The Challenge

 

Debenhams faced a critical need to rebuild their e-commerce infrastructure from a monolithic legacy platform to a modern microservices architecture. They required 8 specialised engineers with skills in Java, React, Node.js, and DevOps. However, as a retail brand competing with tech giants, they struggled to attract talent, facing 4-6 month recruitment timelines that jeopardised their launch deadlines.

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The Solution

 

CodeVerse designed a comprehensive 8-week academy specifically for retail e-commerce. The curriculum covered the full tech stack (Java, Spring, Microservices) alongside retail-specific context like digital strategy and customer experience. The programme included a real-world capstone project focused on "click & collect" optimisation to ensure immediate business relevance.​​

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Results & Business Outcomes
 

• Speed to Value: The team was contributing to production code within 5 weeks of academy completion.

• Delivery Success: The platform launch was delivered on schedule despite initial recruitment delays.

• Retention: 100% of the team transitioned to permanent roles after 12 months.

• Diversity: 67% of the squad came from non-traditional backgrounds (e.g., career changers from retail/hospitality), bringing valuable customer empathy to technical decisions.

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Client Testimonial

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"The CodeVerse team didn't just bring technical skills—they brought genuine understanding of our customers. That combination of technical capability and customer empathy made them invaluable during our platform rebuild. We've since hired additional professionals through CodeVerse because the model simply works." — Adam Clarke, CTO, Debenhams