Technology Apprentice Review

I am a tech apprentice in the emerging capabilities field. I run reports for the CTO and help out in regards to our innovation events. Outside of that I'm unsure of my role; it's never been fully explained to me so I have had to wing it for the most part.

I have learn some low-code development, excel spreadsheet skills and a lot of interpersonal skills. I have also learnt skills that are platform specific, for example using confluence and qualtrics. I am currently developing my knowledge about accessibility, however this has been provided by another colleague not my line manager. Majority of the time I have had to seek out people and own my development. While good, I would appreciate being taught by the person that took me under their wing.

I don't enjoy work because it is repetitive and there feels like 0 work life balance. University is horrible because their is no communication; Our lecturers will often just do things and expect us to be able to commit all of our time to study without even acknowledging the fact that we work as well.

I don't think so. I can say that it is improving though. It is very poorly done on the unis part because they constantly change the modules, changing the lecturers, pushing uni to weekends, etc. It does not look very structured but it is good enough that I can learn.

Not much. I revive a lot of support from the apprentice career coach, but from my direct manager...it has not been much. It has been improving but I have been here for 2 years and have practically had to learn everything from other people already. Hopefully it continues to improve.

Pretty much none at all. The university has been very poor; they expect us to use google to fix our problems and do not have any regards to our situation. I had one good lecturer and unfortunately, he no longer teaches us. We have another lecturer that is working on improving and its getting a lot better. The overall support is still poor though.

It doesn't help me perform better, but every now and then it allows me to have more input in discussions being held within the team. However, this could also come from the fact that I am still, 2 years in, unsure of my role so I don't know how the course could help.

Yes, I am involved in a lot of the Professional Network Forums. I don't get to spend as much time their as my line manager does not seem to want me to socialise and network however, when I can, I make sure to participate and learn from my peers in those circles.

No

0 work life balance. The structure is constantly changing, and I feel like their are too mmany people here that only want apprentices for the cheap labor. They do not train them up and they do not look out for their well being. Therefore I would not want to see a friend of mine in that situation.

I'm not sure. Be honest with yourself. Try and ensure that you can do the job you applied for. Set up a support network early on. Also, make sure to speak up; the culture here is not very nice so if something is happening that you are not prepared for, speak up and get help.