Software Engineer Review

I own the live running of multiple systems as well as working on improvements and fixes to these systems through writing code. I am involved in the entire lifecycle of a change, from spec to design to code and test. I also receive customer queries that need to be resolved within a certain timeframe depending on priority.

I have learnt quite a vast amount of new skills, especially through the degree programme. Through it I have learnt Java, Android App Development, did a bit of game development in C# and covered a bunch of other topics such as Advanced Databases and Testing. Non-technical modules were also taught such as project management.

I can't say I enjoyed it loads because work can be a bit slow but I think that is just down to my role. Also the degree programme was a lot of work and took up loads of time and we didn't get anywhere near enough study leave compared to other degree apprenticeships, in fact, we actually got less study days during the degree studies that we did the first two years of introductory study, plus on-campus days used the study day allowance and were compulsory so really we had even less.

I think the structure was reasonably manageable although I felt that sometimes there could be too many modules in one go, plus I know the fact that we had an extra module on top of our individual project was an unpopular decision as it felt like an unnecessary distraction. Organisation of the progression in your role is very much down to the team you are putting, I know people who have progressed rapidly but some have stalled where there are no opportunities in their role.

In terms of flexibility when it came to study days, my direct manager was always very supportive and made sure that was my priority over some important pieces of work so that was helpful. I found Louise Tippings provided great support during the individual project to multiple people which was nice considering the amount of Apprentices she oversaw.

Aston provided about as much as they could considering we were all studying around the country and not on-site. Lecturers were mostly easy to contact and had supervisors to help when they were perhaps too busy. On-campus sessions were generally quite useful and the lecturers had planned some informative content for the lectures. The main downside is that sometimes they'd schedule campus days from Thursday to Saturday, only have us in for a couple of hours on Thursday then all day Saturday. We would have to use an entire study day for a couple of hours which is wasteful then spend the whole of our own time on Saturday, why couldn't this be swapped around? The criticism was raised by plenty of people but it kept happening.

For me it doesn't really that much as my role uses completely different technologies to what I learnt in my degree but I'm hoping I can put my degree studies to use within my role otherwise it will no longer be fresh in my mind and I'll start to forget it.

There is plenty going on and there is a good community of graduates and apprentices who always seem to be organising events. I find that a lot of the events are Telford centric which is fine for me but it would be nice if these things consistently happened across base locations.

Yes

The programme is by no means perfect but I think it can continue to improve with constructive feedback and it has provided me with a debt-free degree and 6 years experience at a major company which is very valuable to jump-start my career in IT. I don't regret going this route at all because it has kick-started my career.

When you go to the group interview, try to focus more on working well and getting on well with your fellow interviewees. How well you collaborate them will be more important that showing your individual merit as the people there will have a vastly different levels of previous IT experience so Cap are just looking for your potential growth, not your current skill.