I joined Acturis as a C# User Interface developer in November 2015. I had no C# experience before, but the training courses and projects have given me a good route to build up my skills. In addition to this, all teammates are friendly and motivated. You can always ask questions and everyone is willing to help you.

As a developer, I can develop my skills based on my own interests, e.g. choosing either the tech or management career path, while the regular written feedback will let me be aware of what and how I am doing. This will help point me in the right direction.

The company can provide visa sponsorship for international graduates. The office was helpful during the whole application process, so there is no need to worry about admin stuff.

It is nice to start my career with such a good company after graduating from university. If you think this sounds nice to you, you’re welcome to join the Acturis community!

I finished university with a degree in Chemical Engineering knowing I really wanted to work in IT and was more than happy to join Acturis after being approached by a recruitment agent.

I started out at the company as a Technical Business Analyst working on the reporting solution we offer alongside the Acturis application. While I loved the opportunity this provided for problem solving and project management, I knew that I really wanted to be a Software Developer. Fortunately, the company was more than happy for me to change to the team who develop the main Acturis user interface, and they’ve helped me grow from knowing some basic coding to being a fully-fledged developer. I’m always being pushed and they have really helped me reach my full potential.

Probably the best part of the job is the people I work with – they’re some of the nicest people I’ve met and they’re always willing to help you out with anything. There are also plenty of opportunities for trips to the pub and going out for lunch, which really allows us to make the most of our central London location. On top of that, there’s a budget for socials which has seen us do things from escape rooms and crazy golf to laser tag and go karting.

I can think of no better place to start a career than Acturis.

I started working for Acturis straight from university about a year ago and I have really enjoyed my time here so far. I applied through a recruiter and had an interview in the London office a couple of weeks later. At the interview, I completed a short test and some coding exercises.

The work is very interesting, even if you don’t know much about insurance, and there are always new challenges. I work in the Integration Team as a Software Developer, working to build bespoke products and features for our clients. We focus on building reliable solutions in a timely manner, without sacrificing the quality of our code. I have learnt so much during my time here and I am still learning more and more every day. You are eased in to the work with training exercises and smaller tasks until you feel comfortable enough to move on to bigger projects.

We have team meetings regularly to keep us updated on what other people are working on that we might find interesting and we have the opportunity to give talks to the team about new tools or processes that we have found useful. Every four months you are given a set of targets, and you meet with your unit leader regularly to let them know how you are getting on with your workload and if there are any ongoing or upcoming projects that you might like to take part in.

The work atmosphere here is great. Everyone is very easy to talk to and very helpful. Team leaders are approachable and encourage you to give feedback. There is also a great social element; we have team lunches, nights out, hackathons and drinks at the pub quite regularly, which made getting to know everyone much easier when you first start working here.

I applied through a recruiter as part of the first round of recruitment for the new Birmingham office and was offered the position soon after. When I joined the office was very small – only 9 of us - so it felt like quite a tight-knit group which I liked as an introduction to working life, but there are a host of events/activities that people have organised for themselves – in Birmingham we have a thriving board game club, 5-a-side football team, card game groups, field games and bake-off events.

From my graduate background, I had limited computing-related skills but was very keen to develop these skills. Our initial training covered a lot of Acturis-specific processes (naturally) but there was also a range of more generic technical skills which I found very useful to know, and there was some satisfaction to be had in slowly learning and piecing together how the complex technical systems that I’d be interacting with worked in their entirety. Coding had always been a bit of a hobby for me, so I voiced early that I would like to be placed in a more technical role focussing on team-wide infrastructure and tooling rather than a more client-facing role. I was given the chance by spending 6 months in a transitionary phase where I slowly shifted the focus of my work to the infrastructure unit - it was great to hear that such a move was possible and that my preferences for career direction were catered for (even so early on). I have since seen that that there are many opportunities to move between units and even different roles.

Acturis is never dull. I’ve worked two years providing support for our desktop level machines and our development and production environmental hardware, which is a large scope of experience. Now I’m working towards being a Systems Engineer developing our internal deployment processes and managing our back-end servers, which shows the breadth of skills you develop here.

