Technology Degree Apprentice Review

I work as an degree apprentice at Goldman. My week is split into two days at uni (mon-tues) and three days at work in central london. At Goldman i work on projects assigned to me by my direct manager alongside regular team members whereas at uni i am currently taking three modules; two alongside regular students and one alongside other degree apprentices from a range of companies.

Working at Goldman means that you constantly learn new skills/develop existing skills. This can be as simple as learning how to manage a work email account or as complex as learning the in's and out's of an extensive piece of code. Whilst working here i feel my time management skills have improved the most.

I really enjoy the program as my work is variable and interesting, the culture here at Goldman gets talked about very frequently to the point where i doubted it was as good as everyone said before joining, but from my experience so far the culture is as good if not better than everyone says.

The programs structure is still developing year by year as it is relatively still new. There are some kinks in terms of information sharing that still need to be worked out but as a whole the program is structured very well. The induction process was well thought out and useful and the buddy assigned to me has been extremely helpful.

The support i receive from Goldman is very good. The HR team that dealt with my on boarding were friendly and extremely helpful. Now i have less contact with them but I can always ask my buddy for help with any work related problem. The attitude of most people i meet at work is that they would be happy to answer any questions i have.

Queen Mary is a good university. The lecturers teach their modules well and if i need support i can go to either the students that help out with the labs of some modules or the lecturer themselves. I have enjoyed the majority of modules that i have undertaken so far.

The modules at uni do a good job of teaching you what you need to know to start coding. As part of your first term at uni you take a module called procedural programming. If you have never coded before this teaches you how to from a very basic level. However i feel most of the new skills i learn are from work.

Yes there is a lot that goes on at work. There are constant professional networking events held by different networks such as the black or christian network that are open to everyone. There are also social events held by teams and the NAPA and Intern Committee that you can get involved with.

Yes

I feel it is one the best ways to start off your career. You build experience and skills at Goldman that very few people start to develop whilst just attending uni. I would also encourage people who want to move out and to London to apply as managing my own finances (rent/bills/food/etc) and becoming self-reliant has been a very satisfying experience.

Learn some information about Goldman and show interest in what they do. I would encourage people to articulate their thought processes when presented with an open ended problem so that interviewers can get an insight into how their brain works. I would say it is equally as important to try to show that you have thought about what factors could affect your solution rather than trying to land on the perfect answer.