Digital Degree Apprentice Review

Most of the time was spent at University gaining a Computer Science Degree. Most of the day-to-day was studying and completing assignments. During work placements - the majority of the work was non-technical - my first as a Design Analyst was stakeholder management and shadowing an employee. My second placement was in Demand, which was mostly grunt work in excel, performing data entry.

I learned many skills through my degree, but I felt as though I did not put a lot of skills to use during my actual time at the company. The majority of the work did not train the technical skills I needed for jobs that I would be interested in performing in the future. However, I did learn soft skills during my time at the compnany.

I was given menial work that wasn't my cup of tea. Further to this, when given a choice as to what role I would want for a year I was not given one of my three choices. Overall, I did not enjoy the work I was given and felt unchallenged.

Very unorganized overall - it felt as though other groups has priority over the degree apprentice cohort. The onboarding process for the work placements were not smooth. However, the learning section provided by the university, which was the majority of the time, was fantastic - however there were failing in structure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since graduating - I have received near-zero support from my employer. I was originally told that I would be guaranteed a role post-programme but that has not happened and instead we are being let go through no fault of our own. There is little support for apprentices post-program in any part of the organization.

We received a large amount of support from the training provider during the programme - we had access to lecturers, Teaching assistants and online support throughout. We also received the option for mental health support, housing support and other relevant aspects whilst on the programme.

I have learned many relevant sills, such as coding, DevOps, design and project management as part of the training. All of which can be applied to roles that would be relevant for me in the future. The majority of the soft skills, such as communication and time management are also useful even in a non-technical role.

There are several activities at work - however, these tend to be smaller and planned by individuals and teams - so the scope of the activities is limited. The organization is fairly fragmented, which limits extra-curricular activities outside of your network. I'm sure that with a larger network, I would be more informed about other interesting opportunities.

No

The future talent team sold me on a promise that they have failed to fulfill - Training, and then a role that allows me to use to skills I have been training throughout my time at university. I am aware that it is a lot easier to gain experience and opportunity once you are in "the door" as it were, and Vodafone have failed to provide those experiences and opportunities, which has left me in a worse position than if I were to have done a regular degree, and secured a work placement during my degree.

Don't.