I had a face-to-face interview with one of our technical architects and one of our senior engineers, who wanted to see what I knew but also my approach to solving problems. I then also had a telephone interview with my Unit Leader who just wanted to see what I was like, and after determining that I laugh a lot, they brought me on board!

Every day there is something new to do, something that needs building or something that needs a solution. And when that’s done, we’re constantly looking to make things better and more efficient. We often discuss how we can make things better, what we want to change within the team to improve our work environment, and our Unit Leader listens to us and helps to implement these changes. You find you have a big impact on the company as a whole because of this from day one!

Because of the wide scope, I work with almost every person in the company, and I can honestly say there’s not a person I’ve not liked. Sometimes I think they’re just being nice because they’ve spilt water on their laptop, but it’s because Acturis is good at picking like-minded people who get along after work as well as during.

My team has always been open, friendly, and always willing to help.

One of my favourite things about Acturis is the variety of work and technologies I’m exposed to – I can safely say I’ve never had a day when I felt bored, which is something I think is important in order to avoid the ‘burnout’ that I’ve seen become more common among sysadmins elsewhere. In our team we manage so many parts of the infrastructure that it’s easy to find something you can learn to love working on, and you have the opportunity to make real, tangible improvements to the company that are really satisfying to see in motion.

Acturis largely only hires recent university graduates so most of your colleagues are around your age, which helps you click a lot better with the rest of your team, as well as making it a little less daunting to approach people from around the company with your questions. I’ve made plenty of friends that I’ve kept in touch with even after some of them left the company.

There’s also a lot of opportunity for professional growth – if you are willing to put in the effort, you can quickly reach more senior positions and be given responsibilities like managing others in the team and being trusted with the production application infrastructure. I made it known that I was interested in scripting and automation, and after a series of projects where I demonstrated my improving knowledge in the area, I’ve been tasked with overhauling our whole script harnessing solution, which I’m looking forward to tackling in the coming months.

The training week was challenging as we learned the many functionalities of the application and how to use it but the training was well organised and clear allowing the process to be a little less daunting. When not learning the functionalities of the application, we sat with our Helpdesk colleagues to gain experience in talking to our clients and helping them resolve their issues.

At Acturis, the working environment is friendly where communication is encouraged between teams so that the work that we do is efficient and enables all parties to learn from our peers. Support is always there when you need it, colleagues are always more than willing to help thereby creating an office culture that is welcoming for all new joiners and resulting in tasks being less intimidating as a new joiner.

At Acturis, we have regular reviews with our team leaders that allow us to look back on what we have done well and the points to improve on. The targets set for us every four months are clear and achievable. The company cares about the progress we make as individuals and positions in other technical teams are often offered to us after becoming an experienced member of the Helpdesk team. Alternatively, the position of unit leader can be offered as another route of progression.

Coming from a Medical Science background at University, I was unfamiliar with insurance and IT but Acturis was able to provide me with the training that allowed me to learn and progress as a member of the Helpdesk. This included training sessions during the work week where we are able to familiarise ourselves with SQL - which was something I had never come across before. As well as this, we were also given the opportunity to enrol on the Foundation Insurance course, which allowed greater understanding of the insurance business in general as well as providing context to the work we do here at Acturis.

I initially joined Acturis two years ago after moving to London following completion of my degree. The interview process was very laid back, starting with a short GMAT test and then three separate interviews from people in three different areas of the company. I heard back within a week and joined Acturis a couple of months later in the Application team.

The first few days were spent having a general induction to the Acturis system, along with seven other new joiners. The great thing about Acturis is that there are always new people starting so you’re never that new for long! Once the induction was over I joined the team I was to be working with and assigned a mentor who would be my main source of support over the coming months. I started by assisting other members of the team with their projects while I gained knowledge before moving onto my own, all the time with people around to ask questions should I need to.

