Software Engineer - Degree Apprentice Review

I am a software engineer, so I help in the designing of programming solutions, but majority of my time is spent programming the solution based off of customer requirements. I also get involved in the extensive testing processes our company has to ensure our product is of good quality.

Yes, I have learnt a range of new programming languages I had never used previous to joining the company. I have also learnt a range of things about how a business operates. The company offers a range of online learning resources that I have used to teach myself Italian, programming languages, and other further studies I was interested in learning. I have also developed skills in confidence building, presenting to an audience and stress management.

I enjoy my programme a lot. I get to work / learn within a number of areas of the business to develop my all round skills. I also get a lot of support for both my work and my University studies. I'm am given a large amount of responsibility, which I enjoy, and have the support to help me succeed in that role.

It is fairly organised. I get a lot of assistance from the company in managing my time as well as clear dates for each stage of my program, i.e. when I will change department, when I am at University, lots of resources to track my hours, overtime and holiday, etc. The university itself can be confusing with giving me dates then changing them, but the company steps in when it has to to resolve any confusions caused by the University provider.

I receive a lot from my direct colleagues as well as higher up. The HR manager for apprentices is eager to help when he is needed and resolves issues you may be having straight away. I also receive a lot of support from my managers in terms of learning business processes and progressing in my abilities. There is a lot of in-house tools that I can access as well to support my learning, development and if I have any questions.

I receive a fair amount of support from them. They are sometimes a little confusing with their assistance and seem to sometimes overcomplicate things for us. Aside from occasional confusion, my lecturers are happy to support me in my studies outside of lesson times, and offer lots of resources to help us with our qualifications. There is also a team put together purely to support us with the work / employer side of things, and they can assist us with any issues we're having with work.

I regularly use what I learn in lectures at work, so it helps me get a head start on work, or work more efficiently due to my stronger understanding of things from my training provider. I also believe once I finish my degree it will benefit me, as I would have a better understanding of the background of what I'm work on, i.e. a software bug might be caused by something much deeper than just the code I am writing, which my qualification will help me to understand more than just code, which can be used to solve issues I am having.

I am involved in a number of these things. I am a member of the work cricket team, I get involved with playing golf with a group of colleagues, I organise or am apart of regular team socials where we have a meal and catch up together and I am also apart of the Outreach team which focusses on going into schools and speaking to them about apprenticeships, graduate schemes and introduce them into the company so that they can have a career in engineering

Yes

The work environment is relaxed, comfortable and you feel confident that you can ask any question - even if you feel it is stupid. There is lots of support in terms of what times you would like to come into work, worries you have about your work, the company offers a range of support and learning tools as well.

Don't feel embarrassed to ask questions or to speak to anyone. Everyone is happy to speak to you, and will provide support to you if you need it. Even if they don't know the answer, they will find it out for you / point you in the right direction.