Software apprentice Review

I am a software developer in the Mortgages API team. I primarily work with Java and RAML. The APIs I work on are written in Java. My role has mostly consisted of fixing problems with the API's RAML, however I have worked on Java based projects related to testing the APIs. I have not yet been involved in the writing of any APIs. The role involves a lot of collaboration and meetings.

I started learning Java from scratch on the apprenticeship, as well as RAML. I have made good progress with both. I have also developed many soft skills, such as presenting to a group and working on a project in a team. I have also started developing skills in web development as it is part of my University course.

In terms of the actual work, a lot of it is quite tedious, however the team work involved and the projects that aren't tedious make up for this tedious work and thus I still enjoy coming to work. The team I work with are very helpful and I get along with them very well. The company culture is something I don't think I have observed enough to comment on properly however one thing I have noticed is that questionable decisions regarding development are made just to please someone higher up. I did not know what to expect coming into the apprenticeship but I am certainly not displeased with how it has gone so far.

The degree side of my apprenticeship is structured well. At work the structure is shaky. In my team I am just seen as a regular employee, and I am just given training when I ask for it. This suits my taste. The shaky part of the structure is the communication from the apprenticeship program leaders to me. There are supposed to be regular meetings between me and the leaders, however these are often cancelled and not rearranged. I have a set of objectives I must complete for the apprenticeship however how to do this is not communicated enough.

I receive essentially as much support as I want. There is always someone in the team I can ask for help, and there are also many opportunities for in or out of office training. I have also been given a pluralsight account for independent training. I do not have a specific mentor however my team are all always ready to assist me and they make sure I understand what they are showing me.

The university is very supportive and there are multiple lecturers that I can email for help, and most of them reply promptly. The university has tutors that come to my workplace and are available to talk to face to face on a weekly basis. The university side of my course is very enjoyable.

The content of my qualification does not directly relate to what I do at work, however it still helps me because the software developing aspect of my degree helps me to understand how to tackle software development problems regardless of what language these problems are in. There is also a business aspect of my qualification which helps me to understand how barclays works.

There are many company events and activities made available to me. They occur very regularly and often involve helping some sort of charity. There are also many volunteering initiatives such as every month I am able to volunteer to help primary school children who come to the office for a day. On site there are also football pitches and tennis courts.

Yes

Despite some flaws in the way of working, there are many perks of working at Barclays. The facilities and campus are excellent, and the pay is good too. Everyone i have worked with has been friendly and easy to communicate with. It is also very flexible. I am able to work from home twice a week.

Make sure you know exactly what you want to do. They pick a team for you after they have offered you a job role and if you don't make a specific passion clear you will get placed in a team which you may not like. This happened to me but thankfully I was able to move teams.