There is always more to learn, this is one of the things I enjoy most about my job. Since joining two years ago I have subsequently moved to the new Acturis Birmingham office, which is smaller but is growing rapidly! I have been given more responsibility and lots of opportunity to mentor newer members of the team. As well as that I am now involved in the recruitment process myself which is interesting, it feels strange to be on the other side of the interview!

On the social side, there are always events going on from board game nights to crazy golf. Because Acturis primarily recruit graduates, the average age in the company is very young so there are always people ready for a night out! The last Friday of the month we have ‘Big Drinks’ where the tab is on the company, always a popular event. And every year there are two company-wide parties, one at Christmas time and the other in the summer. Everyone gets dressed up and enjoys an evening of dinner, drinks and dancing… followed by a not so fantastic morning!

When I first heard about the opportunity at Acturis, I honestly had no idea who Acturis were or what they did, but I was intrigued by the combination of the Insurance and technology industries. When I turned up to the interview, I didn’t know quite what to expect. Although previous interview experiences I had were fine, it wasn’t until Acturis that I actually enjoyed an interview. The office was full of young graduates and you just got the impression of a relaxed atmosphere, though this wasn’t actually the reason that I enjoyed my interview. Acturis approaches interviews in a very logical way, where members of different teams run through a series of tests and case studies which would be relevant to the work you would be doing here. This meant that I was being judged on my ability to logically problem solve an issue which I could come across in my job, rather than my ability to produce rehearsed answers to questions I have prepared for.

I joined as a Technical Business Analyst in a team of four, specialising in designing and buildings reports and dashboards. Three years on and I have come a long way. I am now considered a senior member of the team (which has expanded to a team of six), I have my own areas of responsibility and I am still learning all the time. While working at Acturis, I have been accorded the opportunity to attend training courses in areas I wanted to specialise in and have been allowed to set aside time every month for self-improvement. As Acturis is a market-leader in its field, you do get the benefit of excellent training but in return the company has high expectations of your work, which means I still face new challenges all the time in the role I’ve been doing or three years.

The highlights of my time at Acturis have been the team and company socials. Every year we go on multiple expensed socials with our team which have recently included activities such as crazy golf, escape rooms and even curling. The socials and other benefits at Acturis are great but the reason I stay at Acturis is that everyone here wants to help each other, I enjoy the challenging work and I feel valued by my team.

The initial introduction to the company and system was complemented by a significant amount of personalised training within the team. While this official learning period lasted a few weeks, in practice I am continually learning new aspects of how the system works. To bolster this continual personal development, Acturis has regular review periods which are used to evaluate the performance of employees, praise areas in which each employee has excelled and identify key areas for development.

This was the position I soon found myself in, and by the end of my first year with the company my reviews were such that I was able to jump ahead to a higher level than would be usual at that stage. This in turn gave me the drive to push myself to a higher level in the following year to prove that I was worthy of the jump.

While Acturis pushes its employees to be the best they can, there is also a clear focus on maintaining a healthy work-life balance. This comes primarily in the form of regular social events organised and paid for by the company, including a budget for regular team socials and company-organised summer and Christmas parties. I’ve found that these events are a good way of getting to know other people in the company, and have built long-lasting friendships because of them.

While I couldn’t have possibly known it at the time, accepting the job at Acturis was probably the best decision I could have made from both a personal and professional perspective, and I am continually thankful that the company was able to see in me the potential.

When I first came to London, I wasn’t sure I wanted a role in the city, but a recruiter set me up with an interview for Acturis and I went for it. I had a year’s worth of customer service experience under my belt, so although this wasn’t a prerequisite, it stood me in good stead for my first role as Technical Support Analyst.

Through this role I built a foundation of knowledge across all areas of the system, increasing my confidence and technical abilities. After developing into a valued member of the support team, I was then asked to interview for a more technical role. This ended up having the perfect combination of technical challenges as well as keeping the customer facing elements that I had so far enjoyed.

