Software Developer Review

I am a software developer and my day to day role would involve developing on the system we own. We have a set of requirements that needs fulfilling and I as a part of the team have a responsibility to ensure the tickets are complete. I also work closely with testers to ensure the work I am doing is correct.

By working on the development team, I have leant many new skills such as different programming languages. The product we work on is a legacy product so the language that was used to develop it is now out of date. So in order to be able to develop on it, I learnt some of the languages used such as VB Script through online training.

I really enjoy my programme as I've always been supported by my team and my manager regardless if its work related or uni related. The culture at the company is also very welcoming and everyone is very kind and helpful. I am lucky to have chosen CGI to do my apprenticeship with as its been just great!

I feel like the programme is well structured as I currently do 1 day a week at university and then 4 days at work. This brings a little bit of divide in the routine. The only thing I would day is that because we do 1 day a week at uni, the days are too long and very hectic. The day starts at 9am and finishes at 7pm which then makes us extremely tired for the next working day at the office.

I have received a lot of support from my employer as I have been assigned a uni mentor who helps me with my uni work and answers any questions I may have. I have also been able to approach any member of my team for support and they've never said no and have always guided me in the correct direction, if they are unable to answer my query.

Uni has also been helpful at some stages as I've been able to email my tutors for clarifications and they have always replied. The one thing would say is that, the tutors we received this semester were not the best as one of them didn't even know what the summative was until the last couple of week. Although we were able to get assistance from our programme lead in this particular case.

I have been able to apply the knowledge I have gained from uni at work so it has helped in understanding how certain things are done in a certain way. I also know more about some of the testing side of things as that is a role I haven't yet experienced at work.

There are many extra-curricular activities at work which I can get involved in. One activity I do is Badminton every Wednesday lunch times for an hour. This gives me the opportunity to meet other members of CGI and create a network. I have also been able to take part in a lot of voluntary work such as giving out apprenticeship speeches in schools in a careers fair.

Yes

I've enjoyed my time at CGI so far and would recommend it to other people as there is a lot of opportunity to further progress your career. CGI is very keen to make us feel like we are important and we own the company as a shareholder. This sense of comfortness is not always received from other businesses.

Just be honest when applying to CGI. CGI doesn't look at whether you have the experience of knowledge of doing a particular task, all they really care about is, your will to learn. If you can show them that you are willing to put in the effort then there is nothing stopping you!