BSc Computer Science with Digital Technology Partnership (PwC) Review

During all time apart from when on summer placement: I am just a normal university student, unless you ask somebody would know no different. I work hard to achieve high grades and enjoy time taking part in many societies on campus. There is no additional work I need to do for PwC. During my summer placement I will be working in a consulting team in one of PwC’s London offices. They provide accommodation for this 10 week period! This should be a great experience, and is likely to be similar to work I do when I fully join the firm after graduation.

Yes, during the university course I have learnt a huge amount, that is after all why people go to university. Having the funding from PwC has meant that I have not had to get a part time job so I have been left with more time to study and relax! PwC has hosted a series of online seminars which we have been able to take part in to learn about the areas of technology they work within, these have been very interesting.

I enjoy it a huge amount. There are some great people on the course who I spend almost all my time with. Apart from the general stress due to university exams I would say that I’be Genuinely been very happy during my entire time on this degree Apprenticeship course. The free items at the start of the course definitely started us off well with a general high spirited mood.

As it is the first year of this exact course existing there have been a few minor issues. Even though we are technically full employees of PwC we do not have access to any of the employee systems such as email, HR, or even checking our payslips through their online services while we are at uni. This can be explained by some sensible security logic that as we are not working in their offices (yet) while we are studying we do not have access to PwC laptops and phones. These would have allowed us access to all the systems. This is definitely an area that should be improved as the course goes forwards. The course is structured in a way that we have ambassador roles that we chose but on the whole communication with these roles isn’t fantastic and as we do not have access to PwC systems we have resorted to having to use Facebook messenger group chats for these tasks. Not secure and definitely not up to the standard of such a good firm.

Enough. So far we have only been studying at uni and are yet to have our summer placement. There has been the perfect amount of communication so far. We have had semi regular online seminars where PwC staff have talked us through the areas of technology that they work in and we have had a few meetings with the course leaders. At the same time they have given us lots of space to get on with studying hard at university. A really good balance has been reached.

No support yet. As we have not yet started our summer placement and are still just studying at university as part of our degree apprenticeship. There is a week long induction at the start of the summer placement where I am sure we will receive lots of valuable training and such.

As I have mentioned we have not had much training specifically from PwC. There however has been lots learnt during our time studying Computer science here at the university of Birmingham. Although I do not yet know for certain, I am sure that this will help during my summer placement when I take part in Tech Consulting for the firm at their London offices.

Yes, through being a student at the university of Birmingham I have access to all clubs and societies that are ran through the Guild, our student union. I have thourorly enjoyed being part of the University of Birmingham Mountaineering Society where I climb at least twice a week and go on regular outdoor trips climbing.

Yes

I already have! The pay in great, especially the fact that we dont have to pay it all back like a student loan. I would say this is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of a degree apprenticeship that should be advertised way more heavily. Through one interview I basically earnt myself around £100,000 and I am still doing mostly what I would have otherwise paid that amount of money to do!

Get involved in loads before your interview. List and remember to quote everything about you that should you are a team player, problem solver, great communicator, and adaptive thinker. Research into the ‘PwC Professional’ idea and think about how this will reflect onto you. Every PwC interview, be it for a job when you are much older or for this apprenticeship covers the ‘PwC Processional’ idea, so make sure you can link to example that show you follow it.