Rating
- 1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
- 2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
- 3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
- 4. How well organised/structured is your programme?
- 5. How much support do you receive from your employer?
- 6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
- 7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
- 8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
- 9a. Would you recommend AO to a friend?
- 9b. Why?
- 10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to AO?
I participate in a daily stand up/ scrum in which all team members discuss work done the previous day and what they will be working on the current day. Usually we will be working from tickets that can be anything from a bug in an application, to building new functionality, or even building a complete new application. We also monitor a helpdesk for the team and we usually rotate this each week.
Yes, I previously learnt a lot of fronted skills while studying with code nation, such as HTML, CSS, JQuery & JS. With AO I have learnt C# with dotnet and a lot of information around architecture and best practices. I have also learnt various different source code and deployment software's, such as octopus, teamcity and sourcetree.
I really enjoy the course, as I am now back working full time and everyday I am leaning something new. Development can be frustrating, but at the same time rewarding. Development is ever changing so there is always something new to learn,and it's great to work with different people with different skills.
The programme is well very structured and everything you need can be obtained using onefile. Any questions I have, I can simply contact my trainer and get assistance. I also have meetings to discuss my current progress and what I have coming up, such as evidence of work or an exam.
The support is great from AO. I work in a team with three other developers and a development team lead. Our team is currently split between two different development software and I work closely with one member of the team. However, if I do experience any issues, I can ask any member of the team and they are always more than happy to help.
The trainers have been great and have kept me updated throughout the course. As previously mentioned, if I do have any issues I can contact them to discuss this. However, I am a little uncertain around the upcoming BCS exam I have, due to the Covid 19 lock down and uncertainly it brings.
I think the qualification has helped me further my knowledge, but also helped me to look into learning things I would have not considered. An example being the BCS software methodologies exam, where I have learnt a lot more about the different roles and responsibilities in a software development team and how business decisions are made.
Yes, my workplace offer quite a large amount of activities to get involved with. The ones I am aware of are football, quiz nights, badminton. AO also host a north west tech talk every few months. The tech talks also give you the opportunity to present in front of work colleagues and others in the tech community.
Yes
AO is a great place to work and I have been with the business almost five years. I feel like the business really cares about it's employees and you feel valued in the work you are doing. The overall approach of the business is one AO, which really is shown within the workplace.
I would say to just be yourself and be as honest and open as possible. I would say AO steer away from the typical interview techniques of questions or exams, as they care more about you as an individual and how you come across. Do something that makes you stand out.
Details
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Information Technology
Bolton, UK
May 2020