Software Engineer Apprentice Review

As a Software Engineer and when at work (3 days per week), most of my time is spent at my desk programming and working on a range of tickets. This could be by myself or by pairing with someone (usually my mentor). If I am not doing this then I am usually attending one of the many meetings we have each week. These meetings include a daily standup, retrospectives, backlog grooming and all the other typical meetings performed in agile development. The other 2 days of the week I am at University attending lectures and doing work at labs.

Plenty! I am constantly learning about theory at University and then I am lucky enough to be able to apply that theory and so much more at work. I am also able to attend a large amount of internal training as long as it is relevant to my role. This means that I am constantly learning about a range of things in different ways and from different perspectives which is great!

The organisation and team is truly brilliant. It is filled with great and helpful people and they make me feel like I'm a valuable part of the team and not just an apprentice. However, sometimes I do not enjoy the work I am doing as I have dreams and goals to be in a completely different field of software engineering. This is more to do with me than the course or organisation though.

The programme is definitely not organised or structured. This is because the University struggle to be able to make the two days we have each week work for our modules. For example, this year they squeezed in most of our lectures and labs into one day and we didn't even have a ten minute break for several hours. I'm not even sure if that is legal to be honest. There is also communication issues between the University and organisation and it can sometimes lead to us getting delayed information or sometimes no information at all.

I get a lot of support from my employer. I have been assigned a mentor in my team who looks after me and spends a lot of time assisting and teaching me and ensuring that I always have work to do. My line manager is also always available and is always there to talk to and to get help from. Everyone in general at the organisation is kind and willing to help.

The University side of the course is definitely the worst part. We are constantly their last thought and this year we were unable to attend some lectures because they were on days we were at work. We just mostly attend University and have to do the work in our own time and turn up to exams at the end of the year. The people there and the lecturers aren't even aware of our existence and wouldn't know if we didn't turn up.

I do learn a lot at University and it can be helpful at times, but usually the content is irrelevant to what I do at work. There is too much of a focus on theory and covering the general entirety of computer science whereas at work I am doing very specific and up-to-date things.

There are many extra-curricular activities at work. There are champion schemes you can join to focus on a particular skill and provide it to other employees. For example, I am an accessibility champion and I spend some time learning more about accessibility and being able to provide that teaching to fellow colleagues. My team occasionally go out on team lunches and there are also usually things going on during or after work too such as football.

Yes

The BBC is a superb place to work at. It is modern and up-to-date and is filled with great and talented people that are kind and always willing to help. Plus the work being done is relevant and being used by millions of people across the world. The career opportunities gained from working at the BBC are second to none.

Show that you share the same values as the BBC and the employees already here. So be happy, kind and helpful and be passionate about the work you do and the hobbies you do in your spare time. It should also go without saying that you should work hard and make sure you have a lot to offer.