Wren Kitchens is a family owned manufacturer and retailer of fitted kitchens, with headquarters based in the picturesque town of Barton-upon-Humber. You’ve most likely come across the brand name before, perhaps from visiting a Wren Kitchens showroom in your local city or spotting one of their adverts on your TV, and while you may think that this company is all about Kitchens, there is some pretty cool stuff happening behind the scenes in their tech team! IT enables everything that Wren Kitchens does, and their 70 strong in-house software development team is driving success and innovation for the company every day. Due to exciting growth Wren Kitchens is now looking for a number of people skilled in PHP (Junior to Senior levels) to help build upon their previous success and support their upcoming £120 million expansion plans, and here are just 8 reasons why you should apply:
We caught up with the developers at Wren and spoke to Simon Hayre and Harri Pritchard to learn more about why they love working in the Wren Tech Team.
If you want to join a company where you can progress through both your own career and development of your technical ability then Wren Kitchens could be the place for you. Offering support and development through both mentoring, on-site resources and external events (such as SymfonyLive), developers at Wren Kitchens are encouraged to stay up to date with the latest technologies and constantly learn new skills. In the tech team you will meet lots of Senior PHP Developers who started their journeys at Wren as a graduate, Simon Hayre told us a little about his journey at Wren:
“I originally started off as a graduate developer and very quickly worked my way up to senior level after my skills were pushed and then were recognised by management. I very quickly made my way up through the roles to a senior position. As a graduate with some industry experience there were still a lot of skills that I lacked when I first started here, but I very quickly picked up on those whilst working at Wren and gained the experience required to be able to progress in my career.”
Wren have also recently announced a brand-new IT academy aimed at bringing computer science and technical graduates on board to develop in both PHP and JavaScript focused roles, which will contribute enormously to their growth plans for the tech team.
Technology is always highly ranked as one of the biggest motivators to move for developers, because most technical candidates want to be working with the latest platforms and technologies. Wren Kitchens pride themselves on genuinely embracing and implementing cutting edge tech (not just preaching that they do like some organisations!) and it’s something that their employees love about working for Wren. Simon Hayre said:
“At Wren we are working with the most up to date version of PHP (PHP 7.2), and all of our code bases are using that. We are also using RabbitMQ which allows us to queue up jobs, and a lot of other companies do not have the resources, the investment in tech and amount of knowledge involved to implement newer technologies like this. We are also using Docker, which again a lot of other companies aren’t using because they’re not able to move as quickly as Wren do to adopt these technologies. If you want to use the latest technology and learn new skills, you’ve got to join Wren!”
Visit the Wren Tech job portal to check out the full list of technologies that their teams are using right now!
Nobody wants to be bored in work, and while it may sound like a cliché, when you speak to all of the developers at Wren everyone genuinely agrees that the variety of projects they get to work on (combined with being able to use the latest tech) is what makes them love their job so much. We heard more about this from Harri Pritchard:
“For me what makes Wren a great place to work has always been trying new things and working on new projects rather than doing the same work all the time. I’ve got a few friends working in other companies who are in programming who talk about being stuck on the same projects, whereas here what I do in the mornings could be a completely different project to what I’m doing in the afternoon, there is a real diversity of projects I get to work on. There’s always something on, something you can do or something that could be improved upon that is interesting to look at!”
Wren have PHP opportunities for projects surrounding their Customer Services & Manufacturing Systems, Retail and Compliance Teams as well as other business functions too.
Everyone wants to work in an environment where they get on well with their colleagues and everyone is friendly and supportive of one another, and that is definitely something that is true for the Wren Tech team! Simon Hayre spoke about this to us:
“The reason I joined Wren Kitchens was to use the latest technology in a friendly environment. The social events that we have here make a big difference, even ones out of office hours, because it gives you that team feel that you are working together to solve issues. You can go up to anyone in the department and ask them for advice and everyone is always willing to help. Nobody has ever been turned away or refused help in the tech team!”
If you are someone that needs to work in a bustling busy city, then Wren Kitchens might not be the company for you. If however you prefer to work somewhere with more of a rural feel, stunning countryside views and a simpler commute to work (did we mention FREE on-site parking?) then you should definitely check out Wren Kitchens. Their HQ (cleverly dubbed “The Nest”) is set in the pretty village of Barton-upon-Humber, with lots of local amenities and stunning grounds surrounding Wren’s vast offices. Simon Hayre said:
“I live over in Hessle so I enjoy being able to cycle to work from home, which takes me about 35 minutes. We have two on-site gyms here with showers so you can freshen up before you start work if you do choose to cycle in, and it’s a great way to wake up in the morning and start your day!”
If you are looking for a cool working environment then The Nest will tick your boxes! Not only does the tech team have it’s own floor where employees work comfortably from modern desks with the latest technology, employees also have access to a range of spacious meeting rooms and communal areas to make their days in work as comfortable as possible. Offices are temperature controlled to cope with those hot summer days, and on site you’ll find plenty of cool amenities including cash machines, subsidised canteens (offering both healthy and more indulgent food choices), an on-site gym and more! Glass fronted offices in the IT department provide stunning views of the gardens surrounding the Wren Nest as well as the impressive Humber bridge, a far cry from a lot of city centre offices you might have experienced before!
Wren Kitchens is a company that is at the top of its game, recently announcing a £120 million investment due to their incredible growth and success, there are lots of exciting things in the pipeline for the Wren Tech Team! Simon Hayre told us how the job security from a company like Wren Kitchens was a big motivator for him to join:
“One of the reasons I chose to come to Wren Kitchens was the security of working for a company that was so big and so successful in the market. I have worked for smaller companies previously, and working at Wren was a no brainer really!”
Learn more about Wren’s success here.
At the Wren Tech Team, you will find the perfect balance of joining a large and successful company but still feeling valued and able to make an impact in a way that you would working as part of a smaller team too. Simon Hayre said:
“Every employee in our tech team is valued and everyone here can make a genuine impact. Even if there is one person missing from a team it’s easily felt, especially on-shore as sprints do easily fall behind. Luckily, we work in an environment where everyone is always willing to help out, so you won’t be snowed under. Everyone is willing to chip in and help out.”
It’s clear from speaking to the Wren Tech employees that it’s a great team to be a part of, and it’s no surprise that they were voted Indeed’s Number 1 Top-Rated Retailer to work for, and Indeed’s Number 2 Top-Rated Workplace in the UK, second only to Apple! If you like the sound of Wren Tech Life then visit our job portal today!
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-June 20, 2019
