Tech Degree Apprentice Review

The role of a PwC employee is to work together to build solutions to solve important problems. As a Tech Degree Apprentice I had to learn to adapt quickly and do what was required of me. Regarding the work I had to do, each day was different and depended on who gave the work.

During the placement I was able to develop my skills in programming, learning new languages as needed. Most of my work was done in Python but I also learnt c#. The placement also gave me an opportunity to develop my soft skills by interacting with the members of my team.

Overall a very enjoyable programme. I am able to focus on studying while at university while being able to gain work experience in the Summer. There are no fees to worry about after the four years and there will be the possibility of being employed also. The course at the university also aligns with what I am interested in.

We were introduced to the programme the week before university started, this gave us an idea of the whole structure of the programme. Throughout the time at university there were frequent tutor meetings and a few with the PwC contact. There was also an induction week to start off the summer placement so we knew what the placement would be like.

There were assigned sessions where we would give feedback on our progress at university. We were also assigned buddies who were PwC employees, if we had any questions we could contact them. We were treated as PwC employees and received most of the benefits one would have including private healthcare and wellbeing support.

The University of Birmingham has very good facilities and support for the students. We were assigned a personal tutor who arranged weekly catch-up sessions where we could ask any questions and discuss anything. There were plenty of resources to help deal with any issues you might face regarding studying or wellbeing.

The qualification I am taking is the standard Computer Science BSC degree with compulsory business and finance modules. The computer science aspect gives experience in programming which can be used practically. While the business and finance may sound useful in theory most of it isn't too useful in my role while the useful parts can be picked up during the placement.

There were social activities and networking events available to us during the placement and university time. The first one was during the first semester which was to help the Tech Degree Apprentices to get to know each other. During the placement, socials were arranged in the teams that we were placed in which allowed us to get familiar with our fellow team members.

Yes

The firm has good ideals and work ethic, they aim to treat their employees well. The structure of the firm means that the work that you can do will be not always be the same, meaning that work will be more stimulating compared to other workplaces. The people that I have met so far have all been friendly.

Show that you are passionate about something or that you are willing to say yes to opportunities that come your way. Be active and don't be afraid to ask questions. Engage with everything and with everyone and you'll find yourself in a very good position. Develop the skills you can't learn by reading a textbook.