Software Developer Modern Apprentice Review

I am a software developer apprentice. this involves working with a team to provide working software to clients. my daily tasks Involve writing and reviewing code, participating in meetings and providing feedback on the teams progress. my internal interactions involve face to face discussion with my own team and the teams that we interact with as well as participating in phone calls and meetings with management etc.

I have learnt both new skills and developed my existing knowledge. I have participated in internal training courses for Agile and as part of the apprenticeship regularly participate in training courses to learn new skills to do with software development. I have learnt some new programming languages and have developed my knowledge of how some are used in the real world.

I enjoy the busyness of it immensely. The team I am part of is very close knit - with the interactions being helpful and friendly. The culture of the company is that it puts the members first and I see this in the way people are always willing to listen to your problems and help if they can. The program was misleading at first, being advertised as a course in java - implying that java would be learnt and used day to day. but in fact in the almost 2 years being here, I have done 3 weeks worth of training for java and used it sparingly in project work. however, once I understood how the programme was going to be structured, it did indeed more than meet my then adjusted expectations.

I always get support from management and compliment and constructive criticism where needed. this gives me an immense sense of satisfaction. however, on my current project - myself and my team (of now 6 inc. myself) were very isolated from the rest of the project, and this sometimes made it difficult to be valued. however, this has been noticed by various project team members involved and an effort was made to marry the sub-teams more closely to pursue the goal of the project and this rekindled my faith in how I was valued.

there have been some issues with training organisation, not always on part of CGI. however, they are quickly resolved and we are always made aware of what is going on (perhaps due to the fact that myself and others make sure we are kept in the loop). There has been huge amounts of support within CGI, making sure that no-one is overworked or under too much pressure. the assessor meetings are regular and on a schedule so that each and every apprentice knows when they might happen which makes it easy to plan around and ensure minimal impact to projects.

The support on the training courses is very good. the tutors do their best to impart as much knowledge and resource as they can. however, I am disappointed in the feedback that I receive, as it is often months in the coming and not often made known that I have received it until my assessor informs me of it. The attitudes of the people I have met has always impressed me, but it doesn't seem to have changed the overall lack of communication provided me.

The introduction to the company was massively supported, with resource after resource being made available to help me. my people manager continues to keep up to date and in contact with me even now, almost 2 years on. I have always available to me, channels of communication where I can voice concerns and receive support where needed.

I am extremely happy with what I am currently earning as it is much higher than I have heard for most apprentices. however, it barely covers my living costs - I just about reach 0 each month. however, this is likely to do with the fact that I chose to live in places that caused that to happen. I am confident however that with the way things have gone in the past that this situation will improve after the apprenticeship programme is completed.

There are many things available to me, and I am often notified about them via email. however, I have yet to take advantage of many of them - mostly due to the fact that I am constantly busy with both full time work and completing apprenticeship work in my free time.

Yes

The monetary benefits are extremely competitive, the support you are given is extremely helpful and motivating. and, providing you are motivated to work hard, you receive support in the workplace to build your own career - i.e. you definitely get out what you put in.

Be prepared to work hard, but also then be prepared to receive the benefits. Don't hold back and let others take the spotlight, put yourself forward even if you are uncomfortable doing so, this will help you make a name for yourself and get the recognition you deserve - this applies both to the application process and the job when you get it (don't hold back - be yourself).