Absolutely would not recommend - Academy Consultant Ten10 Employee Review

Ten10 is not a company I’d want to work for again. I’ll provide a brief picture of the Academy experience to better illustrate the problems manifest at Ten10. There are Academy Consultants and then there are Ten10 Employees(wellbeing, consultants, sales, executive team, trainers, etc). The “other” is paid, treated and viewed like traditional employees while Academy Consultants are a product to be marketed regardless of their input, personal feelings, ambitions or capabilities. From the potential Academy Consultant’s perspective, they make a strong proposition. They hire candidates from all backgrounds including non-tech. From their website they list opportunities as such: “...Become a qualified and experienced Software Tester, Developer, Business Analyst, or a specialist in RPA, Cyber Security, BI /Data Analysis, Project Management or DevOps...” On paper, this is an amazing opportunity because it advertises agency and range of opportunity. The interview process is also straightforward. These new hires are taken into the Ten10 Academy Programme which consists of 7 weeks core training (broad) and specialised training to follow that can range anywhere from 2-5 weeks. The first 2 weeks are in person at the Leeds office before going remote for the rest of the training, bar the Americans who had to stay in the Leeds houses. Throughout training, I often felt that there was a lack of trust from certain managers, regardless of personal engagement. One of their main selling points is the “soft skills” they develop in their academy. Without going into details, I believe the manner in which it is currently implemented is inconsistent and unfair for a wide variety of reasons, hurting those who deserve better scores and bumping others who manage to say the right thing at the right time. Ultimately, I believe your desired role does not matter. In my experience, Core felt more like an evaluation period than comprehensive training for the advertised roles. Of course, that means tech-background people are going to be invited to Software Development training and a non-tech background won’t have the option. Of the advertised careers, only three were offered: Software Developer, BA, and Data Analysis. Even after specialising in one area and doing skill development courses online, they will try and force you to accept the jobs they have on hand, which are, more often than not, low level service desk and software testing roles that lean far too heavily into client systems lacking transferable skills when you look to further your career. Despite knowledge of your career aspirations and skills, I remember regularly hearing, “Remember, keep an open mind.” During training, I was under the impression that they were encouraging the idea that you were unable to refuse a client placement or that at the very least, it was incredibly frowned upon. The sales team is responsible for finding clients. That being said, you may be on the bench for up to a year without a client. Here are the rates during training and bench: Brits: £400 a month Americans: $36k and $45k respectively The following is solely intended to be taken as personal opinion. I often felt that the sales interactions resembled the stereotypical hard-sell approach, which made most interactions very unpleasant. I never felt that they took your concerns or input into consideration, rather that they wanted to make a sale. It also felt like sales oversells the capabilities of Academy Consultants to potential clients. When meeting virtually to discuss a potential opportunity, they sell the position to you, promising things like industry-cutting career potential, high future salaries, accelerated company status, etc. Let me be clear, if you need to sell a role with more pay to a full-time employee bleeding money on the bench, that’s an opportunity to run from. In my experience, the current model contributed to employees feeling unhappy and stressed while working client-side. Also, keep your excitement for newly mentioned roles and opportunities to a minimum. It’s very possible you’ll never hear about it again. Months after training, much of my cohort were still waiting for placements on the bench making only £400 a month. One academy with about 20 consultants saw only 8 placed within the first full year. The 2 ARC “representatives” elected by the cohort are trying their best to negotiate better, sustainable terms, but it felt like Ten10 management was not responsive to these efforts. It’s a position of faux authority. Academy Consultants placed on the client side are often neglected by Ten10. Certain conversations with employees made me uncomfortable, particularly regarding discussions about others’ performance behind their backs. To summarize, I believe that the success of the Ten10’s Academy Programme is heavily dependent on placing Academy Consultants into roles that may not align with their skills, career goals or interests. It doesn’t matter that you’re making £400 “bursary” monthly, it doesn’t matter that you are terrible at and despise testing. If there’s a testing role available, you may be strongly encouraged to take it. Either that or you’ll get ignored entirely and/or receive no interviews like some have. Ten10 deducts a portion of the client payment, which is not disclosed to consultants, leaving the remainder as your compensation. While they can’t legally force you to remain in the 2 year contract, I often felt that messaging around the contract exits was strongly discouraging leaving. It’s important to note that, legally, employees are free to leave despite company messaging that may dissuade you otherwise.