Apprentice appointed by tech company

A Gateshead College student is celebrating after securing an apprenticeship with industry leading Tech company tombola.

Lewis Barron, recently undertook a week long work placement at tombola’s head office along with other students from the college and has now been offered a place on a brand new degree apprenticeship programme with the company.

Commenting on the launch of their new degree apprenticeship programme, Debra Ballantyne, Head of People at tombola, said: “Apprenticeship degrees are a fantastic way for creative tech companies like tombola to identify talented young people and offer them a unique and incredible on the job training opportunity.

“We recently invited students from three leading northeast colleges [Gateshead, Sunderland and Newcastle] to spend a week in tombola as part of an innovative and interactive selection process. Even those students who were unsuccessful on this occasion gained a valuable insight and opportunity of work experience.

“As part of the placement the students were challenged to design a new online game in just 4 days and then present this to tombola’s game developers on the final day. The level of game design/development and presentation skills of the students we met was really impressive and wowed everyone at tombola. Given most of the students were just 18-21 years old, they were incredibly confident and the standard of what they produced was very high."

Lewis who is currently studying for a HND in Games Design will begin his apprenticeship in August and will spend the equivalent of one day per week at University of Sunderland studying and four days working at tombola.

Lewis said: “Doing my work placement at tombola was a fantastic opportunity for me and I learnt so much and gained such a valuable insight into the company. To have been offered an apprenticeship on the back of this, is amazing. tombola is such a great company to work for and I can’t wait to get started.”

Commenting on working with tombola, Simon Underhill, Curriculum Operations Manager, Gateshead College said: “Our courses are about so much more than what happens in the classroom; we focus on helping students to build a foundation of industry relevant skills and knowledge which are then put to the test with commissions and projects with employers.

“We need to teach them the additional skills employers look for like how to network, how to act in a meeting, how to present; taking them away from college and out of their comfort zone to help them build confidence and grow as individuals.

"This project with tombola is a perfect example of that; allowing our students to put into practice the skills they have learnt whilst also building some valuable contacts and showcasing their talents. The fact that Lewis has been offered an apprenticeship on the back of this is amazing and I’m sure he’ll go on to have a really successful career with tombola.”

Lewis will complete his degree in 3 years and receive an attractive package from day one, which includes all university fees being paid by tombola, a generous starting salary, private gym and healthcare and free meals at tombola’s state of the art new HQ.