Jamescape

Earlier this month, some of the team attended a digital accessibility webinar from Larmer Brown, focused on the WCAG principles of accessible web design. We believe that software should be built to be fully accessibility from the get-go, rather than an afterthought. It’s great to learn more about digital accessibility from a developer perspective, as the team works towards implementing accessibility standards for our software projects.

Last week, we were joined by Charlie, a sixth form student from Liverpool, for a week-long work experience placement. Alongside shadowing various members of staff in both the software development and operations side of the company, and attending meetings throughout the week, Charlie completed his own independent software project, with support from our team.
You can read Charlie’s recount of his placement here on our blog: https://jamescape.net/blog/charlie-work-experience.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we're required to report on Disability and Mental Health Wellbeing across our organisation. We're incredibly proud of this year's results and delighted to be able to share them with you.

If you're interested in becoming a Disability Confident employer and making your workplace great for disabled employees, please reach out as we'd love to have a chat!

You can find this report on our website: https://jamescape.net/pages/edi-report-2023.

Read Zack’s, Chief Operating Officer & EDI Project Officer, blog post about our reporting work: https://jamescape.net/blog/edi-report-2023.

From all of us here at Jamescape, we are backing the England squad tonight as they face Switzerland in the Euros 2024 - come on England!

Here's your reminder to vote today (04/07/2024) in the General Election. You can vote at your local polling station before 22:00 BST - don't forget your voter ID!

We’re excited to announce that James Barber, our Chief Executive, has been shortlisted for Young Person of the Year Award at the Liverpool Chamber Innovation in Business Awards 2024. Please vote for him here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/W5BZSVV.

Voting closes 02/08/2024.

From all of us here at Jamescape, we’d like to wish everyone a happy Pride Month!

Last week, our Chief Executive, James Barber, attended a business skills session with the Knowledge Quarter startup cohort, a group of early-stage businesses who receive a range of wraparound support to help them grow their ideas. James joined Antony from MyCardium AI to share their experiences of working in a startup, along with their advice and top tips. As a startup ourselves, we love engaging with new emerging businesses in the local area to share our insights.

Last month, Jamescape celebrated its fourth birthday as an incorporated company! We’re so proud of how our team has grown over the past year, and we’re excited to see what we will achieve over the next year. Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey.

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), where we celebrate and promote digital accessibility which is critical for making the web an equitable environment. Recently, we held a session with our software developer team where we visited our company website while blindfolded, with the use of screen-reader software. It was eye-opening to try out assistive technology first-hand and see how our products interact with it.

You can check out the range of accessibility sessions and webinars happening this week over on the GAAD website: https://accessibility.day/

Are you a Key Stage 5 student with an aspiration to study/work in Computer Science in the future? We’re looking to take on two students for a one-week work experience placement focused on software development. Alongside working on our projects, you'll also get to complete your own independent software project guided by our full-time software developers. This placement will take place at our office in the Liverpool Science Park, with flexible start dates throughout the summer. If you’re interested, please apply via our jobs site, Jamescape Jobs (jobs.jamescape.net). We particularly welcome applications from students from demographics that are underrepresented in the technology industry. If you would like any further information or have any questions, please drop us a line.

Back in February, the team dedicated a day to reviewing corporate strategy. The day contained discussions surrounding our business plan, SWOT exercises, and the protectory of the company and its products. It was worthwhile to get our staff on the same page and get a clearer collective vision as we move into an exciting period of growth for the company.

Jamescape are proud to have been nominated and shortlisted for the Disability Champion award at the University of Liverpool’s Equality+ awards! The Equality+ awards aim to showcase excellent contributions towards improving EDI (equality, diversity, inclusion) in the student community. This award recognises our engagement with the Disability Confident framework over the past year to improve our EDI considerations throughout our operations. Separately, James Barber (Chief Executive) has been shortlisted for the Exceptional Entrepreneur Award for his commitment to ensuring good EDI practice from the start in his teams. Thank you to the Careers & Employability Team at the University of Liverpool for organising this event and shortlisting us. You can check out the full shortlist here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/careers/employability/equalityplus/eq,awards2024/eq-,awards-shortlist/

Happy Easter from all of us at Jamescape! We wish all of our clients, suppliers, staff, and followers a happy, restful, and enjoyable Easter weekend.

Last week, James Barber (Chief Executive) and Zack Walker (Executive Team Manager) welcomed a group of aspiring student entrepreneurs to our office at the Liverpool Science Park, as part of the University of Liverpool’s Enterprise Trek for their Feel Good February programme. As fellow students, James and Zack were excited to chat to their peers at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journeys. Thank you to Ben Dalton and the University’s Careers & Employability Team for arranging the visit. We wish the students the best of luck with their future endeavours!

For the past three winters, Jamescape has been proud to offer staff a free flu jab scheme. We encourage all staff to grab a jab to help protect themselves and others throughout the winter months. Here’s Zack Walker, Executive Team Manager, receiving his free flu jab this year!

