TeeJay Dowe, Coach and Trainer for Back On Track Teens, explains the value of having a fully funded Staffordshire University graduate intern.
Company Overview
Back On Track Teens is a Stoke-on-Trent based business which works to support young people’s futures and careers through the discovery of self-identity. They aim to build on self-confidence, help individuals discover their talents and offer a breakdown of their personal profile.
TeeJay Dowe, Coach and Trainer for Back On Teens, explains that once the individual works through and completes their personality profile, they discover more opportunities and ideas to investigate when thinking of tapping into a future career.
The business wanted to develop its digital programme Ignition!, to help young people discover jobs and careers through a game. The potential game would offer exciting and refreshing challenges and multiple worlds to explore, featuring hands-on, interactive experiences of different industries.
Funded Business Support
Back On Track Teens accessed free business support through the 'Staffordshire Digital Innovation Partnerships' (SDIPs) programme.
The free support allowed the business to hire a Staffordshire University graduate with a Game Design qualification to work alongside Gavin Howard, an App and Site Developer, for Back On Track Teens. The duo worked together to build and complete a successful prototype of a game to offer young people an environment to explore different industrial sectors virtually.
The environments applied to the individual’s personality test results and offered them various challenges to complete unlocking more information about the sector.
Project Outcome
The funding offered by Staffordshire University was used to invest in the development of the Ignition! game.
By partnering with Staffordshire University, the business could overcome its developer skill shortages by accessing high-calibre students and graduates with the skill set required to complete the prototype.
Together with the Staffordshire University graduate, the App and Site Developer and the support from the university, Back On Track Teens successfully created the game. Because of the expertise offered by the graduate and the guidance from the university’s academics every step of the way, both the business and the student found the project an enjoyable and beneficial experience.
Staffordshire Digital Innovation Partnerships (SDIPs) is a collaborative project between Staffordshire University and Staffordshire County Council; funded by Staffordshire University, Staffordshire County Council and the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020.
I absolutely would recommend anybody engaging with SDIPs. They’ve been so brilliant and so supportive, guiding us every step of the way. It is absolutely worth it. Certainly, we would not have had the money to invest to do what we wanted to do. The funding is there and available for everybody. I think that a lot of people don’t realise that it is there to be tapped into.