Software Engineer Review

I work in the CAMS team in the mainframe, my role involves taking a design document reading through said document, then applying the changes to an existing program or creating a new program. I also test the changes I have completed to ensure it works as expected. Most projects I am on are very different from the last, this keeps me on my toes for the next project due in.

I have developed many skills that link in with programming, I have learnt many different programming languages and techniques, some of these are: COBOL, JCL, REXX, CICS, CAMS, DB2, and I am currently learning ASSEMBLER. I have developed my presentation skills with an increase in confidence when having to do a presentation. I have also developed my writing skills in University when it comes to writing reports, this has made me more confident when writing a report for an assignment

With the programme i am on, i really enjoy any citizenship activities i can get in on, these include helping out students visiting with robot related activities to introduce them to coding, I am also involved in a small project that goes into various school where a few of us go in to talk to students about the mainframe, this way introducing them to the technology early on to entice them into a career in mainframe. When it comes to the work aspect of the job I feel that for me in particular there is not enough work, this reduces any joy i can get out of the job. I enjoy some aspects of the apprenticeship but not all.

As one of the first cohort of mainframe degree apprentices, i feel that more structure and organisation is needed as currently i feel like i am left out of the loop as to what is going on in University. I also feel that apprenticeship related objectives are left very late and to the last minute rather than a distribution of them straight away. Support for university is very much hit and miss sometimes its great and helpful other times it is not. The actual topics that are learnt are somewhat relevant to the job role so this is helpful.

I receive a lot of support from the employer, they have listened to feedback given and have tried their best to make this improvement happen if they can. The HR team have especially helped me out with various issues over the time i have been here. I find that everyone I work with are happy to help, which makes asking for help a lot easier.

This depends on the tutor, majority of the tutors will provide lots of help and answer questions no matter what to help you out as much as they can. I have noticed one tutor in particular ignore my email asking for guidance on a task, this was obviously frustrating and not helpful one bit.

Currently the qualification i am working towards is not a huge help to performing better in my role, this is because my role is rather technical so training through the qualification is broad due to other roles and cannot be tailored to mine. As the qualification is not finished, what is learnt over the next few years could help me to perform better in my role

There are loads of extra-curricular activities to get involved in. Barclays holds a funday event every year in the summer to raise money for charity. Each team have their own objectives to help the community by raising money for charity as well. Every employee has an initiative to volunteer at least once a year to a citizenship related activity. When I am not working, I focus on my citizenship/community project of introducing students to the mainframe, this is an ongoing project to ensure that young people know about the technology opportunities out there

Yes

The flexible working hours are a great help to people like me who travel a fair distance so being able to have flexible working hours allows me to miss the traffic yet still complete my contracted hours each week. Barclays also take care of their own and I feel like the company cares about each employee here, they care about your well being and family and ensure there are tactics in place to help with these, to me this is a great help for the future and for those with a family they need to think about.

the main tip I would give to others applying to Barclays is to be yourself. Another is to read up about the company so that you have an idea of what they do and where they are going in the future, this will look great to the potential employer. The last thing is to just go for it and do your best, if you don't try you will never get it