strong attention to details and being persistent are important. Specialisterne methods gives our skilled and dedicated employees the necessary support and understanding needed to be able to utilize their special skills to provide valuable services for the business community."

5 Famous people who are autistic or were autistic Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE

6 Peter Howson OBE

7 Michael Edward Palin, CBE

8 Albert Einstein

9 Charles Robert Darwin

10 Wolfgang Mozart

11 What about IT? To show but two..

12 You Can t Win Them All By way of Balance Adolf Hitler Jeffrey Dahmer Howard Hughes

13 "Is there a connection between Asperger's and IT? We wouldn't even have any computers if we didn't have Asperger's, "All these labels -- 'geek' and 'nerd' and 'mild Asperger's' -- are all getting at the same thing.... The Asperger's brain is interested in things rather than people, and people who are interested in things have given us the computer you're working on right now." Temple Grandin

14 A five month training course aimed at getting people to be work ready Personal skills how to read neurotypical people. How to survive in a work environment Dealing with sensory issues. IT Skills Audit Train towards ISEB Software Testing Foundation Course.

15 Recruitment We held an information day. We received 170 applications from people on the autistic spectrum across the UK We interviewed 50 people We took on 12 trainees. 38 people were placed on a guided training option via Lynda.com

16 Staff Team recruited and sent to Denmark for Training Then we find that maybe just maybe the training courses ( specifically in IT skills) weren t up to date. We introduce Lynda. The American based company provides access to over 3,000 courses on IT software.

17 Software Testers Training It soon became clear that we could not train our people to become software testers without professional intervention. We did provide training in CSS3 HTML5, JavaScript, etc. and many of the trainees already had a good grounding in IT/

18 We needed a hero to save the day

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20 Graham Freeburn was our super hero. Luckily the Sopra Group already had a tailored course for software testing. Some weeks later we had 12 students sit the test. So far we have only had one outright fail.

21 Since go live the team have. Built three websites for clients Are in the middle of major contract for the Scottish Government Training in additional skills for the online gaming market on behalf of another client

22 Issues Our ASD will need support throughout their working lives Some of the staff can only work in our office and will never be able to work off site. However, with some adjustments to the working environment most are capable of working anywhere.

23 Quality of output The quality of work produced is exceptional We have to get people to stop working how many employers can say that.

24 Questions? enquiries@specialisternescotland.co.uk