Apprentice Review

I am a Capacity Analyst Apprentice. My main daily task is to be the first point of contact on our team mailbox. My team deals with everything capacity wise on the banks hardware. We manage Mainframe, UNIX, Windows, Storage and Midrange capacity levels and ensure that any new implementation in the bank will be able to run without causing any damage to the systems (e.g. overloading them). I work on the team mailbox and interact with every single project that takes place within the bank. My job is to find out what it is they are doing and what they will be affecting. I then pass this onto our teams analysts to review. As well as this I work on the mainframe running sourcing jobs on the system servers to find the capacity levels, and help the analysts with generating reports. I don't tend to have any external communications as I only deal with internal customers and my roll is not customer facing (externally). I am responsible for maintaining the mailbox making sure projects are answered quickly and appropriately. I usually work 8-4 Monday to Friday, take an hour lunch whenever I choose (usually 12-1) and can leave my desk at multiple point for coffee breaks as long as I am responsible and don't take too many breaks.

Seeing as I have worked in Retail before I feel I am further developing my Communication skills by working in the bank. As I speak to internal I am still speaking to a customer, but instead of them buying something from me in a shop, instead they are asking for my service and advice. This has helped develop my skills as I am learning how to deal with different types of customers. As for new skills I don't really feel I have learnt very many. I have learnt how to do a couple of things on the mainframe but not enough to call it a skill.

The work can be boring and slightly tedious, sometimes I feel like there is a lack of structure and that nobody really knows what we are doing here. I do however still 'enjoy' my job. The pay is brilliant and my team are great, I have made a lot of new friends and feel happy coming into work. My expectations were completely wrong, I expected the bank to be super modern with brand new computers and systems but everything is the opposite. I thought the apprenticeship would be a lot more hands on doing physical work but this also is not the case. The apprenticeship side isn't teaching me anything. The classes we go to are based on the SQA and to no fault of my work or QA Apprenticeships don't teach anything. All we focus on is completing essays for the SQA grade but this means very little learning. It is a shame as I really was hoping I would learn a lot more about IT and get a larger understanding for the industry.

I feel valued by my manager. He is trying hard to get me to fit into the team and to ensure I have a job after the apprenticeship within Capacity Management. The pay from the bank plus the bonus makes me feel like I am valued by the company as in my opinion this is one of the best ways to show appreciation. Other people in the bank see me as a normal employee rather than just an apprentice and I am given the same work. I feel valued especially by the Open Experience team as they have asked me multiple times to help out with volunteering and assist with events.

There is little structure. Most of us don't know the plan after the apprenticeship, line managers were stuck with what to do with us, we don't know if we stay in our teams at the end or move. Most of us thought we would move from team to team to help with our learning but this never happened. We are given support and time to go do QA classes, but have to do essays during work time and juggle it with normal work. The training has little structure as the learning from QA classes is overpowered by just getting the SQA essays complete and done to get the grade. We are given tasks that others tend not to want as we are the apprentices and as nobody has any idea what the plan for us is sometimes are just given random jobs just to keep us busy.

The training provider themselves has had near enough no contact with us since being placed. We have our assessor who we see on average every 3 months but don't hear from anyone else. To begin with there was calls between RBS and QA where we could discuss the program but these quickly stopped. I feel our assessor is supportive and wants the best out of us but seeing as there is little structure there is a lot of confliction between what and how things are to be done between assessors and other apprentices. I have rated the experience a 6 as there is little support from QA, but I would like to emphasize that I feel my assessor is fully focussed on supporting us.

My manager supports me as much as he can, freeing me up time to do my QA work, allowing me to go to volunteering events. I feel that RBS is very accommodating to us but everything is down to manager discretion. I said above that at times we have to try and juggle normal work with our apprenticeship work, but my manager in particular is very happy to allow us some time - but at times it still isn't enough. My mentor is the Chief Technology Officer of RBS so is a great idol to look up at, but I have to understand how busy he is. We try to meet every 2 months but sometimes this isn't possible, and when he says he will send through tasks for me they can take some time. Despite this I feel incredibly privileged to have him as my mentor and feel that the support he offers is a great help. I really feel like he can help push me through the bank and is a great person to have as a friend.

Perfect. I have never seen an apprenticeship with wages like this and don't have a single complaint. The fact that we also got a Christmas Bonus for being here for 6 months was just a cherry on top of the cake. The buildings are central and offer lots of transport links and think it is a brilliant incentive to working at the bank. I can also save up monthly and put this money towards a new car or when i eventually move out and buy my own place etc.

At Christmas I went out with my team for a team lunch. Myself and a group of apprentices also have became good friends and meet up regularly out of work. We have been on a Data Centre Tour outside of work which was great to see. There is external events and sporting clubs but I myself am not a part of these. There are other events that happen both internally and externally we are emailed about and we can choose to go to certain events or not which is good to have.

Yes

The pay for the work is amazing. The job isn't the most exciting but it is secure and there is the availability for progression. There is hundreds of different teams all doing different jobs which means there's room to move about. I have suggested a few friends come work here as the staff are great and its a job that can turn into a career for life.

It's probably not going to be what you expect. The first 2 years might seem long and be hard but push on through as at the end the opportunities are endless. Be yourself and be confident, show that you have a willingness to progress and succeed and RBS will want you on there team. There is hundreds of volunteering opportunities and I suggest you take them all. You might not always get picked but keep putting your name forward. Networking is the most important thing and it is incredible the opportunities that can be opened up just by getting your foot in the door.