Reshaping the relationship between people and technology is no easy feat, but that's exactly what Endava's founders set out to do when they began building the company 23 years ago. A year ago, the UK leader in next-generation IT solutions decided to expand its operations into Poland. Its approach to sourcing new hires for global projects makes it stand out for several reasons, as the company prioritizes not only hiring, but also engagement in local community.
The need for exceptional talents
“Businesses around the world need help in digitising their operations. But global transformation will not be driven by just any IT specialist. It requires the hard work of experienced talents which do not intend just to mindlessly commit the code to the repository, but want to truly engage in the entire project, bringing all their passion and knowledge to drive change in the client's business," explains Paweł Jankowski, Delivery Location Manager (Łódź) in Endava, “Intelligent people who combine experience, expertise and talent create the smartest solutions that can drive global innovation. And that's who we want to employ in Łódź.”
The firm’s top clients are from sectors such as Payments and Financial Services, TMT, Consumer Products, Retail, Mobility and Healthcare. These are some of the fastest developing sectors nowadays, as they are embracing the power of digital transformation to strengthen the quality and delivery of their existing offering, propose entirely new products or services, as well as improve their customer experience. This cannot be done without the help of Łódź-based IT talent. Brands supported by Endava’s employees across the globe include exciting companies such as Volkswagen, Hellenic Bank and Santander Group – this demonstrates the high bar that has been set.
“Łódź is an exciting city. Its great quality of life, as well as IT engineers that are well-educated by local universities – all of this strengthens local talent pool. We treat our presence here not as merely an opportunity to source new hires, but also as a commitment to the local community in which these employees are active on a daily basis. We are looking for the best talent out there that is able to deliver world-class out-of-box solutions, but also to support their development both inside the company and outside – in the city of Łódź,” says Paweł Jankowski, Delivery Unit Manager (Łódź) in Endava.
All-in-one project team
Since May last year, Endava has been hiring in its Łódź office. The company’s employees across Poland include specialists from almost all IT specializations. This way of hiring allows the team members to bring in the skills needed to fill all roles required in a typical IT project, which means Endava is able to deliver comprehensive initiatives for its clients covering the entire software development life-cycle.
Sometimes this means even taking on typical client-side roles, such as product owner or infrastructure architect. Such set-up gives the freedom to explore all possible solutions to create the one that truly meets the needs of the client and allows the employees to act as esteemed IT consultants rather than just simple code committers.
Local community involvement
Endava's commitment to local communities is reflected in the events it organises and participates in, bringing the culture of knowledge sharing from internal events such as Pass it on meetings or Tech Talks to the outside audience. Over the past 12 months, Endava organised three meet-ups for local IT communities across the country, including two in Łódź which were focused on discussing quantification of results and Java. Endava also participated in the industry events across Poland, including Łódź-based DevConf.
Nurturing local talent means also encouraging young people with potential – that’s why Endava funded two scholarships within “Młodzi in Łodzi” programme. Two exceptionally talented students of IT-related programmes at Łódź universities received extra funds to help them in their study and career path. The goal of programme is to provide the youth with opportunities to grow in the local environment of Łódź region and contribute to its further development.
In Łódź, Endava is committed to continue providing similar networking and scholarship opportunities, as well as growing roles in its team. The company's rapid growth, with revenues in 2022 up by almost half on the previous year, means that this year IT engineers from Łódź will have access to many exciting opportunities to work with global companies.