We’re hiring! Are you a current STEM student planning to start a Year in Industry placement later this year? We’re looking for our next placement software developer to join our growing team! If you’re interested, please apply via our jobs site, Jamescape Jobs (https://jobs.jamescape.net/). We particularly welcome applications from people from demographics that are underrepresented in the technology industry. If you would like any further information or have any questions, please drop us a line.

Jamescape are proud to share that we have become a Disability Confident Leader, which is the highest level of certification for the scheme. Disability Confident is a UK Government scheme that aims to promote good EDI practice to businesses. We are proud to follow this guidance in our operations, ranging from recruitment to staff training to employee welfare. Our internal project, Project EDI, has formally concluded, but will continue to impact our operations. As a Disability Confident Leader, we encourage all other businesses in our network to take part in the Disability Confident scheme, and see the rewards it reaps for your staff and organisation, if you would like any support with this drop us a message. We plan on reaching out to some of our partners in the coming months, offering support with this fantastic scheme.

To find out more about our EDI work, take a look at Zack’s, lead of Project EDI, blog post on our website: https://jamescape.net/blog/edifocusgroup.

Last month, we welcomed a group of Disability Coaches from the University of Liverpool, who are students that facilitate a peer drop-in service for disabled students seeking support with their studies. We held a focus group with the coaches, outlining our EDI considerations in all stages of employment, from job listings to interviews to staff welfare. Broadly, the coaches were very positive about our practices, and we received some useful feedback that we have taken on board. Challenge is a key theme for Disability Confident Leader accreditation, and we see the value in an external group helping to evaluate company practices, especially a group of students with lived experience of a disability, who will enter the workforce in the coming years. Thank you to Jennie Atherton and the Disability Coaches for a productive focus group!

Happy new year from all of us at Jamescape! We wish all of our clients, suppliers, staff and followers a happy, prosperous and enjoyable 2024.

Last month, we held a Hackday at Jamescape! Our software development team met in-person for a day of building their own independent projects using Go, a language unfamiliar to our team. Fuelled by pizza, our asynchronous and hybrid team enjoyed meeting and working through a new challenge together.

You can read our blog post about Hackday, written by our Software Developer, Matthew Frank, here: https://jamescape.net/blog/hackday.

Last week, the team at Jamescape got together at the London Carriage Works for a Christmas lunch. This was a chance for our staff to get together and celebrate all their hard work over the past year alongside some traditional Christmas food and cheer. The lunch was followed by a trip to Head of Steam, for Secret Santa, lots of beer, shuffleboard and pool. The team had a good day, and it was great to get everyone together in the same room.

From all of us here at Jamescape, we’d like to wish all staff, clients, and friends a merry and restful Christmas!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at Jamescape! The tree and lights are out, and we’re hearing a lot more Christmas music during work. Our Real Living Wage sticker even fits in the middle of our wreath!

Jamescape is proud to announce that we are now a certified Real Living Wage Employer! Since April 1st 2023, we’ve paid all our staff at least the Real Living Wage, as set by the Real Living Wage Foundation. We believe that everyone deserves a fair wage they can live off, and will work with our suppliers to encourage them to also pay the Real Living Wage.

You can read our blog about the accreditation here: https://jamescape.net/blog/rlw.

Last month, Jamescape staff and friends continued Project Tarka, with the fourth installation in our quest to find the best curry in Liverpool. Up this time was delicious Sanskruti, here’s all of us enjoying our food, including the ambitious family naan.

As part of our internal Project EDI, we have recently overhauled our recruitment processes to be more robust and inclusive; covering our job listings, application reviews, and interviews. We are proud to offer a Guaranteed Interview scheme for all our job opportunities. Providing that you meet the essential job requirements, you will be offered an interview if you identify as disabled (and you choose to mark this on your application).

We have also pledged to encourage applications from underrepresented demographics in the technology industry by marketing jobs through certain channels, such as dedicated women in STEM groups. Jamescape recognises the value of a diverse team, and we hope that these new recruitment procedures will help us bring the best talent to our growing team.

To find out more, take a look at Zack’s, lead of Project EDI, blog post on our website: https://jamescape.net/blog/interviews.

Jamescape are proud to share that we have become a Disability Confident Employer. Disability Confident is a UK Government scheme that aims to promote good EDI practice to businesses. We are proud to follow this guidance in our operations, ranging from recruitment to staff training to employee welfare. Our internal project, Project EDI, continues, with an aim to achieve Disability Confident Leader status by the end of the year. We encourage all other businesses in our network to take part in the Disability Confident scheme, and see the rewards it reaps for your staff and organisation, if you would like any support with this drop us a message.

Last summer, as some of you may remember that we ran a tournament to decide the best custom emote of our Chief Executive, James Barber. This time around the contest was to decide the best emote company-wide. Staff, ex-staff, and company mascots were all included. Our team have been casting their votes over the past few weeks and have awarded :tomspice:; an emote of one of our software developers, Tom Houghton-Alliss, with the ultimate honour!