Application developer. Review

Job title: Application developer. Some of my daily tasks include: daily stand ups, spec writing, test writing, coding, reviewing others code and doing technical tasks in order to provide functionality need by the business. I’m part of an agile feature team working on one flow in a payment engine. Our larger team as a whole is responsible for the creation and support of the engine. We are all responsible for the quality of the code added to the engine to deliver features requested by the business.

I’ve learned: Java, Groovy, TDD, ATDD, Spring, Agile ways of working, Jenkins Pipelines, Git and many other technologies. I’ve added to my existing VBA knowledge as well as adding more hands on learning of object oriented languages.

I’ve really enjoyed the programme so far, my teams have really helped me learn things to become a better developer, they always take the time to teach me new things that will help me improve. When we first started I was in a team of apprentices working on small projects to help learn about Agile by going through the same process as our current teams. It was really helpful to be able to learn as a group as we would often each research different things and then we could share that knowledge in sessions.

I currently feel very valued; my manager has given me a good end of year review as well as other feedback throughout the year. The project leads thanked us for the work we’ve done over the year. Recently members of my team nominated me and the other apprentice in my team for an award recognizing going beyond what they expected us to.

Our program is run in a well-organized and structured way. Although the final stages of gaining our qualification has not been so well organized by an external body, the schools team have kept us all informed as to what to expect and facilitated us in passing the exams by offering extra learning session for the people who are struggling.

Our training provider is always just an email or a phone call away. They regularly have review sessions to make sure we are on track and that we are happy. Having online and face to face sessions with the lecturers was a good combination, we had their email as well so if we need to ask about something we could.

I received a lot of support over my time here, from my team, my managers, my project leads and groups I’m part of. I’ve had 3 managers in my time (not because I’ve moved teams but because responsibilities of the people changed) here and each one have taken the time to talk about what they expect and what I should learn.

It’s a really good deal for an apprenticeship .

Yes there are many events we can get involved with, schools events, charity events and learning events. I’ve organized visits for children who code to come on site have a tour and play some games.

Yes

It’s a really good learning environment if you’re hands on learner. Many session are run by other teams which you don’t really get with small companies.

Try to go to as many learning events as you can without disrupting your day job. Don’t just aim to be doing the same amount of work in the same way as the rest of your team. Try and learn new ways of doing things and make an effort to help your team become more efficient.