Software Engineer Review

I am working as a Dev Ops engineer, providing platform support to several development teams. This involves troubleshooting issues with the platforms, provisioning new environments for the teams, managing user accounts. I work with a lot of interesting tools that help me develop highly coveted skills in the industry, such as AWS, Hashicorp (Terraform,Vault), Kubernetes to name a few.

I started my career as a complete beginner in IT. I barely knew how to code, and I had no idea what cloud infratstructure was. In the 3 years I've been here, I've learned to programme in languages such as Java/Python, as well as writing HTML/JS to create web pages. I've gained the AWS Associate Developer Certification and am working towards the AWS Associate Architect exam this year.

I have enjoyed it a great deal. I have been learning so many new things, and I'm always facing new challenges, and learning new things. It hasn't always gone in the direction I expected, for example I had no plans to be a Dev Ops engineer, it just kind of happened, but it has worked out really well for me.

It is highy structured. The entire 5 year programme is pretty much planned out from the day you join, including dates you'll attend the university on campus days (there are sometimes minor changes, but that is to be expected), and we always know what we'll be doing from one block to the next.

There is a great amount of support from my employer. We get 25 days study leave, to help us prepare for exams or do coursework etc. They recognise that it can be challenging to work full time and study for a degree, so we have a GAP co-ordinator who we can always speak to if we have any issues and they will do whatever they can to remove any obstacles for us.

I have only required support on a couple of occasions, where I had personal family issues at the time of exams, and I found that they provided all the support I needed. I think they could sometimes do better when it comes to learning and revision materials, but overall they have been quite good.

There have been some modules we've covered that I don't really feel were helpful at all, and I wonder why we had to spend the time doing them, but other modules have been really useful and I've been able to apply what I've learned to do my work more quickly, or better understand how to complete a task, so on balance, I feel that it has been helpful

Some of my colleagues play 5-aside football on a weekly basis, but I find it difficult to join in, because I spend half my time in London and the other half in Telford, and I like to get home and help my wife with the house and my daughter with her homework. My Business Unit has networking events every few weeks and that I try to attend when I can.

Yes

I joined Capgemini as it was a good way to get into the IT industry without any formal IT qualifications. Since then, I have learned so many new skills, both technical and 'soft', and already gained industry recognised certifications. I'm a year away from completing a degree that was paid for by Capgemini, and my pay has steadily risen to well above the national average wage, but also I've found that everything from the culture in the company to the support networks is positive. I feel like everybody I meet wants to help each other progress and do well.

When it comes to interviews, I would say relax, be confident (but not cocky), but the most important thing is to be authentic and sincere. This carries on into when you start, if you get an offer and accept it. Capgemini has 7 'core values' - Honesty, Boldness, Trust, Freedom, Team Spirit, Modesty, Fun and that is reflected in how we work here. If you can relax and enjoy yourself, while working, you'll fit in well here.