Transmission Delivery Manager Review

I am a delivery manager involved with managing 3rd party suppliers to delivery products and services for Vodafone. This involves data management and offshore resource management. Day to day is reviewing data updates and reviewing any emails. I am also responsible for all purchases orders for these suppliers within the region

I have gained an in-depth knowledge into last mile RAN network deployment and design from having no existing experience in the field. This varies from logical configuration to onsite installation. This is alongside general project management techniques and delivery management techniques. My excel skills have also been developed to expert level

Certain aspects of the programme are enjoyable such as the technical aspects of the RAN side. I have particularly enjoyed the field experience I have participated in. However the course provided by QA does not align at all with any work within the company and this often causes a disadvantage in comparison to other applicants.

Whilst the content provided by QA is in a logical format, always following the 10 week term structure, the workshops often provide no benefit to the module due to the fact that tutors are often not specialists in the areas and are just reciting the content provided for us in previous weeks. As mentioned before, this structure alongside the work role is irrelevant.

My employer provides all the support that I require, whether this be from resources and training to project involvement opportunities to meet requirements. They also provide ample opportunity for us to complete our university course work in whilst also providing environments for us to complete our controlled exams in. _

For our portfolio and project works, the provider gives excellent support through the skills coach medium whom is readily available to help resolve any issues with our course or provide feedback on our projects. The module leaders also provide feedback for module assignments and questions however these are often limited.

As previously mentioned, my qualifications is nearly completely irrelevant to my role. whilst there are small crossovers within the logical networking side, the course is heavily IT based whereas my role completely revolves within telecommunications rather than IT development which the course is heavily leant towards. This is clearly due to a miscommunication between the provider and my company.

There is a wide company social platform that is available with many opportunities to get involved. My team is also very sociable and often goes on nights out and team building activities to boost morale. The company also provides Christmas parties for departments which are well attended and well organised.

Yes

If you want to become an agile developer or choose to go down the level4 field engineering route, then I fully recommend the company as they pay well and the courses are geared to this, however if you want to be in any other areas of Comms or within the company then I wouldn't recommend as you can often have to study 2 fields (1 for the course and 1 for your role) which can put you at a disadvantage and cause unwanted stress.

Make sure you know exactly what the role is when applying as this can be a big factor into training and job cohesion. Also consider where you want to be after the apprenticeship as this will gear you towards career decisions internally during your tenure on the apprenticeship program at Vodafone.