Analyst Developer Review

Right now I do not have a role. I have just finished a project that I worked on for 3 months; now that the project is finished, I am currently unassigned and looking for another role. When I was on the project I would get given targets that I would need to meet; the targets were very well achievable and had no struggle in meeting them. I would have daily meetings with my project team discussing our progress. I found the work boring and tedious, however, it was my first role and I have to start somewhere. Currently, being unassigned, I am running out of tasks to complete; this is good because I have more time to complete my university but bad because I am not progressing my professional development.

I have not learnt any new skills, however, I have developed existing skills. I have to balance my university work with my work at CGI, therefore, improving my time management skills. Whilst being unassigned I have been on a cyber security training course that gave me an insight to the field of cyber security. I feel I have not given the opportunity to learn new skills as the tasks that I had to complete on my previous role was not challenging.

I enjoyed the experience of being part of a team in a project and together working towards an overall objective; I also enjoyed meeting new people. I do not like the amount of pressure that us students have; we need at least a 2:1 degree. The company and course structure is not how I thought it would be, I thought we would be more independent. There are pros and cons to the programme. I feel the programme is okay at the moment. I am currently staying to see how it goes.

I do not feel that valued by the company as I do not get much praise, however, when I slip up and do something wrong, I get negative criticism. I don't feel appreciated.

I do not like the structure of the course. Every Monday I go to university, 9am to 6pm and sometimes I finish 7pm; the day is very long, tiring and is hard to concentrate throughout. There is a lot of support given, however, the course is not as independent as I would like it to be. I believe we are being monitored too much.

The university provides a good amount of support that helps us with our studies and assignments. The accessibility to the support is good, we can email our tutors and normally get a reply soon after.

I feel we do not get enough support from our employer. Once we finished our induction, we got let loose into the company not knowing where to go. I have a university mentor that who is a senior member of CGI; I find this useful at times but most of the time I feel there is no point. I feel that having a mentor is just another way for CGI to monitor us.

I believe the salary is very good; £14,000 per annum. I am living comfortable with the pay. The location of the office is very close to where I live.

There were a few social events at the beginning of the course, which was good. However, after about 2 months in, there have been no social events. I believe the company is more focused on what happens 9am to 5pm and less interested on what you do outside those hours.

Yes

I would recommend the course to a friend because overall it is a good opportunity and the pay is good.

At assessment centres, you need to stand out and make sure the assessors cant hear and understand you. You need to try and express all the different positive traits you have in those set hours. Once you have the job, you need to make sure to keep on top of university work as it is very easy to fall behind; you want to make a good impression to the company. Also, make sure to network with people; this is a good way to find new roles and learn about different things in the company.