IT Technician Review

My daily role consists of providing first and second line IT support to staff and students at Brayton Academy which is part of the Rodillian Multi Academy Trust. As well as supporting staff and students I support the school's network and infrastructure. As well as maintaining and administrating the schools servers and systems. Overall my experience working with the Trust has been good, it has provided me with a great start to my career, I have developed many skills while working here.

I have learnt a lot since starting at Brayton Academy, almost all my IT knowledge I have gained from this apprenticeship and it has set me up for the future. I have learnt essential skills in : IT Troubleshooting & Support Networking & Infrastucture Security & Social Engineering. Server Administration And Many More. I have also gained a number of qualifications.

I have enjoyed my programme because I have loved meeting new people on the training weeks and making career connections. The trainers are generally great and very knowledgeable apart from a couple of exceptions where this has been lacking, although one of these trainers no longer works for Estio. At times it has been very frustrating dealing with Estio, many a time there response times when contacting them have been very slow, and it seems that their communication and organisation has been lacking, as exams have been delayed due to miscommunication between trainers and the IT team. Exam officers not being trained properly delaying enrolment for exams. Additionally I was once booked on a training week to prep me for synoptic project and then was not informed about it, I randomly received an e-mail from Estio asking why I had not turned up to training for a week I was not told about. Additionally contact with my Skills coach who is meant to guide you through the apprenticeship has been lacking sometimes going more than 2 months without contact, aswell as very little limited feedback on any work submitted.

In theory the programme is well organised. But in practice due to miscommunication exams get delayed, training weeks booked when there are bank holidays meaning training gets cut short, poor response times from Estio employees, lack of communication from skills coach, being booked on training weeks and not being notified makes the whole programme feel very unstructured and unorganised.

The support I have received from my employer has been incredible, I originally join my employer on a Level 3 Apprenticeship when I was just 17, they have given me incredible support in allowing me time to revise for exams, complete my apprenticeship, giving me advice and supporting me in my development throughout the past 2 and a half years I have been working with them even when we have been short staffed. Help has always been just a phone call away.

The support I have received from Estio hasn't been brilliant all the time. The trainers are generally fantastic and will give all the support you need and give you access to revision resources while you are on your training weeks studying for exams. However when not a training week support has always been a little lacking from the skills coach, getting little to no feedback on completed work often all I would get is "meets criteria", and response times can be lacking, where I once went 3 weeks before I got a response from my skills coach. Additionally there have been times where I have not heard from my skills coach for over a month.

I feel that the qualification/s I have taken with my provider have been very helpful in extending my knowledge which has allowed me to perform better at work. However as the course is for a Network Engineer and my role is an IT Helpdesk Technician it has been limited to how much it has helped.

There has been nothing of the kind while I have worked while working at the Trust. Other than occasionally being asked to take pictures of a event such as a Sports Day or being asked to supervise students on a school trip. And even then it always felt I was a third party and wasn't really involved.

Yes

Overall the Trust has some great people working within it, and there is a great sense of community especially within the smaller schools, which helps keep you going. Working in Education IT is a great way to start your career in IT as you get access to everything and get expose to all areas of IT. Everything from networking and security, data management, Graphic design, systems administration and IT support.

For me the application process was easy, a simple form filled in with questions. When it comes to the interview you will most likely be given a tour of one of the particular schools, you will be asked to complete a written task to test your technical knowledge , afterwards you will have a chat with the IT director and manager. Don't stress out too much as they are good people and aer just trying to see if you are the right fit for the role.