RPA Developer Review

I work as a Robotics Process Automation (RPA) Developer for one of Accenture's biggest clients in Health and Public Services. On daily basis, I have a responsibility to develop RPA solutions without missing any deadlines. We work in the Agile environment, therefore ceremonies like daily scrum are part of my daily tasks. I'm trusted with a lot of responsibility and am exposed to clients on daily basis.

Before joining Accenture Software Engineering Apprenticeship Scheme, I was studying law. The technical side of software engineering was a completely new skill set for me to learn. Accenture invests a lot of money into training and upskilling its employees. This has helped me to progress and upskill very quickly within the industry.

I do love the programme, however, I believe that some changes could be made. Accenture hires a variety of apprentices who come straight from school, A-levels or, as in my case, university. I believe that the people who joined apprenticeship scheme with a degree should be given the opportunity to be reviewed and considered for promotion. But this is not the case yet and regardless of your efforts and progress, you will be stuck at apprenticeship level for a minimum of 3 years. Apart from the above, the programme is very challenging and full of opportunities to up-skill.

I feel very valued by the company. I can provide an example from my personal experience. As mentioned before, coming from a non-technical background, I managed to up-skill and become confident in programming very quickly. I was trusted with responsibilities and routine exposure to clients. After being in the company for only 6-7 months, Accenture recognized my efforts and I won the Apprentice of the Year award. The award is for all apprentices in the company, which means I was competing with second, third or even fourth-year apprentices.

The programme is well organised and really intense. The first day in the company was an induction day where we were shown around offices. On the second day, we dived straight into "Boot-camp" training. Boot-camp is an 8 weeks full-time training where we learned soft-skills as well as technical skills including Java, C#, SQL, C++ and others. After completing the boot-camp you either get assigned to a project or you go on "the bench" for further development and training. Alongside project or the bench, you are attending university or college once a week where you undergo the same materials as if you were a regular full-time student. Time management is the KEY.

Since we are going to university once a week there are not many opportunities to go and have a one-on-one with your tutor, however, all questions are always answered and support is given for those who ask.

Accenture is amazing when it comes to providing support. HR team is always there to answer and help with anything that your line manager cannot help with. Managers are usually the first point of contact and always provide support when asked. For example, if it's very stressful at work and university, managers would potentially let you take a day off to relax and catch up with your university workload. Also, Accenture employees are really well trained to provide support to their colleagues. This is achieved through Mental Health Allies training.

Compared to industry standards, salaries are really good and increases every year. You can definitely afford to live in a rented property, alone or with a roommate, pay for your car and social activities. Also, a lot of people do not take into account that Accenture pays for the degree too, which is on average £8000 a year. If you add that to the salary, you are pretty much earning as much as a graduate.

YES. There many opportunities outside the workplace. These include company events (Christmas/summer parties), employee discount schemes, gym memberships, corporate tickets to football, basketball and rugby matches. Apart from these, Accenture pays a lot of attention to giving back to the community and gives all employees 3 charity days a year during which an employee can pick any charity he/she wants and spend those days volunteering, whilst still getting paid.

Yes

Because it's a People Company. They invest in making their people better rather than a product.

Show willingness to learn and be yourself, that's all you need!