Technical Consultant Review

Day to day, I assist the team in designing, implementing and supporting Azure server environments for clients. This involves meeting with clients to understand needs, planning the environment, constructing and testing the service and providing aftercare. Alongside this, I'll work on my degree which is run in 10 week modules and cover a range of topics relevant to my career.

Before starting with HPE, my experience with networking was primarily maintaining a home network and so since starting my career, I've developed my skills on the Azure platform with the aim of taking Microsoft accreditation in the future. As well as this inside work, I've developed a wider range of skills under QA apprenticeships with my degree modules.

The experience with HPE so far has been fantastic, the work is engaging, allowing me to work on state of the art developments alongside experienced colleagues. The team around me is always keen to support my development which is embraced by a great company culture of supporting personal development. While it wasn't the kind of work I anticipated at first, I've been more than pleasantly surprised.

The organisation of my program has been perfect from the perspective of HPE. We have a strong program leadership and lots of opportunity to work with the apprentices in other departments. I've felt disappointed by QA (Education Provider) on occasion, but HPE has worked hard with QA to voice concerns and bring this up in line.

Since starting, I've changed manager once due to internal restructuring but I've maintained a mentor in my office consistently. His support has ensured I have a ear to the ground in company procedure and mindset with relatively little experience in the corporate field. The apprenticeship team is also well supported, ensuring all needs are met from an education perspective.

The QA program is primarily based online with 4 days in workshops every 10 week module. These have varied in quality depending on the tutor, but generally the material is well presented. Some of the online material could do with a refresh, but from an availability perspective, QA ensure there is a strong network to raise concerns or get support.

The modules have varied somewhat in relevancy, I've used my first module (Networking) extensively if not an everyday basis, but I question how much I'll use Maths and Algorithms in the future. I'm sure that a good majority of the modules will either be directly beneficial or allow me to understand company process better.

At our smaller office, the opportunities have been incredibly varied. They run a regular 5 a side team, free food on company days, even free massages and yoga classes on occasion. From a business approach, there's good opportunity to get involved with events from a range of business units through your management or even externally.

Yes

Considering how competitive the Apprenticeship market is in comparison to University places, you should ensure you are getting equal or better value from an apprenticeship before sacrificing the potential benefits of university. My firm pays a competitive salary and a degree, alongside social work events which put it closer to a uni experience. As well as this, I get to develop real experience around great colleagues. These factors alone are why I would choose HPE over university every time.

Your grades are less relevant than your experience. I didn't do quite as well in my A-Levels as I would have hoped, but HPE took a chance on me because I could demonstrate practical experience and skill in IT. 9 months later, I'm thriving in the modules (Maintaining a 1st overall so far) and developing my personal skills. If I was reapplying again next year, I would focus on developing my technical skills farther so I could have demonstrated how I could get into the work quickly and jump into the job more easily.