HIGHER LEVEL IT APPRENTICE Review

Atos has a wide range of clients with varying Accessibility and Assistive Technology (AT) requirements. Acknowledging this, the need for the accessibility team is expanding. As a team, we help Atos fulfill its commitments to providing reasonable adjustments for it's clients. Our role is to help promote best practice around AT solutions and develop expertise in our AT service offerings. We cover the development, support, maintenance and audit of technology and service solutions for Assistive Technology and related services.

Knowledge of Accessibility Tools including: o textHELP Read and Write Gold o JAWS o Dragon NaturallySpeaking o ZoomText o Mindjet MindManager Knowledge of Inbuilt Accessibility Features with: o Windows OS o iOS o Android o OSX o Windows Phone OS o Apple Watch OS Knowledge of Accessibility Standards, Guidelines and Legislation including: o Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 10 o Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 20 o Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) o International Standards Organisation (ISO) in regards to Accessibility o Section508 o Mandate 376 o Equality Act 2010 o Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Superseded by Equality Act) Knowledge gained from QA tutoring in Telford included: o MySQL o System Development Essentials o Java o .Net o TDD o C# o Agile Scrum Development Methodology o User Experience (UX) o Present with Impact o Creative Problem Solving o System Analysis and Design o Health and Safety within ICT Knowledge of Disabilities including: o Moto Impairments o Cognitive / Neurological Impairments o Physical Impairments o Visual Impairments o Audio Impairments Knowledge gained from QA work based assignments: o Health and Safety in ICT (102) o Testing ICT Systems (313) o Developing own effectiveness and professionalism (404) o Security of ICT systems (407) o Technical Advice and Guidance (410) o Technical Fault Diagnosis (411) Knowledge how to create: o Accessible PDFs o Transcribes o Training guides / packs creation o Test plans o Accessibility Test Reports o Presentations o WordPress Websites Basics of application packaging o Microsoft Install (MSI) o Microsoft Transform (MST) Cooperate Business Model / procedures including: o Time Sheet System o Ordering System o Expenses System o MyCareer System (Setting goals / targets) o GCM levels and the organisational structure within Atos o The differences between the different levels of support (1st, 2nd, 3rd) • Increasing Accessibility through Wireframes. • The different types of software licences. • When accessibility should be included within project lifecycles and system development and the consequences if this is not implemented correctly. • AT terminology. • How to contact external organisations to enquire about accessibility of products they supply. Differences between: o Accessibility and Usability o Functional and non-functional testing o Direct and indirect discrimination o Overview of Disability smart call handling.

I love the team dynamic within work. I can honestly say some of my best friends are those I met through the apprenticeship program, we often spend a lot of time together outside of work.

I feel like a recognised employee at Atos despite having 'apprenticeship' within my job title. Other employees within Atos ask for work from us all the time showing that people don't judge a book by it's cover.

At the start, it was a bit of a shaky structure, we finished our interviews and within a week were shipped of for training without the chance to meet our line manager and office first. Despite this, i believe the apprenticeship program has been well organised and structured.

QA gives us lots of opportunity for support if we require it. If I ever have a question, it will always be answered by our assessor and if our assessor doesn't have the answer they will always try there best to find out.

Our line manager always gives us opportunities to ask for support if we require it. If I ever have a question, it will always be answered by our line manager and if our line manager doesn't have the answer they will always try there best to find out. If we are ever stuck on a piece of work, our line manager is always happy to help us.

Unfortunately, despite our apprenticeship program being well paid compared to the average, I currently live by myself, and my expenses are far greater than my annual wage. Other members of the team who still live at home are doing just fine I believe.

I am not aware of any opportunities outside of work, If there are opportunities outside of work I would very much like to see what these are and potentially get involved.

Yes

Because it is a very laid back company to work for, my colleagues are friendly and my line manager and managers are excellent.

I can't think of any advice to give to other people applying for Atos, the interview day was very straight forward, I was given all the information required for the interview meaning I was very prepared.