Rating

8/10
  • 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
  • Each day depends on the role which you are in. The course is done in 6 month rotations which means what you do day to day can vary. I have worked with a payment processing team which overviewed payments which are of values of up to £500,000. I typically looked for errors as well as learning how payment processing was taking place in the cloud.

    8/10

  • 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
  • I have developed many technical skills as well as people skills. Through the university as well as the placements I have had to learn how to program using python, SQL, VBA. I've learnt how to develop my knowledge from not knowing about these languages to being able to produce sound and complex pieces of code.

    9/10

  • 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
  • I enjoy my programme very much. I get to interact with many different people from different areas. Many people are my age but I also get to interact with the more senior staff. I get a range of tasks which means I able to see what suits me, as well as not getting bored of doing the same thing over and over!

    9/10

  • 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
  • Very good. There is a dedicated team to look after all of the apprentices. They are also responsible to overlook the other apprenticeship schemes as well. They provide the best support and know how to resolve problems. Sometimes there are problems due to the external companies like our university. But these are issues down to them and not the internal team.

    7/10

  • 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
  • Very good support. We each have an apprentice manager as well as an apprentice buddy. Each come from a point of experience so both know how things work. These people we have contact with as much or as little as we want. It makes it a lot better knowing I have someone to talk to about any issues.

    8/10

  • 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
  • Support is good. It is hard to give the feeling of support through a computer when all of the webinars are done online. However the teachers are available through email as well as some others which are able to deal with other issues like technical problems or course information. About once a year someone comes to the employer for meeting on progress.

    6/10

  • 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
  • Especially when coming to technical skills/ knowledge I feel like it helps me a lot. When learning how to code python, although it is different to VBA I feel like without the previous knowledge of how code works and correct syntax etc.. I would have it difficult to grasp the key concepts and may resulted in slowing my team down instead of helping them.

    8/10

  • 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
  • Yes. There is a netball team which hold weekly training sessions which you can sign up for and play. Many speeches to go and see from senior members of the company. Santander held a football tournament with the chance to win 2 tickets to the champions league final. Community days are also possible with opportunities to help out in the local community.

    9/10

  • 9a. Would you recommend Santander to a friend?
  • Yes


  • 9b. Why?
  • For a big corporate company they give a great feeling of togetherness and being part of a team which other banks may struggle to match. There is the opportunity to learn some very interesting and valuable technical skills as well learning how to work well with others, a great start for someone who is just leaving school.


  • 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Santander?
  • The main tip would be to be open minded about what you are stepping into. There's many roles available at Santander and finding the right one might take a while. As an apprentice you get thrown into many and not going into them with an open mind could really stop you from discovering something that you are good at and enjoy.


Details

Degree Apprenticeship

Finance

Milton Keynes

May 2019


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