IT Apprentice Review

I currently work in IT as an apprentice, my day to day roles vary but for the first year I am based on the service desk. I deal with tickets that come in from other staff around site. If I balance my time correctly and with some thought, this will not prevent me from doing other tasks or getting involved in projects.

The main qualification would be my university degree I am currently in the progress of earning. Currently I have not had much internal training other than what I can learn from the service desk. I understand the idea behind this. Being based on the service desk gives me access to a range other problems to solve so in a way this can be considered greatly accelerated learning within the workplace.

The team I work in is great, although we have had a few issues from one of the colleagues who can be considered toxic. But as the rest of the team are supportive this is overcome. The company’s culture is very ownership based and safety driven both in mental and physical health which on the daily is great to see.

My line manager is very supportive and will give you the credit and recognition you deserve, this will also reflect from other around site as reputation is part of the culture. If you continue to do a good job it will be noticed. My apprenticeship manager means well and is supportive but is also very busy allot of the time so you can get the feeling sometimes that you aren't really been noticed by him. The tasks I am involved in most of the time I am valued and my work is recognised.

My induction on the day was perfect but little communication was involved over the summer. My university is also not very structured at the moment but is understandable as it is new. My apprenticeship is my opinion is not very structured as I have no idea what is to happen in the second year. I should be moving away from the service desk into a more focused area/role.

My main training provider would be university. My tutors and lecturers have allot of improvement as allot of them are not used to the type of course. The first term was very messy as we were a month behind and our lecturers were not replying to email (bare in mind this is the main way of contact). Our workplace emailed the leader and this was soon sorted.

My line manager and department manager are very helpful and supportive, they listen to what issues I have and try to do there best to make my daily work life easier. My apprenticeship manager is sometimes to busy to provide me the support I need. I am often left in the dark or missing out on opportunities due to Communication issues. When these are all fine for example he is on site and has time to speak in person he provides the support I need.

Since been accepted onto the apprenticeship my living costs have changed. To get to work I need a car and had to buy a new car as my other one wouldn't make the distance. This is more expenditure on top of travel costs. My daily costs I would also say have changed as I need to eat at work rather than having the time to prepare food and bring it to work. It made me realise that the pay at Siemens would be great for a student living locally and living at home but for someone that lives in a flat, quite a few miles from work and has living costs it just isn't up to par.

Siemens are very volunteering and community orientated which is great for finding little ways of having a work/social life mix. Company event are very common also. When I wasn't working I used to go the gym allot. but now I find it difficult to find the time. also I saw a lot of my friends but since my job this has greatly reduced. this is all to be expected though.

Yes

Siemens offer allot of opportunities and support but I would warn my friend about the pay and the structure of their workplace roles and university. It can be difficult at times but with some confidence and hard work it is manageable. I would make sure that they are aware that they can complain about certain processes as this will help improve things as long as it done in a positive and informative way.

I would make sure that you don't make siemens your only option and apply else where to. Over the summer I heard nothing from siemens at all. Siemens are very behaviour based. They want you to be yourself and be open to changing your behaviour to help you develop professionally.