Looking back over 2020

This year it is more important than ever to celebrate our achievements despite all the challenges thrown our way. We leave 2020 on a high, and look forward to a well earned break!

• 18 December 2020
• By Maria Bell
•  Announcements

2020 has been one of the most challenging years we’ve faced as a company. Like the rest of the UK, we closed the office towards the end of February, and have been working remotely ever since. Whilst working remotely is common practice within the digital sector, juggling the impacts of a pandemic, managing multiple pivots and trying to plan in a constantly changing environment certainly provided some hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, in true Mesomorphic style we rose to the challenge and we are ending the year on a high. We are celebrating our 5th birthday, our growing network of collaborators, progress with Silicon Croft and our hard work throughout the year.

We were delighted to win the 2019 SME News Business Award for Best Software Development Company in Scotland, and again for 2020. We are shortlisted for the Amazon Rural Business Award for Innovation, for our innovative approach with Silicon Croft. The winners will be announced at an online awards event early next year. Our client, SnapDragon won the Queen’s Award for Innovation and the Digital SME of the Year Award. Congratulations again, SnapDragon!

We were delighted to be asked by ScotlandIS to join the Tech Sector Workplace Guidance Group with the Scottish Government to help shape the Guidance for the technology sector on safe re-opening during the coronavirus pandemic document. We are now members of the Technical Expert Group with SDS to help develop the new Apprenticeship in Digital Technology and a member of the Industry group for the new Digital Skills Hub for South of Scotland. We represented SMEs on the Business Barometer Panel with the Open University and provided a case study which looked at skills development and apprenticeships across the UK.

Earlier in the year we recorded a video for Robert Gordon University and a podcast for the Open University which focused on our experiences as mentors as discussed the qualities employers look for in apprentices and junior roles. Our apprentices, Finlay and Jacob have both been making great progress with their qualifications and they are now in their third and second years respectively. In recognition of their hard work and our commitment to support apprentices, we were named the DIGIT Apprentice Employers of the Month in October.

The school closures impacted our usual intake of work placements and student engagement. Unfortunately, our students from the Voss ERASMUS exchange were only with us for a few days before they had to return to Norway before the borders closed! Our solution here was to develop and deliver our first remote work experience placement with Rhona, which was a great success!

We have been working with various groups across Scotland to continue our efforts to inspire and support the next generation of software developers. We have become Digital World Champions with Skills Development Scotland, we have presented to CodeClan,and provided learning lunches with UHI and the local college.

To celebrate our 5th birthday, we participated in the Remote Rocket challenge hosted by Games Without Frontiers. It was a fantastic night, which certainly challenged us and we would definitely recommend it as a team building activity!

All in all, it’s been a busy year for us and we look forward to building on our achievements next year. We have secured funding from the Scottish Funding Council to work with UHI on our Algorismus project and we hope to provide some exciting opportunities for Shetland students. We also have plans for some joint events next year, so please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up to date with our announcements. We wish you all the best for the festive season, and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!