Software Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

I am a Software Engineering Degree Apprentices, currently working with the BBC D&E New and Weather team. I am at work 3 days a week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Every morning we have stand ups which is a small meeting with the team so see what everyone is up to. Thursdays I have a meeting with my manager about how everything is at work and what I am up to at uni. Friday I have a end of review meeting with my manager and mentor to show them what I have been working on. Each term I am given 5 objectives, which is related to my work based modules and these objectives are broken down to smaller tasks. So far these tasks involve working on bug fixing tasks on the weather website, creating an API end point, creating a Java application with can store staff information using Postgres, IntelliJ and AWS.

At sixth form in my computer science course, I haven't really done that much practical work so I thought I won't be able to work with my team due to the lack of experience I had. At the start of the term, I was given a mentor to guide me and helped me use new software and tools. My mentor gave me a lot of support which helped me work through tasks and I was able to quickly learn the java language. Now in my 2nd term I am working on the weather website, I have learnt to work more independently and working in my team has made me feel like an actual software engineer. I have developed my communication, coding, team working, practical and leadership skills.

I really like the working environment, my colleagues are really friendly and they don't differentiate me as an apprentice. I feel like I fit in well with my team, doing regular tasks and learning something new everyday. There is a lot of events, talks and meetings which is nice to take part in. Before doing the apprenticeship scheme I was pretty scared, thinking that my team would expect me to know everything before hand, and to work through everything myself. And now I don't think that, its a learning process and everyone in my team are friendly and they are happy to help.

I do feel I am valued by the BBC, they have employed me passionate about technology but have a little experience. My line manager has been very supportive about not having much experience and has made sure that I am learning and getting support in my team. I am not treated differently and I am able to have a say in meetings. Now I am given tasks which are completed by normal software engineering which the BBC want me to do. I am trusted to work on the BBC website and my team rely and have trust on me to work with the company's product.

Before starting uni, the apprentices and graduates were given a induction week, teaching us more about the BBC. My lecturers and managers communicate regular to make sure the make I am doing at uni link to the work I am doing at work. BBC have a lot of training courses which I can take part in or I can use the online resources provided. I am given support by my mentor, when working on the task, and if I need help he will clearly explain to me. I have regular meeting with my team manager to let him know how I am doing at work and at the end of the week I have a meeting with my manager and mentor to review what I have done. My line manager makes sure after thing is fine with uni and work so all the apprentices have monthly meetings with each other. BBC are really organised and they make sure I am always learning and happy with everything.

My university tutor is very friendly and has meetings with me once every two weeks, he makes sure if everything at work and uni is fine. He is currently working on getting older students to start revision sessions for the apprentices. There are currently revision session for students but it's on the days where apprentices are at work. The lectures are friendly and give has a lot of resources to help us through the course. If there is anything wrong, I will be able to openly talk about it to my tutor.

My line manager gives me a lot of support, I have meeting with her once every six weeks and tell her how work and uni is. If there is something wrong she will help me with it and will make sure everything is fine. My mentor gives me regular support, if I need any help I can ask him, he is one of the people I work closely with. My mentor and my team manager decide what tasks need to be set and how it will fit into my course.

I am happy with the salary costs, enough for my travel costs to work and uni, for any resources I need for uni and work, enough for living costs, for food costs and for social cost. Now I don't really have a lot of costs so I am saving up my salary for the future.

There are lot of talks, events, training course which happen in London or out of London. There are hack days where you spend time with your team doing team building activities or activities which are or aren't related to work. There are competitions, and I took part in a 24hr Diversity Hackathon competition with the apprentices and our team won. My line manager emails apprentices, letting us know about events and any volunteering activities we can take part in. When I am not working, I spend time with my family, trying out new hobbies, try keep updated with uni work and interests and do activities which are non-work related.

Yes

It's a good programme and an amazing opportunity to learn a lot of new things and to work in a big company like BBC and do what software engineers do. Its easier to learn as you are doing the theory work at university and practical work at work so you can easily develop your knowledge. The staff and managers are friendly and willing to give support and they make sure you are doing good.

Try and sell yourself in you application and interviews. Be passionate and put a lot of information showing your talents and skills in the application. In the assessment centre be yourself, don't be nervous, you have got one chance so show the real you and your passion. If you are willing to work hard, have a positive attitude, learn something new and use up most of your time working then this is the right programme for you.