Senior Developer : Full-time, Permanent

Dorset Creative are looking for a senior developer to join our growing team. This is an exciting opportunity to work with our team on projects in VR, cloud based software, mobile app and web development.

If you would like more information, call the office today on 01202 237899.

Summary of Main Duties and Responsibilities

The right candidate will be an integral part of projects embarked upon by the Dorset Creative team. This will include working alongside other developers, designers and digital artists to produce high quality, digital products and services.

Key duties and responsibilities include:

• Develop user interfaces by setting expectations and feature priorities throughout the development life cycle; determining design methodologies and tool sets; completing programming using languages and software products.
• Complete application development by working with architects and projects team; contributing to team meetings; troubleshooting development and production problems across multiple environments and operating platforms.
• Progressively update knowledge by researching new web technologies and software products; participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organisations.
• Advise and contribute on feasibility and timescales during project tendering and planning stages.
• Enhance organisation reputation by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
• Carry out online research for new projects and monitor changes in the marketplace to ensure good understanding of industry news, trends and best digital practices.

This is an outline Job Description and employees are expected to undertake other duties as directed.

Required skills/experience:

• WordPress development skills including theme and plugin development. Experience using builder tools a bonus.
• Strong JavaScript skills (understanding of ES6) and frameworks such as jQuery and Angular.
• Front end skills (Sass/JS) and frameworks
• Experience working with PHP 7 and MySQL databases
• Be used to the MVC development pattern and frameworks such as Laravel.
• Comfortable working within terminal command-line tools and Linux servers
• Understanding of digital security principles and best practice.
• Experience with web-based API integrations such as REST and SOAP.
• Understanding of build tools such as Composer/NPM/Yarn etc.
• Ability to work effectively individually and as part of a team and to take ownership of tasks and communicate progress and difficulties.
• Experience using project management tools such as Asana and Kanban style task tracking.

What you will get in return?

• Circa £45k+
• 20 days of bookable holiday plus bank holidays
• Workplace pension scheme
• Opportunity to work as a key part of a multidisciplinary production team creating emerging technology across various sectors including medical and energy 
• Relaxed working environment
• Modern, creative workspace in BH1
• Great tea and coffee

Job posted end October 2020.

Junior/Mid Front End Developer

Dorset Creative are looking for a Front End Developer who wants to heighten their front end skills. We have a full-time position for a junior – mid level Front End Developer to code high quality digital experiences across all platforms.

You will be responsible for building a variety of designs for web pages, mobile apps, online and offline software and in order to succeed, the role requires experience with coding languages and frameworks including HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP.

You will have excellent written and oral skills, with demonstrable interpersonal and organisation abilities, be enthusiastic about technology and constantly looking for the next innovation. You must be able to work in fast-paced environment. Flexibility and tolerance is a necessity.

If you would like more information, call the office today on 01202 237899 quoting job ref DCW103.

Job posted end May 2018.

Junior / Mid Back End Developer

Dorset Creative have an exciting opportunity for a passionate and energetic Back End Developer who will work alongside our team of designers, architects and developers, to contribute to building and maintaining an exciting platform that is available across web and mobile.

The focus is on the users and providing a data-driven, rich user experience. Experience with data-driven, analytical application development (in Java) and RESTful API architecture will be a bonus, to help the project be a huge success.

You will be responsible for building the back end of web pages, mobile apps, online and offline software. In order to succeed, the role requires experience with coding languages and frameworks including REST API, NoSQL, MySQL, JavaScript, HTML, HTML5 and CSS. You will have an understanding of Agile development, test-driven development, unit testing, code reviews and you should love design documentation.

You will have excellent written and oral skills, demonstrable interpersonal and organisation abilities, be enthusiastic about technology and constantly looking for the next innovation. You must be able to work in fast-paced environment. Flexibility and tolerance is a necessity.

If you would like more information, call the office today on 01202 237899 and quote job ref DCW104.

Job posted end May 2018.

Senior Developer

Dorset Creative are looking for a senior developer to join our growing team. This is an exiting opportunity to work on projects in VR, cloud based software, mobile app and web development. You will also lead the product management of a great platform we have been developing for the last year.

If you would like more information, call the office today on 01202 237899.

Job posted end March 2018.

Full Stack Developer

Dorset Creative are looking for a jn full stack developer to join our growing team. This is an exiting opportunity to work on projects in VR, cloud based software, mobile app and web development. You will also lead the product management of a great platform we have been developing for the last year.

If you would like more information, call the office today on 01202 237899.

Job posted end January 2018.

Technical Project Manager

Dorset Creative are looking for a technical PM to join our growing team. This is an exiting opportunity to work on projects in VR, software, mobile app and web development.

If you would like more information, call the office today.

Job posted December 2017

Junior Graphic Designer

We need a junior graphic designer to join our growing team to work on print layouts, web design, user interfaces for software/VR and much more.

If you would like more information, call us today.

Job posted December 2017

Rowena is a Finalist of the Natwest Venus Awards 2017!

The Finalists of the Natwest Dorset Venus Awards 2017 have been announced. Our Co-Founder, Rowena Revill, has been shortlisted for the Atlas Elektronik Inspirational Woman in Science and Technology – an award to recognise a woman who inspires others in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).

Dubbed by Channel 4 as the ‘Working Women’s Oscars”, the Natwest Venus Awards have been rewarding and celebrating Dorset women in business since 2009. Culminating with an annual National Final, the awards recognise the inspirational women who play a pivotal role in our economy.

With each year that passes, the Venus phenomenon rolls on to celebrate more women in business. These women stand up and let the world know what they do, how they do it and the challenges they face. This enables a network of inspirational women helping each other through mentoring, connections and doing business together. A spokesperson for the Natwest Venus Awards says, “Raising awareness of the successful women in our midst and publicly acknowledging them underlines the economic force women have become”.

