Apprentice Software Engineer Review

maintaining internal systems through learning various programming languages to assist other areas within the business. regularly communicate across the whole business, gaining statistics to evaluate current, future, and past projects. also attend apprentice/early careers meetups, to help spread the word about the benefits of apprenticeships and to expand my network.

i have learnt new programming languages completely from scratch (with the help of my team), including javascript, java, c++, c, css, and html. more personally, i have learnt how to conduct myself as an employee in a workplace, acting professionally and building soft skills such as confidence, resilience, and logical thinking

i enjoy working with other members within my team, and meeting new people, and learning new skills to help better myself for future careers. However, the workload of balancing work and uni is very high, so can sometimes be difficult to achieve the correct balance. But it is highly rewarding, especially as no student debt!

We get specific set uni days, attending full day lectures with other apprentices within my cohort. Alongside this, another day of the week is set aside as a study day, to expand on our learning. Overall, we have 3 work days and 2 study days. Everything is well-organised on teams/outlook calenders.

The right support is available when you need it/ask for it. The places to ask for help are readily available/advertised. However you have to follow through with this yourself, but it is helpful that the information is out there and very informative. My line manager is very helpful with pointing me in the right direction with any help required

Regular announcements on resources are distributed weekly. I used the academic skills advisers to help me with my first assignment, this was very helpful in proof-reading and offering advice.

Helps to improve organisational skills

Plenty of sports clubs, in and out of work premises, and lots of other non-sporting clubs available too. Many networking events for early careers, especially apprentices. Newsletters, teams chats and workplace groups help to spread information too which is really helpful. People networks too, eg muslim network and pride network

Yes

Good place to start your career

Research the company before, and put yourself out there