Graduate Recruitment Campaign

How did you come to Sinara?

Nicole: I started here as a graduate software engineer in 2014, the autumn after completing my Computer Science degree.

Jake: First encountered programming during my Mathematics degree at the University of Bath. It was one of the most enjoyable parts of my degree and so I decided to pursue a career in software development. This choice was further established by my placement in developing customised indices. In my final year of university, I found the graduate job opportunity at Sinara. It seemed an excellent fit, combining development and finance, and willing to take on graduates without a degree in Software Engineering. Fortunately, I was successful and have been working at Sinara since September 2020.

Emily: I applied to Sinara in my final year of university and was offered the job around February 2024, after a few rounds of interviews. I started my role in September 2024 with 3 other graduates and was able to jump into a large project straight away.

Bob: I joined Sinara after working as a maths teacher for 10 years. I knew I wanted to move into Software Engineering and had a few specific requirements. Firstly, I wanted to join a small company, where I wouldn’t get lost among thousands of others. Secondly, I wanted a hybrid working pattern, for a better work-life balance than teaching allowed. Finally, I wanted to join a graduate program, as I had no experience with commercial software engineering and wanted the support this offered. Sinara ticked all three boxes for me, and I was really impressed with the thoroughness of the technical interview that I was happy to accept when the offer came through.

What projects have you worked on?

Nicole: I’ve worked on a variety of things across the whole tech stack – Sinara R&D initiatives as well as bespoke systems. That includes a trading calendar, a website for viewing up-to-the-minute market data, and various back-end applications for interfacing with third-party systems.

Jake: During my time at Sinara I have worked on futures and options pricing for the LME, a system to expedite the delivery of agricultural contracts for Euronext and ongoing development and improvement of internal libraries. All the projects have been challenging but provide many opportunities for learning, both in improving my skills as a developer and in understanding the businesses we develop for.

Emily: When I began at Sinara, I did a lot of work on our TLC applications. The key features I worked on were market data and accounts, with experience across the whole tech stack and even some feature design work. Later, I started working on a big upgrade for the LME’s systems – as well as some smaller LME projects where I was the only developer. These experiences all gave me a lot of insight into commodities trading technology as well as coding best practises, which are forever evolving as we introduce more things to our tech stack. I feel like I am still learning something new every day!

Bob: All of the projects I have worked on are part of the SinaraTLC system. This isn’t that surprising – it’s a large system and even though all my work has been on the same system I have gained experience across the frontend and the backend, and in different business domains, too.

How much support have you received?

Nicole: Throughout my time at Sinara, I’ve always found people willing to share their experience and help each other with solving problems. I’ve learnt a lot from my colleagues, whether about the trading business we work with, about the technologies we use, or about running software projects effectively. As a senior developer and team lead, I now get to be part of passing that on to new developers; I spend my time training and mentoring our junior staff as well as designing and developing software myself.

Jake: Having had limited exposure to software development before starting at Sinara, I was concerned I would be out of my depth when coming to the company. When I raised this concern and asked if there were any good resources to use to get started, Sinara offered to pay for a subscription to a training platform. With this resource and the 2-week induction period, I felt much more confident when starting project work. Frequent catch ups and appraisals are held to inform you of your progress and areas to develop, and the project leaders are always looking for opportunities to improve the skills of junior developers within projects.

Emily: From the beginning of my time here I was assigned a Buddy who I could reach out to for help, this included coding questions but also support with settling into a new company. All the other developers are very helpful and were happy to answer my questions. We also have dedicated tech leads on most of the projects at Sinara, so there is always an expert you can reach out to if you get stuck. Another good thing we have at Sinara is Professional Development Managers (PDMs) who you can talk to about anything including your career goals and how you feel about the projects you are working on.

Bob: There is a mix of both structured and unstructured support. There are monthly training sessions to help you to improve as a developer, and a chance to sit down with a Senior Software Engineer every two weeks. Everyone is happy to talk through an issue with you, or explain a domain that you might be unfamiliar with. Code reviews are done constructively, but there is also the chance for feedback on a design before you begin coding a complicated feature which makes the whole process less daunting.

What is it like working here?

Nicole: I really enjoy working at Sinara. Because we are a consultancy working with a mix of client projects, I never feel like I’ve been doing a single thing for too long; and because we are a small company, I get a great sense of the “big picture” and can understand where the work I’m doing fits into that.

Jake: From the start it was clear that Sinara cares about the wellbeing of employees. During the Covid-19 pandemic there was a focus on mental health, with weekly ‘coffee mornings’ and ‘afternoon teas’ used to give us all a chance to socialise and take our minds off work. Now we are returning to the office the company is offering lunch on Tuesdays, perhaps to encourage everyone to roll out of bed for the ‘all hands’ day. The management is keen to hear the opinions of its employees – there are monthly surveys to allow anonymous feedback and questions to management, and recently a question on the company’s environmental policy kickstarted a review.