Software Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

From the very start you are assigned to one of the projects operational in the building and working as a member of the team. Initially the work you carry out will be assigned based on your current capability, so those with less software experience aren't out of their depth but equally those who are, are challenged. There is a great variety of work within the building so you get to experiece different styles of working and every aspect of the development life cycle.

The workload has been a challenge since day 1. The quality of our first learning provided no doubt less us down somewhat. However, the on the job experience along with the degree learning and additional training courses have no doubt developed me into a much, much improved software engineer. This not only includes the technical skills, but the crucial interpersonal and professionalism skills too.

It's had some serious ups and downs. I've made lots of great friends and have enjoyed many of the projects I've worked on. However, the serious issues we've experienced with training providers and lack of support from the apprenticeship management team have caused many of us a great deal of stress time and time again, with zero accountability on their part.

Hopefully this has improved for the new intakes. However, my experience has been "set in stone" plans changing time and time again, causing major inconvieniences to apprentices (including housing issues). These planning issues have effected almost every aspect of our apprenticeship, from the rotation of our project placements, to our learning providers, to deadlines for various aspects of the scheme.

As with many aspects of the scheme, the support we've received from the project teams we've worked with has generally been very good, with people being patient, helpful and useful. However, again the apprenticeship management has let us down time and time again. They have often left us completely in the dark around important arrangements and they've rarely been useful in providing support when requested, if they haven't flat out rejected them. Again, changes to the structure of this management leaves hope this will be improved for the younger cohorts, however changes have been promised before with little impact.

Our first training provider was awful. However, they are no longer used so I will direct this review to the current provider. They have generally been very supportive, despite the remote arrangements and new setup for everyone involved. Most of the lecturers have been useful when contacted around all work and even more so around assignments and exams. Some of them though were difficult to contact with questions as they don't tend to read their emails.

Much of the training has been useful and the opportunity to apply what we've learned directly to the work place has been very useful for reinforcing what we've learned, which supports our learning as much as it supports our job performance. The modules we took were actually selected by the local head of software to be most applicable to the role of a software engineer.

The majority of people are very friendly and the office is quite a tight nit community. I personally often participate in 6-a-side football, which happens during 1 or 2 lunchtimes every week. In addition to that though there is a board game club, a cycling club, a bowls tournament and many more. The apprentices also often organise apprentice meals etc.

Yes

The office has a friendly environment without too much office politics, there are good benefits and it is generally a nice place to work. The standard of work and use of modern software development techniques is good on most projects too. However, I would be hesitant to recommend the apprenticeship scheme due to the issues I have experienced, with the caveat there does seem to be the possibility of improvement for future cohorts. The company as a whole though and more specifically, this office, is a good place to work.

Achieve the highest possible grades you can, as the higher they are the greater your chances are, even if you are confident of achieving the minimum grades. Then for interview make sure you are confident in answering standard interview questions, the most important of which is probably "Why do want to join this apprenticeship scheme?". Also ensure you make an effort to demonstrate your interpersonal skills, particularly your ability to work as a team and involve others.