Technology Apprentice Review

1. I am currently in the SharePoint team being trained as a SharePoint admin my daily tasks are to do health checks and keep on top of tickets coming into my queue, these can include access issues or something a lot more technical, I always have the support of my manager and my team if I am stuck I will go and make myself known and ask for help, they are always willing to give me time. I have also made an effort to talk to people in different teams so I can learn lots more about the company and different teams in the company, I have built up a great understanding of other peoples jobs and roles within the company, I have also built up great communication links with several different teams bosses other apprentices, everyone is so nice to talk to and always have time to talk to new apprentices! a lot of my day is dealing with users internally chatting to them on the phone to get to the bottom of their issues, I am currently involved in a rather large project migrating sites that are on SharePoint 2007-2010 and they are being migrated to SharePoint 2013 my role in this is to assist with migrating the sites and if anything needs re building on the site that is also a role that I do within the project team.

2. I have learnt a lot of new skills as I had never even heard of SharePoint before I got here, and no I am slowly but surely becoming a pro at it! thanks to my boss and the team, I have been part of internal training and external training I did a SharePoint course internally at the start of my apprenticeship and I have been going to London regularly to do a college course set up by Fidelity for all of the apprentices to take part in, we also have been given the opportunity to pass some Microsoft exams, which I believe is a great opportunity for us apprentices.

3. My work is great, the team I work with are fantastic people, the office is amazing, the people around the office are great too! It has really impressed me, the scheme so far, the people I have met, and everything about it is great.

4. Everyone at fidelity is fantastic no matter how busy people are they will always have time to talk to new starters which is really good for confidence within the business, also the senior people in the company also have lots of time for the apprentices, answering questions and making them feel comfortable in the role, it really is great.

5. The program that I am on is very well structured we had a very good induction day at one of the offices they provided lunch which was great and all the information given was brilliant, the training being provided is perfect for me as it will teach me new things I did not know about computing, there are always opportunities to go on internal training courses as well and the company are willing to put you onto them, the support from my manager and others in the company is really good whenever I need assistance or look like I am struggling they are always there to help me.

6. The training provider QA is really good and well chosen by fidelity, the support we receive from them is great they really do like to help their students, the tutors are all well trained in what they do and teach and I have learnt a great deal from them, if I have any issues I just have to email my assessor and he will always give me some guidance on how to approach the issue or he will try and resolve the issue. I have already learnt a lot at going to QA training centres.

As I have said in the sections above the support from everyone at fidelity is really good, my manager is always available to help me if I need help with anything that I need help with. The HR team are really good to whenever I email them about an issue or a query they will always respond the same day! the accessibility of the support is amazing if my manager is not free then I can always go to someone else and they will help me, I have also build up a good communication channel with other teams so if I need assistance with something they can do I can always ask them and they are always happy to help, I also have built up communications with other apprentices, and former apprentices so if I need anything or need information about the scheme I can always ask them.

7. My living costs are relatively low so my wage fits that really well, I am learning to drive but I mostly get a lift into the office so my travel costs are usually very low, the location of the office is rather close to my home so I never have far to travel to get to the office, I am a very social person but I never go out much during the week so I never spend much of my wage on going out.

8. There are always opportunities outside of work in fact there is talk of an apprentice charity day which is really fantastic, we will go out and work in a charity shop for a day and make money for charities, there are several exercise classes held on site and off site which we get involved in which is good, when I wasn't working I spent a lot of my time playing football, and I still do now, and I am in the process of setting up a 5 a side team for fidelity just to get some people I don't know involved in a sporting activity.

Yes

9. This is a fantastic company to work for and the apprentice scheme is really good, everyone in the company is great and friendly. I have already recommended some friends to join the scheme and everything they have heard has made them want to join the scheme.

10. The application process is easy, it is an online application and is rather quick to do, fidelity are very quick to acknowledge your application. after this you have a telephone interview which is very informal and nice to talk to someone from the company they ask a few basic questions and then they will phone you back a week or so later and if you are successful you go through to the assessment day, this was really good it got you involved with the other people applying to the scheme with team activities, you have to do 2 interviews with 2 separate management bodies, then you have to give a short presentation to another 2 management bodies, after the assessment day if successful about 2-3 weeks later they will phone you talk you through what decision was made what team you will be in and what the base salary will be, they will also invite you then to the induction day. everything I was told was great information everyone I spoke to was really friendly and nice to talk to.