Associate Application Developer Review

As an associate application developer, my main Job role is development. Due to the size of the projects, I develop in a large range of languages and technologies - covering legacy and upcoming techniques. On the average day I will spend the majority of my time getting technologies to work together and I have also been doing a large amount of automated deployment.

I have learnt loads since being here. Coming from a computer science background I had some good foundations which have been developed and built upon. However, at work I have learnt about things you wouldn’t cover in education. For example, VM’s and how being able to use these effectively is a skill in itself. Coding, in comparison, has now become the easy part – it’s the learning of the technologies and the tools you need that’s difficult and that’s what the work place provides for you.

I enjoy working at Fujitsu a lot, it provides me with challenges on a day to day basis and keeps me learning consistently. I have not yet met a single employee I don’t get on with and everyone is friendly and welcoming. However, the program is what you make it – you must push to be busy, get work and improve your own skills. All that will be provided is the right environment for you to do this – where you are surrounded by the right people and knowledge.

There isn’t a great amount of structure to the program that I have personally seen. As I have said before, it is what you make it. Fujitsu simply provides you with the opportunities and support you may need. However, there is a structure in place to make sure you stay on track.

I have regular meetings with a mentor and manager to see how I am doing and my progress. The people you need to make contact with if you need support are made relatively clear from the start and they genuinely will do their best to support you. Therefore, in general, the support at Fujitsu has been great when it comes to my personal experience.

Winchester university, provide a lot of support and there are always people to contract about this. As someone with dyslexia, I have been using there support to help with this and it has been fantastic. They have a team of amazing people to help support you with everything like this. The only issue with the support is they sometimes forget you are not a full time student and you can’t just pop down on a week day to sort some things out etc.

Due to the nature of this degree, it is not perfectly suited to my job role. For example, I am on the technique stream and am a developer in the work place. However, my degree contains a lot of business modules. These modules may actually be very useful in the future, particularly as you career progresses. Currently though it does not match my Job role completely and I do wish it could be slightly more technical – more like a computer science degree.

At work, we have a GAP community where monthly socials are organised and take place. The community also provides a lot of opportunities to network and get to know the senior leadership teams. They also provide regular meetings to let everyone know what’s happening within the company. Fujitsu also has some sport teams that you can get involved with and takes part in activities such as Tough Mudder.

Yes

Because it is an amazing opportunity, to be able to get: a degree, 4 years’ experience in the work place and zero debt. It is hard work and by no means perfect, however, it is hard to complain when compared to what you are gaining. I would recommend a degree apprenticeship to anyone and I think Fujitsu it’s a great company to do it with. Fujitsu also does the degree in 4 years rather than 3 that a lot of the other companies do who go to Winchester – this allows the course to be spread out and make the whole process less stressful.

You must make the most of the opportunity and drive your own learning, there is always work to do, however, you must ask for it and prove you can do it. A degree apprenticeship is not easy and you must be prepared to start properly managing your time – however it is possible. Also, don’t expect to make an impact as soon as you join, this will come over time as your knowledge increases. Always remember that you are surrounded by people with many years’ experience and you will feel very behind when you first join but you will get there.