Global Security Apprenticee Review

I was given real responsibility over the organisation's security footprint and helping to resolve vulnerabilities across our portfolio. This was carefully managed to ensure my project work took priority but I was also given the opportunity to rotate across our different departments so I could get a broader view of what cyber security is all about.

Yes, on top of the skills taught in the apprenticeship I've also had the opportunity to develop my skills further via external certifications provided by my employer and free ones provided during conferences. Teammates will often set aside time to help explain new concepts to me as well and provide tips and tricks they've picked up too which has been really helpful.

Given we're the first apprentices the department has taken on, I've thoroughly enjoyed having the flexibility between "study time" and "work time", and everyone has been really understanding about when I need to prioritise the two. My coworkers are very eager to help and I've spent several hours talking to them about new or unfamiliar concepts.

I think it's been structured quite well, I was able to get exposure to a lot of different teams during my time which helped me to understand how each department played into the wider cybersecurity posture of the organisation - I also found a lot of the skills I was learning in each department were transferable to other rotations too and helped me to gain a significant understanding of the business.

My employer has been great at supporting me despite my own personal circumstances, and even when working on short timeframes they've been very accommodating. I had weekly 1:1's with my line manager to help address any problems or pain points, and any that I did raise were quickly addressed.

My tutor has been slightly confusing whilst marking assignments (i.e. saying one thing in training then saying the exact opposite whilst marking), assignments would often take a while to be marked, training was often delivered in a very confusing way (kept going off on an unrelated subject making it hard to follow what's being taught), generally hard to pay attention but when 1:1 it was a little easier to understand.

The training I receive is definitely relevant to the role and there's even been times where I've referred back to my project work to assist me in delivering work related activities and has helped to contextualize issues so I can explain them better to my stakeholders and colleagues.

Yes, there's plenty of different colleague success networks available that focus on tons of different areas, there's something for everyone! There's channels in Teams/Slack/etc for different hobbies as well so if you need to decompress or relax then you're welcome to engage and possibly even discover something new to enjoy!

Yes

Sage have been nothing but supportive and flexible during my time with them, I've received payrises and bonuses well above industry average and the support I was given through my transition as an apprentice to a full time role has been amazing, very personalized and clear - I couldn't recommend it enough!

Do your research, be calm and collected, prepare some questions beforehand and show your true self. Sage values DEI massively and will embrace you with open arms! As long as you're passionate and bring your whole self to the job then I'm sure you'll have no issues!