Junior Developer Review

by Barclays

Best Apprenticeship Employer

Rating

5.9/10

1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

General admin tasks, risk management, small dev tasks, defect fixes and support of business colleagues.

6/10

2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

I've learnt the basics of the SDLC and how to work as part of a team spanning across multiple business domains and countries. Stakeholder management and risk management (product defects and vulnerabilities).

6/10

3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

Lecture quality can vary wildly depending on your unit. Some units were lead very well with high quality lectures and material while others had frequent lecturer changes and content that was structured poorly leaving a lot of students confused.

5/10

4. How well organised/structured is your programme?

Structure and organisation can vary massively across different units but even in the same unit due to lecturer changes.

4/10

5. How much support do you receive from your employer?

Support from my line management and team members has been excellent throughout but support from the employer on a company level has left a lot to be desired.

6/10

6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

Support from skills coaches has been great but it seems they are stretched very thin and have a lot of learners to manage and support. This has lead to somewhat frequent skills coach changes on very short notice. This also means you lose the working relationship you have built up with that person and have to start the process again.

8/10

7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

The knowledge gained from the qualification doesn't have much use on the technical side of my job role but that is expected as the technical knowledge in my role is somewhat niche. The knowledge gained helps to rationalise wider business decisions as well as providing background context to some other technical areas which I may not interact with regularly.

7/10

8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

Unsure

5/10

9a. Would you recommend Barclays to a friend?

Yes

9b. Why?

Pay is ok, there is the possibility of progression once you have completed the programme. You will have a permanent role on completion of the programme as well. Peoples experiences can vary from team to team however.

10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Barclays?

Raise concerns as early as possible. Ensure you keep all managers and stakeholders on the company and training provider side on the same page.