Apprentice Developer Review

I am basically an admin of the other members of the team, doing whatever menial tasks they cant be bothered doing. I am meant to be doing software development for business and being trained as a developer. I have yet to even be given the chance to shadow a developer in the team. I am handed admin tasks, emailing people on other team members behalves. Looking up emails for them. Getting told to contact IT support for an issue they have with their machine.

I have learned the ability to use outlook fairly well. I am asked to make meetings for others and email multiple people. Scheduling meetings using terribly designed booking software, on behalf of someone who knows this and just cant be bothered doing it themselves. Not that i didn't have these skills before, I have just been doing these tasks on a daily basis. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions]

[This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] I mean I enjoy the days at uni where they genuinely care about your development. However they seem blind to the fact the workplace makes little effort helping you with university study or applying knowledge to your work. They pay is better than most but considering the cost of travel into the workplace where there is no parking for employees or travel discounts. It means that most of my wage goes into the commute. Furthermore I have a project manager who seems to think i will happily work weekends and overtime for no extra wage, and seems genuinely insulted when i say i can't due to having exams for uni that if i fail i will loose my job. Then being given work to be constantly interrupted by that same person meaning you can't complete the task because they've decided to moan about something that has offended them that day. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions]

In university the programme is organised very well, the only downside is you get a lot of phd students taking the lecturers who may not have as much knowledge as a qualified lecturer. However in the workplace there is no structure in my team to my learning, I mean i am meant to have monthly one to ones with my line manager who has decided they cannot be bothered with them anymore.

They provide access to training, very generic training that all employees get. After all the job was advertised as developer, and so far out of the 12 apprentices hired only one is in a developer role. So how can you gain support when the employer lies to you and sticks you in a role both irrelevant to your university course and irelevantof the job you applied for. But they are flexible with your working hours, really friendly staff. They seemed to be unprepared for us starting but tried their hardest to make sure we were welcomed into the team and shadow team members on their workload. Regular 1 to 1’s with your Apprentice supervisor gives you a chance to raise any concerns you have.

The training provider provides a great deal of support even arguing on our behalf that the workplace does not support us enough. The only issues ive found with the university is some of the notes are vague and require problem solving skills to decipher the secrets of modular mathematics. But i guess that just adds to the fun and games that is mathermatics

My role is vague at best, initially being assigned as a business analyst, then a tester, then a dev. Now a combination of the three, which actually means im the admin for three groups of people within the team. [This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] The university course is very engaging and helpful, and well organized if you are placed in a developer role this course will be very helpful in your development. Barclays does provide access to great training materials and sessions to help with your development, but you have to be proactive in this as no one will assign you any training it’s up to you to be self-motivated and proactive in your learning. However most Line managers will be fully behind you if you want to go on training courses because they see it as a way to enhance their own learning by learning what you gained from the sessions.

Tonnes, One thing I can say positively is that there are tonnes of events going on at any one time. Charity events for raising money for good causes asking for volunteers to help. Employees are actively encouraged to be actively involved in these. Tonnes of town halls and training events are also organised so that your calendar looks full.

No

[This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyApprenticeship Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] Leaving employees are not replaced just stresses out the other colleagues so any training they may decide to give me is thrown aside because they are understaffed and overworked and should never have taken on an apprentice into their team.

Well due to much complaining all new members applying will all be guaranteed a developer role in a development team. With a new training provider with GCU. through our complaining about being lied to about the jobs we applied to they've decided to fix this issue for new people but ignore the issue with the current apprentices. I would recommend studying what is a Business analyst, a tester, an automation expert and a developer. And if you find all those jobs interesting then by all means apply to this lucky dip of job roles. There is no guarantee you will get one of them despite what they may tell you. If you truly want this role though, show your enthusiasm, try your hardest and you'll easily get the job. They are great at recruiting people who are the best.