SAP Applications Consultant Apprentice Review

As a SAP Applications Consultant Apprentice, I spend most of of my time working with an EPR suite known as SAP, alongside teams within the UK and abroad, solving incidents for the customer, and implementing changes to their system. Other than this, I assist with project management for another account, creating and submitting project plans and ensuring everyone has the correct access rights and training to carry out their role

As part of the apprenticeship, a week every 6 weeks or so is spent in a classroom learning a variety of skills, some of which built upon things learned in school, while others were completely new. They covered topics ranging from planning the IT infrastructure for major companies, to coding, to project planning and ITIL. Overall I was a little disappointed with the simplicity and broad scope of what was covered, although I understand this is necessary as the course was designed for people from a wide range of backgrounds going into a wide range of roles

While I enjoy the occasional challenges my work presents me, and I feel I fit well into my teams and the company as a whole, the work itself is mostly very tedious and not quite what I was expecting

While I feel welcome and valued by my managers and team members, and would give 8 stars to them, I feel less so by the company as a whole which is why my rating is so much lower. Often it seems the apprentices are not a high priority, even to the educational hire teams, and we are often not given enough information, or even time to voice our opinions about things. On many occasions we have only been able to get important details after multiple emails and calls to multiple people, on one occasion the entire educational hire management team failed to turn up to a meeting with representatives from the graduates, interns and apprentices to discuss problems with the programmes, despite not having anything else planned. Overall I am extremely disappointed in the programme managers, but very happy with my team managers.

organisation is often very poor, with important information not being sent out, no formal mentor-ing programme within teams at all, little formal training in the second year of the apprenticeship and programme managers who always seem to have something more important to do than listen to our concerns. That said, when we do get to voice our concerns to someone willing to listen they are usually acted upon, and the programme is improving rapidly as a result

QA, our training provider, have done their best to be helpful and provide everything we need, organising mentor visits regularly (apart from one large gap caused by booking issues) to assist with coursework and any other concerns with their side of the programme, and giving useful, timely replies to any emails.

The support from within my team is brilliant, I can ask my managers or team mates for help with anything and feel confident that they will go out of their way to assist me, regardless of what the problem is, corporate HR is also seems to be, although thankfully I've never had to contact them for anything major, responsive, accessible and helpful. However, as I have said, the education hire team has disappointed me time and again with how they deal with us, as well as the graduates and interns

I'd say I'm well paid for what I do, and have no complaints about pay or expenses reimbursement at all. Although I do live with my parents I have plenty of money left over each month after paying my bills, including my quite expensive travel costs on public transport. The company has also reimbursed me the full cost of any training materials I have bought to assist me in my role

The company offers up to 2 hours per month paid volunteering time, so that you can spend time you would otherwise be at work helping out local charities or donating blood. They also run several events a year where people have a chance to go out into the community or industry events to talk about the company, apprenticeships and/or work life in general, for example giving talks in schools or to local homelessness charities during the working day. Additionally, there are events such as sports leagues organised by the business park management which we are encouraged to participate in, and discounts are offered to employees on a wide verity of things such as gym memberships, restaurants and hotels

Yes

An apprenticeship at a company such as HPE gives you a great chance to experience office life at a multinational IT company, while also developing your skills and qualifications to make you more employable in the future, all while getting paid.

The application process can seem arduous, but don't let that put you off. There are usually a lot of applicants for each place because of the great opportunities on offer, so there are many interviews and assessments in order to pick the best candidates. remember to be yourself in your CV and interviews, and try to stay calm, it will be much harder to impress your assessors and interviewers if you're too nervous and flapping about everything