PEGA Developer Review

I work as a PEGA developer, day-to-day I work in a SCRUM team to complete units of work. Most of the work I do is related to assuring service. The applications I work on most are specifically for handling home broadband customers. Day-to-day, I pick up user stories and manage ad-hoc requests from various avenues of business.

Before I joined Vodafone I had no experience of PEGA or any corporate role. Over the past ~26 months, I've learnt countless lessons on a variety of topics. From customer communications, to the basics of REST services. I've learnt more lessons in my role than in my degree in honesty.

Working for Vodafone is really enjoyable on the whole, but the degree training provider (QA) has really disappointed me thus far, with a brash approach to education. The work has been brilliant though, I've learnt a lot in my roles and continue to progress with new challenges presented to me by team management.

The structure and organisation of my programme is great internally from a Vodafone perspective, as described in the other questions. But very lackluster in regards to clear consistent communication from QA. Honestly, I believe it speaks volumes that QA are no longer the Vodafone partner for higher education (level 6) apprentices.

When I first joined Vodafone I was assigned a mentor who was very helpful towards my progression as a young professional. My current manager is exceptional at trying to ensure I have the correct amount of exposure to new things, whilst ensuring I'm not swamped with work and unable to complete my degree tasks. Supporting attitudes are plentiful within my wider team and the general attitude is positive, although some knocks to this in recent times, with lockdown and other factors I believe playing a heavy role.

My QA skillscoach is now someone I trust in supporting me to completion of my degree. This being said; he is the 3rd skills coach my cohort has had, and this has been down to one being dismissed from QA and another being collectively requested to be replaced by every member of our cohort. So not the best of experiences in that regard. Vodafone has always been helpful, with members of my team attempting to pick up and assist for the long periods in-which guidance from QA was little to none.

I don't feel that my qualification has much of a positive impact on my performance at work. I appreciate the ability to independently work and research is important in most jobs, but feel that this ability has been nurtured and developed by my time working at Vodafone and not by spending time in educational sessions with QA.

Vodafone has a plethora of activities to do, albeit not as many currently with COVID. A recent and on-going example would be the charity gaming 24 hour streams that have been organised for Vodafone employees to participate in. Ordinarily, everything from sports teams to charity events are covered. Vodafone's Facebook Workplace helps greatly with this. I personally have involved myself in a sports day, and 2 mud runs for charity.

Yes

Vodafone is a great employer, the employee benefits available are brilliant. Pension contribution is high. The overall culture is fantastic for up and coming professionals/apprentices. It's proven a valuable and stable career option during the pandemic, providing all employees with access to ergonomics & support for flexible working hours. Vodafone dedicates itself to improve the working and personal lives of it's employees and I'd argue it's very successful at it.

An echo of what I said on my last review really. I'd advise you are true to yourself and ensure that you're positive about the role you're applying for. Make sure you're comfortable speaking about yourself and have the self awareness to understand your strengths but also your weaknesses. Humility is key when forging new working relations.