Graduate development on real work
Experience you can verify.
Outcomes you can measure.
Kestrel turns real digital and technology challenges from universities and organisations into structured, supported projects. Graduates build evidence of what they can do. Partners get work delivered and outcomes they can report.
- Every contribution verified against a merged pull request
- Published assessment rubric
- No CV required to start
The problem
A degree should lead to more than a qualification.
Graduates meet a wall
Employers ask for practical experience. The only way to get it has been to already have it.
Universities need outcomes
Employability has to be shown, not asserted, and placements do not scale to every student.
Organisations have unfunded work
Dashboards, reviews, and digital improvements that matter but never reach the top of the list.
Kestrel connects the three
How it works
One structured process, seen from both sides.
- 1
Scope
PartnersShare a challenge; we shape it into bounded work with a clear outcome.
GraduatesJoin, tell us your availability, and start with a capped first task.
- 2
Prepare
PartnersApprove the plan and the people.
GraduatesGet oriented in the codebase, a guide for the work, and a coach to check in with.
- 3
Deliver
PartnersSee progress without managing it.
GraduatesDo the work in bounded hold windows, with support that never costs you credit.
Why Kestrel
Creating experience without demanding experience first.
Real work, not exercises
Every project is a genuine need from a partner or an active open-source codebase. Nothing is manufactured to keep people busy.
Managed delivery
Scoping, preparation, matching, progress support, and outcome review are ours. Partners get results without running a programme.
Evidence that holds up
Contributions are verified against merged pull requests and scored against a rubric anyone can read. Credentials carry a serial anyone can check.
Accessible by design
No CV, portfolio, or connections to begin. Part-time, short-term, or fixed-duration participation, in English, Kiswahili, or French.
For partners
Four ways a project creates value.
Built for universities, businesses, public bodies, and charities that believe in potential and need outcomes they can show.
- Universities:
- careers, computing schools, widening participation, graduate outcomes.
- Businesses and public sector:
- SMEs, tech companies, consultancies, councils and agencies.
- Charities and NGOs:
- community organisations, education charities, non-profit tech teams.
Graduate digital projects
- data analysis
- dashboards
- website review
- user research
- AI readiness
University employability programmes
- innovation challenges
- placements
- summer programmes
- community tech
Digital skills development
- data
- web development
- cybersecurity
- project management
Managed project delivery
- scoping
- preparation
- matching
- outcome review
Example briefs
Illustrative scopes. Case studies follow the first delivered projects; none will be invented.
- A
Student-engagement dashboard
- B
Charity website review
- C
Digital process project
- D
AI-readiness assessment
- E
Cybersecurity-awareness resource
Nest · nest.kestrelcollective.org
Where first contributions live, and keep growing.
Nest is our own open-source project. Every graduate builds a page there through real pull requests, fixes a real defect, ships to shared code, and reviews a peer. The page is theirs for good, and it fills with verified work from any project they contribute to afterwards.
The first pages are being built right now.
Contributor pages appear here as their owners publish them, and the project is open to clone now.
Start with Stage 1 on GitHubPractice on a learner's own page, contributions to Nest's shared code, and work accepted by other projects are counted and shown separately. Pages appear only when their owner publishes them. Updated from Nest release 0.1.0.
Built in the open
Evidence is built through delivery. Here is what you can check today.
The published rubric
Three competencies, three levels, observable criteria, and the scoring rules. Graduates see it before they start; partners can see what a level means.
Nest, our open-source project
Where every graduate makes their first contributions, in public, with CI, reviews, and releases anyone can inspect.
Verification, not testimonials
Every credential carries a serial that resolves to its record. Partner case studies and graduate reflections will appear here after the first projects deliver. Nothing on this page is invented.
Partner with us
Have a challenge that could become an opportunity?
Four questions to start. We reply within two working days with a short call to shape the scope, timescale, and the number of graduates. Budget and detail come later, together.
Graduates join in the app
Create an account, tell us your availability, link GitHub, and claim a first task capped small on purpose.
Join Kestrel