Degree Apprentice Software Developer Review

Working on projects with other full time employees that have been given to Capgemini by HMRC. Overall, degree apprentices are treated as normal employees and given full responsibility and reward for all of their actions. This really makes you feel like a valued member of the workforce and enjoy the job.

Yes, increase in technical skills relating to new technology that HMRC is interested in moving legacy systems onto, such as Office 365 and specifically SharePoint Online. Learning these skills will be useful all across the business. Furthermore, I have also gained a lot of experience in Java and SQL during the 8 weeks of the beginning of the course, where they teach you a lot of basic skills for coding.

Company culture is great, everyone I've met so far is great and helpful. The team I'm working on is great, and everyone is willing to help whenever it is needed. I would say it meets and exceeds most of my expectations for what the workplace would be like. Overall, I really enjoy my experience.

Overall it is very well organised, with some minor hiccups occuring, but I think these are unavoidable. Blackboard is easy to use and I've never had any real issues completed quizzes or submitting work to the system. There is great planning, with all exams and on-campus days planned about a year in advance for plenty of forward warning.

There is a lot of support from the employer, mostly with the GAP events that focus on the apprentice community and ensuring that everyone is getting along well. I feel like if I have any real problems, there are plenty of people who I can email to illustrate my need for help.

There is a lot of support from Aston University, all the lectures have their emails freely available, there are weekly lectures if you do need to ask questions about the content that is available to be downloaded. There are also people who manage the overall course who are always free to email and quick to respawn.

There are definitely skills that transfer across into practical applications, such as SQL and objected oriented programming. There is also a journal focused on professional practice, which is proving more useful that initially I though it would be. There is a lot of theory, some of which will not be directly applicable, but generally builds up knowledge into the background of networks and systems.

There are a lot of events available both for the general employees and to all apprentices that are organised by work and other apprentices. Overall, there is a lot to do and it is all usually well arranged. It is easy to do stuff outside of work that has been arranged by other people.

Yes

Great pay with prospect of good promotions, lot of great free benefits from working for the company, the company treats apprentices well and there is a lot to be gained from working in a proper work environment, and it avoids all the student debt that you would rack up otherwise.

Do not be put off if you lack technical knowledge - the first 8 weeks will be hard, but it will be worth it. As long as you have a curiosity for the subject and a problem solving mindset, you can be accepted. Equally, if you have technical knowledge, make sure to show off that you can learn the skills needed to make a great employee.