Application Development Review

I work on the HMRC account.My role is to help and improve automation within my team. My day to day consists of developing in ReactJS to scripting in KSH/Perl to automate tasks. Learning full-stack frameworks to improve my ability at creating a portal for my team. To doing code reviews for other developers, code reviews are a great for learning as it allows me to spot errors other developers more senior than me made.

When I started on my team I knew very little about web development with only having done some in my A-Levels. At the time of my joining my role, we started a project in: NestJS (Backend Framework), ReactJS(Frontend Framework), MongoDB(Database layer), and node as the server-side language. From starting I have gained a lot of knowledge on this area and managed to assist other members of the team with their problems when it comes to programming.

The program provided by Accenture is an amazing program. Doing an apprenticeship while doing a full degree is an amazing position to be in. Accenture has been a very good introduction to the real world of work. We've never been treat like the typical "Apprentice" and always been put into a working environment from the minute we joined. Overall I enjoy the program by Accenture however, I believe the learning provided could be improved by being with an actual university as I feel like a lot of the things we are covering in level 5 are things that we went above and beyond in A-Levels. This mainly referees to the programming parts of our course.

The program does however have a great structure. When we first joined we had a Bootcamp that lasted around 1-2 weeks in the workplace, completing essential training to get us started at Accenture. We got placed on a 6week Bootcamp at Gateshead college where we were taught the basics of computer theory and the basics of computing. This was a great start for people who have never done any sort of programming before. However, after studying for 2 years GCSE's and 2 years at A-Levels I believe the content there was focused on pure beginners. I'd also say the content provided here was more in-depth than what's been provided in our first semester of programming with our current learning provider.

This area is defiantly Accenture's strong point; No matter what you need help with they'll always find someone who can explain something to you. May it be with something you are finding hard within your day to day role or Uni work you are struggling with. Since the knowledge across Accenture is so vast there is always someone they can point you in right direction. Support for everything not work-related is amazing, they have the BUPA health scheme in place in case you are ever having trouble with personal issues

Support is okay. There have been times where certain people in the apprenticeship have no contact from the training provider for a few weeks. I feel like they could improve on their explanations things, last semester we all had issues with the project and the lecture was telling everyone wrong information and what we actually needed to hand in at the end of the project was very different from the items they were asking for.

I don't believe anything I have learned from my degree has impacted my role. I knew more programming than what has been taught at Uni from before I joined Accenture. The other modules in our course (Database,networking and agile) have had no benefit to my role as I don't use any of them. Being a developer day today I find the content in the programming modules to be too easy and feel like they should not be assigned to level5 students.

There are a lot of opportunities to get involved in extra-curricular activities at work ranging from sports events to charity days to social events. I took place in a social event for HMRC where we went bowling and had food. It was a good way to boost morale in the team I've also helped out at the apprentice opening evening telling people enquiring about the apprenticeship

Yes

Overall Accenture has been a great place for me to get introduced to the working life and learning environment. Improved my mindset and has greatly helped me in my own personal development. It's a great place to work where everyone is friendly and helpful. No one cares if you ask stupid questions as they respect that you're new and aren't going to be as clued up as someone who has been in the role for years

Be professional. If you're a technological person, prove it. In your interviews bring up past projects you've worked on either at school or personal ones. Do your research on what Accenture is and methodologies they follow. If you get through to the interview stage make sure you do the task they asked for and pay attention to everything that's being said. Actively listen - take notes when you need too and the most important of all is: be confident in yourself, they will notice if you're not.