Application Developer New Associate Review

When I was "off the bench", I was heavily involved in the software development lifecycle for an external company. I would have regular calls with the team in order to discuss the work software developement pieces that needed fixing/creating, and then spend the rest of the day working on them, or helping out other developer's with their items.

I have learnt the software development lifecycle processes very well, but all technical skills were down to me to learn on my own. Luckily, the teams gave me time to work on these skills myself, but I didn't have any training given to support me on this. Any training available was never offered/suggested to me.

The programme depends largely on the team you are with. My teams have typically been very quiet, which means that the worklife an be slow, but some of my friends here tell me that their projects are far more lively - and go out for team dinners/events regularly.

The programme details have repeatedly changed during the course of the program. Parts ot the programme have been cancelled/amended whilst we were in the middle of it. There have also been rumours about salary changes many times during the years here, and each time, management takes far too long to confirm/deny them -- we never hear from them about salary changes first.

When I ask for support, support is given. However, support is never offered or suggested by anyone. Also, in such a large company, it's hard to find the right people to speak to in order to find the support required, as I often feel lost amongst such a large crowd.

My qualifications have been cancelled mid-run, and all other qualifications I've worked towards have been entirely self-studied (but paid for by Accenture). The process of requesting custom qualifications is also very labourous, and took months for me to get sorted due to the slow chain of leadership in the company.

My University Degree has yet to help with my worklife at all. In fact, some of the Software Development technologies learnt at work has instead helped me with my university modules. I generally dread the university sessions on Monday as the lecturerers all feel so useless, and the lectures feel so slow.

This is completely up to the individual! I know that Accenture is full of clubs and societies that anybody can sign up to. Social activities are also semi-regular, and generally well-organised by the recruiting team :) The university also has many clubs and societies, but they are less popular as most people don't like to go there unless they have to.

No

In general, I feel like the training has been insufficient, the leadership has been confusing, and the work has been laborious. The degree has also been very disappointing, and I had hoped that it would be more interesting/challenging than it ended up being. I would not recommend this course.

If you're sure that you want to apply, then make sure you talk about your personal projects/interests in Software Development. Many of my co-workers had little-to-none experience in software dev prior to applying, but by showing their enthusiasm, they were onboarded by the team. That being said, good grades would help too.