Software engineering degree apprentice Review

I am currently working in IT transformation in the change and adoption team. My role is supporting our IT services in their adoption of users and their plan to advertise and promote their service. On a day-to-day basis, I maintain the change and adoption wiki page and support the team in any adoption activities taking place.

I have learnt many skills from working in IT transformation. From them is maintaining and troubleshooting sites in Share Point. This also feeds into me learning HTML, CSS and Java Script to add new features and links to our change and adoption wiki page. I have also acquired the skill of agile ways of working and human-centred design methodologies and understand their importance in software development.

I enjoy this programme to a significant extent because of the vast opportunities and projects I have been involved in. My manager has given me to exposure to various projects involving multiple stakeholders. My team has also been very welcoming and helpful throughout my time here. I did not expect to learn and acquire this much before I joined this programme.

Overall, the programme is well organised and structured as apprentices have many avenues of support and key contacts including line managers and senior apprentices who help out whenever reached out to. The university has been a helpful experience too although it could be a little more organised by providing more clarity on the course and informing apprentices of logistics etc better.

I receive immense support from my employer including my manager who keeps up informed of all things related to our apprenticeship and regularly contact us to track our progress and see if we are in need of any support or assistance. My operational manager has also arranged for me to have an SQL query language mentor and it is easy to reach out for a mentor in BT.

I receive good support from my training provider. At university, we are able to contact our lecturers whenever we have a query and they are willing to help always. We also have access to all the lecture resources on an online portal which is very helpful when catching up on lectures.

My qualification has helped me understand how BT systems work better than I did when I first joined. Although my role currently is not directly related to software development, it does have elements of software development involved and my projects do revolve around some of the things my qualification teaches me.

At BT there Is ample opportunity for extra- curricular activities. We are given three volunteering days on top of our annual leave which allows me to visit my old sixth form and secondary school to help promote the BT apprenticeship schemes to students and showcase these programmes in good light whilst clarifying and misconceptions and myths many people have about apprenticeships. There are also many internal networking events that apprentices are invited to which is great for building a network of professionals.

Yes

This scheme has opened up a wide range of opportunities and has provided me with many skills that I would not have learnt if I chose an alternative career path. BT offers vast amounts of support to apprentices and values apprentices by giving them responsibility in key projects that are business critical which gives a sense of confidence and belief in myself.

Ensure you research the company and what it stands for. Look at the values and the company's strategy. By doing this and showcasing your interest in your interviews, it will portray you as a serious and passionate candidate for BT which in turn will impress the recruiters and give you a greater chance of getting in.