IM&T Higher Apprentice Review

As part of my role we go on several placements over the course of the year. Currently I'm designing, developing, testing and supporting programs as part of a small team (3 people including me) that go out to the business to a certain number of users. this also involves creating support documentation to go along with it and going to several meetings involving stakeholders of the projects.

I have learnt several new programming languages as part of my apprenticeship working in the development of programs and am now taking a lead in the development of some. I have also learnt how to write support documentations to a professional level as well as training documentations. I am currently developing my presentation skills as part of leading training sessions.

I really enjoy my apprenticeship. It has taught me many new skills that I didn't have before, I've met prominent figures in the business as well as having conducted work experience sessions with local school children, teaching them about IM&T and STEM subjects. The work I do is engaging and challenging, the team I am currently with is welcoming and supportive and I have learnt a lot about the company as a whole within such a short time.

The programme is properly structured. We had a 6 week induction before we were working on site within the business. There's plenty of support from other apprentices as well as from members within the team. I have been on lots of training as well as taking part in independent training sessions. There's several support programmes for people who could be struggling and there's a clear hierarchy in the team.

My manager takes an active participation with my apprenticeship and checks up on me regularly to see how I am doing and how I am getting on with my work. The HR team, from my experience, have been helpful in my questions when I was new to the business. As part of my team I report to a senior member of the development team who helps with problems and we discuss approaches. There's several support programmes for personal problems as well as work problems. Other staff are always helpful when asking questions and explaining things when I was new to the business.

We are given 5 hours per week to work on our training qualifications no questions asked, however you can take more if your manager allows it. We have coaches at the university who we go to for all our questions and worries and meet up with her every 12 or so weeks to discuss university. The university has several support schemes in place and are easily accessible through the university page. I enjoy the university scheme and am thankful for the training.

Lots of what I am currently learning can be applied to my current work. The programming language that we are currently learning is Java, which can be incorporated into my development work. We are also learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript which can all be incorporated into my development work as well. We are also learning about system design and architecture, both of which I have been working on in work with the designing and testing/support of programmes. I know more about the theory behind the information systems behind the company.

There's lots of sport activities within the apprentice team that are held. There's also company events such as away days. There's an apprentice away week where all the apprentices go to a camping site near one of the lakes in the Lake District and do lots of bonding exercies. There's oppotunities to take part within the local schools at career fairs and doing work experience, as well as with the local council.

Yes

There's lot of benefits to working there, from the flexi hours you can work to the share scheme and the pension. It also give you the chance to 'taste' lots of different sectors of the business before deciding where to exit you apprenticeship. The work is exciting and challenging as we work on one of the worlds most complex challenges and you get a level of self satisfaction with the work you have helped to create when you see it finally leave the yard.

Gather relevant experience into the sector you are planning on applying for. Do lots of research into the subject you are working towards and into the business. For your interview you will have to make a presentation/project, don't leave it till the last minute, work hard on researching or this as this is one of the main things they are looking at. Be professional at interviews and be polite, focus on answering the questions as clearly as possible and be prepared for interviews, practice questions won't hurt you. Don't forget to come up with questions before hand to eliminate the pressure at the end of the interview.