IT Apprentice Review

As a part of our apprenticeship we have the opportunity to rotate jobs every 8 months to be able to get exposure and experience of different job roles in order to give us the best opportunity to choose a job we love at the end of the programme. Currently my role consists of project management and helping to push our science forward. This involves me working with existing team members to give direction of where they are going and ensuring that the project is moving quickly towards its goal whilst having all relevant documentation.

I have developed exponentially since joining the apprenticeship programme, i have been given the opportunity to develop my programming skills through 2 programming based roles that have been supported through my university study that included programme development. I have also gained vast amount of confidence with public speaking and presenting as I have had the opportunity to present on many occasions both internally to different teams as well as presenting to younger people in the area about the apprenticeship programme.

I thoroughly enjoy the programme i am on as we are not only given lots of opportunities to be contributing massive work to the company in the teams that we join there are also many extra activities and work for us to take part in. For example apprentices have started running a charity team that allows us to support charity increases our network of people by being involved in these things. As well as this we are given massive amounts of support and people to turn to during our programme by having numbers of mentors buddies and managers we are given a good number of people that will help us with any problems that may arise.

My programme is incredibly well organised by having a clear set up of leadership and programme set up from the start of the apprenticeship. Considering there is a complex system of rotating and changing jobs every 8 months there is a we structured process that is clear with all parties involved to allow a streamlined process that works very efficiently and also allows flexibility for each individual.

We receive a wide range of support from the employer in the apprenticeship. When we first join the company we are assigned a mentor buddy and a manager for 3 different points of contact to help support us throughout the programme. Although the day to day manager changes every 8 months the buddy and mentor are fixed and come from different areas of the business with different experience so that we have multiple people to help with different view points that can offer a range of opinions on any given scenario. In addition to this we have an early talent manager who is dedicated to looking after our career and growth throughout the programme to help support us and develop us as we progress. There is also a huge support network between the apprentices that massively support each other as they are all people who have been through the same experience that we are going through and can offer a lot of support both with work scenarios as well as how this links to university.

I receive a good amount of support from my university with my qualifications. We receive a personal "Employee Liaison Tutor" who supports our university qualifications ensuring we are on track for our targeted grades and have all the capabilities and opportunities to develop skills that we need in order to achieve our desired grades. All of our units also offer assignment support days that we can attend if we are struggling.

Our university degree that we study alongside our work is massively beneficial to helping us perform better at work; this is due to the fact that the course was created by the organisations as well as the university to help ensure the course is relevant to what we do at work. Consequently this ensures that helps me perform better in my role as i can use this information in my work. As well as this they also support us at work with core behaviours that are required by work.

There are wide range of extra activities for us to get involved with at work that allow us to expand our network in a variety of ways. We have a charity group that works on events to raise money for charity which includes large events for apprentices to take part in such as an annual sky dive for new apprentices that have joined. In addition to this there are many clubs that people put on and social groups on our internal intranet that allows people to meet other employees with similar hobbies and interests as themselves to get a chance to do different activities. As well as this throughout the year there a few different sports clubs that go on on site.

Yes

I have found that the opportunity that AstraZeneca offers is incredibly valuable as the working culture of trust and collaboration allows for an amazing working environment that facilitates creative thinking and excellent production of work. In addition to this AstraZeneca massively supports and looks after its staff that work for them and gives them lots of opportunities for growth and development throughout their career with flexibility to make decisions about their career when is best for the individual.

AstraZeneca cares about the persons attitude and personality that you would fit into the culture therefore look to be yourself as best you can to show who you are as a person. In addition to this researching a company before going to an interview will show that you have taken an interest in the organisation and will put in the work required.