Software Tester Review

I am a Software Tester apprentice; my role is to ensure the quality of a product prior to release (for example, testing a phone before it is released to customers/sent to stores for sale). Each day is different - it depends on my workload. I may have test cases to prepare for a meeting later on that day, or perhaps I have an apprenticeship training session with my assigned trainer, I may also have reports to complete and send out. Each day I will interact with members of my team, class, and project(s), I can reach out to anyone in each of these areas to discuss something I may be struggling with. My responsibilities are monitored by my line manager who always ensures I am involved in projects and on top of my apprenticeship training, work, and exams.

With my apprenticeship in particular, where I travel frequently for projects, I quickly learned to be independent. I would argue I was quite independent anyway, but definitely a lot more now than before. In large corporations, you also frequently become involved in 10-person or larger conferences, so I would say my confidence with speaking in public has definitely improved. I have also learned a lot of technical skills, coding, writing test scripts, SQL, and more.

It is a very enjoyable apprenticeship, I meet so many new and interesting people every project I am involved in, go to places I've never been before, each project is different and interesting in its own way (I could be testing a product for a customer, or I could be coding a web application, or I might have an idea for a project and lead it myself!). There is a lot for testers to do and it's never dull.

Very organised I would say. At the start of my apprenticeship, I was told how many modules I would be covering over the course of the apprenticeship, how long I should expect the training for those modules would take, when I would expect to be sitting exams, precisely how often the training sessions would take place and how long for, who my trainers were, what training-related projects I could look forward to... It may seem like an overload of information to receive all in one go, but it's exactly all the things you would expect to know at the start of any apprenticeship.

As much support as I need, which is often not a lot. Each apprentice, in my experience, knows exactly what they need to do, what deadlines they have, who they need to speak to, where they need to go, as it's all made clear at the start of any project or training. However, my line manager, and my team, are always available for support if I am ever in doubt.

My training provider have been brilliant thus far, they expose me to absolutely everything I need to know for the exam, provide me with an organised directory where I can access learning resources, mock exams, practice projects, and on top of that each training session is recorded for me to watch back in case I ever want to.

My qualification is crucial. The things I am learning from my training sessions are immediately useful when working in real-life projects. There are also times where experience on a project can teach me things in modules I haven't even reached yet, which becomes useful as when that module comes around, I'm already ahead!

Absolutely. Everything you could possibly think of. There is an online page in the intranet for just about anything really... there is a gym group, a sports group, gamer groups, running groups, and in the unlikely scenario that one doesn't exist for something in particular you are looking for, it's possible to start your own group for others to join.

Yes

Not only are the offices so, so nice to work in, but the environment is just unmatched by any other place I've worked in. Everyone is so friendly, there isn't the constant over-the-shoulder monitoring you would expect in a lot of places by your supervisors or managers, you are immediately trusted to get on with whatever work you need to do, and that feels great. I can work virtually anywhere I want within the office, although I obviously sit with my team, but the option is there if I one day decided to sit with other apprentices in the organisation. There are constant opportunities to do interesting projects too, so I am never bored, I can learn transferrable skills very easily.

Go for it! It's an opportunity of a lifetime. If you are truly confident about wanting to work in telecommunications, where you could learn about and be exposed to the future of technology before anybody else, it's the perfect place to work. We also have the best coffee!