As a Technical Business Analysist, my role is focused around building technical requirements with Insurers and implementing those solutions, however I also experience a much wider range of skills such as project management, training and sales. I work specifically in the unit looking after Speciality insurance, dealing in lines such as Cyber and Terrorism. Not only is it exciting to be part of the newer developments in the industry, often the teams dealing with these lines are smaller, therefore it is up to you to sell and manage the project with them, rather than relying on dedicated project managers and other BAs. This makes for much more varied and interesting work.

Outside of my client work, I am also part of a small group dedicated to constantly improving the training program within my team. This gave me good exposure to more senior members of the team and it was great to be given the opportunity to be a part of something I have always been passionate about, ever since I started tutoring maths when I was at school. I also now directly manage/mentor 3 people, as well as help 2 of these further mentor someone else. This is another fulfilling and rewarding part of my job, adding further variety to my day to day.

There can be a lot of pressure when you have to strike the balance between customer demand and technical work, but Acturis has helped me develop the skills to manage this, allowing for greater satisfaction when a project is complete.

Combining all of this, with the great social side Acturis has to offer, has meant my move to London has most certainly paid off.

I found Acturis through an advert by a recruitment company on a job website. After discussing the role with the recruiter, I heard back within a few days and was asked to come in for an interview. The focus of each interview was on a different case study that covered roles within the Technical Business Analyst job title. This helped to give me a better insight into the type of work I could be doing at Acturis and also helped them to decide in which team I would be a best fit. I received an offer the next day, so the interview process at Acturis was quite straight forward and fast.

At Acturis it is important to understand the Acturis application, so the first 2.5 days at the company are spent being taught the basics on the application, insurance in general and how clients use Acturis, along with the other new joiners to the company. The remainder of the training is less formal and more on-the-job. While it was a lot to learn at first, I felt I could ask as many questions as I needed and everyone was always very helpful and friendly with answering them. Within a couple of months, I began to feel comfortable working more independently and slowly became more confident. After a year, I was able to help to train new employees.

There are frequent social events at Acturis – ranging from company events to socials within a team. Every month, the company offers drinks at a local pub and puts a tab behind the bar, which is a nice way to unwind after a busy month. Every summer and Christmas, Acturis organises a party for each of the offices, where we will have a sit-down meal, dance and generally have a fun time. Each team is given a yearly social budget, which allows us to have various different and interesting events – in the past year, my team has organised socials such as an escape room, crazy golf and a pub quiz. They are always great fun and an opportunity to interact more with people you do not generally get the chance to at work. In my unit, we also try to have a social together at least once a month, ranging from ice skating to laser quest, or our fall back of board game night.

I had initially applied for a Technical Business Analyst role through a recruitment agency and was quickly invited for an interview soon after. After the interview, I received a phone call from the agency to let me know that I wasn’t quite suited for the role but there was another which would be available to me if I was interested. I decided that I would like to try for the alternative role of Technical Support Analyst. I was successful and received an offer to start the next week if that was suitable for me. My initial training took place in London which lasted a week and was with all of the new joiners who I would be working with in the new office.

At the brand new office, there were initially only nine of us working. I found it to be a warm and friendly working environment in which many of us were embarking on our first career opportunity. The environment, is quite a collaborative one in which we work together toward the same goal - to provide a great service. At the time, the rest of my colleagues within my team would be located in the London office. Despite working in a different location, we were still able to communicate effectively via Skype, Email and occasionally over the phone. Colleagues in London made a great effort to ensure that they were available to answer any queries we had and address any concerns. Since the office opened two years ago, it has expanded to nearly 60 people and so there are now many colleagues to support the development of any new joiners.

I found my development to be given great importance which was demonstrated by the level of support we were given as well as the opportunities presented. I took a qualification that allowed me to gain an understanding of the insurance market. This, I found to be particularly useful when talking to clients and understanding what they were trying to achieve through the Acturis Application. We are also given time to set aside each week to work on an area to further our development, for example learning how to use new software. As mentioned, development is something which is given great importance, positions in other teams are offered as a route of progression. An alternative route offered is becoming a unit leader and being given the opportunity of managing and developing your own team, which is the role I am currently doing.