Application Developer (DevOps) Review

I was on the bench initially as I was waiting for clearance to start my project. Once this arrived initially I did a half SysAdmin and half IT support role for about 8 months from August 2018 to February 2019 to build up my initial skillset. Initially I was resentful as this was not what I was hired to do, however in hindsight my managers definitely knew best as this was a way to build up my hard and soft skills in a less intense environment in preparation for my move to DevOps. I then moved to a fast moving DevOps team on the same project. Some of the things I do are: - Enable developers to promote code through CI - Enable automated builds of applications and environments - Middleware patching and software upgrades Some of the products, tools and languages I work with on a daily basis are: - Jenkins (Groovy) - Yaml - Terraform - Packer - Jira - Confluence - Python - AWS - Shell scripting - Linux - Ansible

I have gained a huge amount of experience in the tools outlined above, as I came in with almost no knowledge of them. My soft skills regarding communication, etiquette, presentations and time management have also improved greatly. Something good about IBM is that there is a lot of funding and encouragement for both internal and external courses and qualifications. For example, my department has provided a subscription to LinuxAcademy which as an individual is $49 per month. I have also picked up skills in SQL and built on existing Python knowledge in my university studies.

I enjoy my programme greatly, the work is challenging and varied and there is plenty of mentoring and support available from your Early Professionals Manager. Personally I enjoy the project and team that I am on however your mileage may vary massively here as it depends on where/what you are working on. The university study is not incredibly demanding but is interesting, and I have got very strong grades so far without putting in much time outside of the study day.

I had a 2.5 week IBM induction when I joined which greatly improved my understanding of what to expect and cleared up any confusion and alleviated my worries (and was really good fun!) From the IBM side, everything feels fairly smooth, as their Apprenticeship Programme is gigantic and so they have a lot of experience with almost every situation and there are dedicated staff members whose job is to look after Early Professionals. In any big company there is inevitably going to be red tape and bureaucracy and it is possible to feel 'lost in the crowd' but if you ask for help or advice it will always be provided. The study day is well understood and managers on the project side have been very accommodating regarding needing to take that day off every week.

We receive a lot of support in this area, my Early Professionals Manager has a call or face to face meeting with me roughly every 3 months to check in on me. There is also a 'Checkpoint' goal review session roughly every 6 months which is another opportunity to catch up. When I have sent an email with a question, I have always got a response providing me the answer, or if they don't know they pass me on to someone who does. Foundation which is IBM's early professional 'community' acts a sort of shield from the business as a whole so you are not subject to the same pressures or fears of being laid off if the company does not do well and there is a pot of money available for training. There have been training sessions around the university reflective Practice Modules which greatly helped in writing the report. I have heard from Apprentices who have been here for 3-4 years that this can become stifling or patronising towards the end of your apprenticeship but I cannot comment on this.

In my year at Exeter, I have had 2 compulsory meetings with my university mentor to discuss how I am settling in and to highlight any issues. There was also a 1 day (ish) induction session where the course outline as a whole was explained to us as part of the 1 week September residential. The lecturers have been very helpful in replying to any queries regarding the coursework via email. The university support facilities such as Mental Health and Stress Workshops etc are available to us but they seem fairly useless to someone who is barely every on campus and I have personally never used them - however it is nice that they are there if needed.

A mixed bag for me personally on this one. First year is definitely designed as a catch up mechanism or a stepping stone to get everyone to the same level so maybe I am being unfair here. Important to note I am only speaking for myself here - others may have found this far more valuable than I did. The modules I studied this year are: 1. Business Organisation (Business) 2. Interpersonal and Foundation Skills (Maths and soft skills) 3. Information and Data (SQL) 4. System Development 1 (Python) 5. Reflective Practice 1 (Work based writeup and presentation) To me personally I found that for the business module I already knew (almost) everything - for example I already knew what Porter's 5 forces were and what a HR department does. A common sense module. Similarly for the Interpersonal Skills module - apart from matrices, I already knew everything and the Maths lies somewhere between GCSE and AS Level difficulty but is (to me) trivial. A common sense module. The SQL module was awesome. I had no skills in this area at all and it has been directly useful in my job role in enabling me to communicate with the DBAs and write simple queries. The module is pretty tricky but doable. The Python module for me was a recap - I taught myself Python a year or so ago, but the assignments were not completely trivial and were really fun. I know people who had no experience found it very challenging though. I have used Python a couple of times in my job role and found I was able to lift some code from one of my assignments to help me with the solution.

There are, however I have not really jumped into this as much as others have. I have done some 'Giveback' opportunities with IBM where I have attended school leavers fairs and schools to promote Apprenticeships with IBM - this has really helped build my communication skills and eminence within IBM. I also helped run the 2019 Apprenticeship Week in South Bank which was quite cool as we got to meet Apprentices from lots of other companies. I ran a stall in my department's Christmas event which was a really good way to network and find out about career progression and interesting roles in IBM. I also attended a pub quiz ran by my department's Early Professionals which was again really good fun.

Yes

There are such a wide range of roles available that almost anyone will be able to find something that is perfect for them. IBM invest A LOT in their apprentices so you will definitely not be making the tea. The support available from Foundation is very useful and since IBM have been running Apprentice schemes for years now they are very experienced with solving any issues that crop up.

Application process is honestly straight forward and you should not have any issues. I don't want to type it up so here it is half way down the page. https://www-05.ibm.com/employment/uk-en/school_leaver.html Use the STAR approach for any interviews, dress sharp and be able to articulate: why an apprenticeship why IBM, why an apprenticeship with IBM, why the role you applied for, why you are a good candidate, what does IBM do (hint they don't make keyboards)