Apprentice Software Developer Review

As an apprentice, we are tasked with taking as many opportunities to learn as possible. Due to the nature of this, at the beginning of the apprenticeship we rotated around the different departments to get a feel for the business and settle in. At this moment in time, I have been put onto my first project that will be sold to a client. Having been given the requirements, my job is to develop and peer test the solution we have come up with.

I used to be very timid when it came to introductions but since starting this apprenticeship I have a new found confidence to be myself and get to know my colleagues. I am yet to find someone in the office who is not friendly and willing to help which I believe to be the reason I have managed to achieve this. I have also learnt a few more programming languages (such as react & java) whilst increasing my knowledge of the languages I was already familiar with (such as python, which lead to a flask application).

I thoroughly enjoy working in the office, the people are supportive and want to see you succeed. However, due to the past, I become really anxious to go to my training provider. This is no fault of their own, as I have always struggled being in a classroom environment. With that said, I am working to improve my anxiety around this and the training provider are extremely supportive. For our last batch of training, our trainer found new ways to help us learn and revise in order to find the most suitable strategy for us.

Each step of the apprentice we have been given a plan of how things should pan out. For instance, I have had all the dates that we will be at our training provider since we started. We are also told an outline of what is going to happen when we get back into the office. However, I feel as though this outline is brief because it hasn't quite been planned yet. I understand and have taken into account the fact that projects are always changing in this line of work, but compared to Estio, where we know which course we are doing and on which dates, sometimes we only know what is happening a couple weeks beforehand.

There are multiple people in the office who I feel I can turn to when I have an issue. For instance, we have a line manager, a lead developer, a mentor who are officially in place to support us. However, anyone in the office is always willing to take you under their wing or offer help when you need. Infact, I have a 'go-to' group in my Skype contacts, who I know can support me, depending on the different scenarios that arise.

Unfortunately, I am unable to attend a couple training sessions due to appointments. I told my skills coach who pointed me to the safeguarding team. I explained the situation and they were completely understanding. They have offered me extra training sessions that cover what I will miss and a variety of other options. So far I have only had one trainer who was fantastic. We were there for a 5 week period which felt very intense. He came up with interesting ways to keep us engaged, help our revision and make it not feel as 'school-like'. My skills coach was planning to retire but decided to take us on instead. He didn't realise that we were on a 2 year course but is determined to see us through. Even if that means not retiring for another year, which to me means a lot.

Being trained in the classroom can feel like a checkbox exercise, but it is reinforcing my existing knowledge. We went back to basics because and to ensure that no-one was left behind as everyone has different levels of experience. My day-to-day role requires these basics so to re-visit them was not wasted.

There are many social clubs ranging from rock climbing and skiing to Magic: The Gathering and D&D. When we first joined the company one of the older apprentices sent us a list of all the social clubs and who to contact about each one. We were also encouraged to create our own if it was something multiple people wanted to do and within budget.

Yes

If you are determined and give it 100% BAE Systems are extremely supportive. There are a wide range of career paths that you can follow within the company, so you can find one suitable for you. Also with the wide range of projects, you will always have something interesting and enjoyable to work on.

You don't have to be the best developer in the world, in fact you don't need much technical knowledge to start this apprenticeship. As long as you are willing to learn and improve yourself you will find a role here. My main piece of advice is to just be yourself.