Apprentice Software Developer Review

My main focus is on the development and maintenance of appsCentral (our internal apps engine) however it’s a very diverse role with many aspects. In terms of pure developing and coding, the MERN stack is certainly interesting and enables someone who is very capable in JavaScript (I did a lot of this at college) to do a lot more – and a lot easier. As my first job, being able to expand my skill list and get experience in many different aspects of IT is exactly what I’m looking for.

Certainly. As a developer, learning new skills is a must to keep up with today's technologies and exploring the MERN stack is definitely interesting. Becoming familiar with the work environment is important as the jump from college to work can be rather shaky so an apprenticeship is a great way to transition to the work life.

It's hard to express how lucky I feel to land this apprenticeship. Everyone in my team - and everyone at premier - are extremely hard working and a true pleasure to work with. I could not have asked for a better role to start my career.

Within my team, it's very obvious that I'm the least experienced but team management means that I'm always doing something useful while also learning as much as possible. Within certain projects, I have helped to make substantial progress to complete against challenging time-frames, such as building a functioning chat-bot in less than 8 days.

My training is very separate from my day to day work but QA is an exceptionally supportive agency and their teaching is top-tier.

QA provides a manager with who you can contact at any time and receive help the same day, and the tutors that they host for the weekly accelerated learning coursers are always very professional and have a lot of experience to share.

My line manager is extremely helpful with managing deadlines and a pleasure to work with. Honestly, I haven't really had any issues but I know that the support would be there if anything came up. As an apprentice I work very closely with another developer which is extremely useful as I'm learning as much as I possibly can from him.

For a first job, I was definitely more than happy with the pay and the training cost is all covered by the company. I spend a few days in Manchester a month where all expenses are covered, and its fun to fly out to a different location/office for a few days.

There have been a few company events that I've been invited to but unfortunately I've always been rather busy. The option is definitely there though and I recommend getting involved as it helps to build a constructive work environment.

Yes

All the reasons above. Put simply, I could not find a better apprenticeship (and believe me I was looking.)

In terms of the application process there are enough guides online to help with your first CV. In terms of skills I think a few paragraph of your experiences and projects you've worked on (maybe at college) go a lot further than just listing your grades. When it comes to interviews, be prepared, but be yourself - it's never as daunting as you build it up in your head to be!