You can find out more on the Natwest Venus Awards on their website and follow news of the Awards on Twitter: @womenawards

The Dorset Creative team proudly acknowledge Rowena’s success in the Natwest Venus Awards and her dedication to business, STEM and, her endless passion to tip the balance of men:women in this industry. We excitedly await the Black Tie Gala Awards Ceremony in November at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC).

Delivering Better Software Solutions

I’m sure you’ve heard, or experienced, stories where a product is delivered but doesn’t really do what you expected. It’s not uncommon in the software industry to find projects that fail to deliver against expectations even if they technically meet the brief.

What’s also common is cost and time overruns on development projects as the end customer and development team only collaborate at the end, once the bulk of the product has been built.

One of our quickest and most successful projects has been with Skore Labs limited. The team at Skore bring their own tried and tested methodology for process discovery which accelerated development time and greatly improved communication. While it focuses on process discovery it works extremely well for product too as most product are designed to support our business processes.

The Skore approach engages end users right at the beginning and asks them to describe how they work in the context of the wider business. The output is an easy to read integrated model that describes the key requirements for the user to achieve key objectives.

The single model is shared with the users and the development team providing a clear description of what the user expects to be able to do. The development team then define specifications and user stories from that same model.

Throughout the project changes may be required and these can be made in Skore then shared, communicated and agreed between the users and developers. The development team builds tests against the model to ensure the product delivers the expected outcomes.

The Skore discovery approach is built around a simple and fast process visualisation technique that is easy to understand and easy to read. Mapping out the product is extended to include the wider business processes to ensure the right outcomes and the right context. Different lenses are used to ensure other aspects are considered such as how decisions are made, what roles are required, what are the rules that need to be applied and so on.

This not only leads to a product that more accurately meets the needs of the users, it helps to deliver projects quicker and allows the product team to identify additional value add features that delight the users.

Contact Us to start building your next product with this proven approach.

Top 3 reasons you should invest in a mobile app

Mobile phones might not have become a must have item until the 90’s but since then they have developed and grown fast. Today more than two-thirds of adults own a smartphone and more than half use 4G to connect to the internet and that means businesses have an opportunity to grow their business and connect with their customers through mobile apps. If you’ve yet to invest in your own app offering now could be the time to get on board and embrace the benefits it could bring.

Even small businesses can benefit from investing in an app, however, many mistakenly believing that they should be left to larger companies or within certain sectors. When developed and utilised correctly, a mobile app can reflect your business’ core values and act as a call to action for both customers and potential customers, helping to drive your business forward in the digital age. Despite the myth that apps can be expensive they don’t have to be. Of course, large, complex apps can be costly but it’s possible for small businesses to create a fully functioning app that shows off their services and products without having to fork out large sums.

If you’ve yet to be convinced that your business could benefit from launching its own mobile app these are our top three reasons to invest:

1 – Create a visible marketing channel

Mobile apps allow customers to access your information and brand at a time that suits them, being permanently visible means an increased chance of customers looking at your offerings. While websites offer 24/7 accessibility too, smartphone owners spend around four-fifths of their time using their phone on applications. Creating an app that can act as an effective marketing channel can translate into a positive return on your investment and, unlike traditional marketing methods, you can update it to include your latest promotions and products.

2 – Build your brand and recognition

Your brand is an important part of your business and can improve customer loyalty. A mobile app should contribute to the awareness of your brand, building up recognition, and helping you to engage with customers through a new channel. The more you connect with customers and boost recognition the more likely you are to turn potential customers into someone making a purchase and keep your customers coming back.

3 – Develop a sales platform

From creating a simple brochure of your products to developing an immersive experience that links to services, apps can act as unique sales platforms. Apps give customers a convenient way to browse and make purchases anywhere and you can use your platform to alert customers to the latest updates, offers and events in a bid to entice them too.

5 signs your business could be ready for a digital transformation

If you’re operating in business you’ve no doubt heard of digital transformation but if you’ve dismissed the need to get on board and make changes you could be putting your business at risk. Embracing the digital can bring businesses increased opportunities and benefits but failing to implement a strategy could mean falling behind competitors and ultimately failing as others around you evolve.

Digital transformation is about effectively applying digital technology across all aspects of the business, from marketing on social media to making product decisions based on big data. Even once you’ve embraced and embedded digital tech into the core of your business it should be viewed as a constantly developing process that considers the latest developments and how to apply technology to solve problems and streamline operations.

If you notice these signs within your business it could signal that your business should be undergoing a digital transformation to thrive:

1 – There’s no one driving the digital strategy

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a chief digital officer that is driving your strategy but you do need someone to be the force behind it. If you don’t it can result in a fragmented approach or changes that are needed being delayed or not being implemented at all.

2 – Your website is old and unresponsive

Whatever sector you operate in it’s likely that your customers are online and connected through smartphones. Whether your services or products are available online or not, a modern, responsive website is a key component to driving sales and generating leads, without it you’re likely to fall behind.

3 – You’re not connecting with customer digitally

The digital age gives businesses a unique opportunity to connect with customers and it’s a tool you should be taking advantage of. From a social media presence and blog updates to marketing emails, creating a digital connection is a brilliant way to build up brand awareness and loyalty.

4 – Decisions are not based on the data you’re gathering

Businesses today collect a huge amount of invaluable information but if you’re not using the information it could hamper your progress. Utilising the information to understand what your customers want, their habits and much more means you can use the data to make informed business decisions supported by statistics.

5 – Digital technology isn’t embedded in your strategy

Digital is having an impact on every aspect of daily life and this should be reflected in your strategy. Embedding technology throughout your business means you can take advantage of the latest developments and stay at the forefront.