Cyber security Analyst Review

I work within a governance area of Barclays this means that we have to ensure Barclays are compliant with controls and policies. However I work in particular with customer journeys. This means I create statistics on a a customer journey basis. Most if not all of this is done in excel.

I have developed my existing knowledge on the policies, controls and frameworks surrounding Cyber Security. I have massively developed my skills in excel.

I don't really enjoy my job at all, this is not really my managers fault or the apprenticeships teams fault. The training weeks I complete at QA are really interesting and I wish that my job was more closely related to operation cyber security. It is unfortunate that my job role sits in the governance area of the bank and there isn't really anything anyone can do to change that without actually changing my job within Barclays.

My initial interactions with QA where disorganized as there was a lack of communication which lead to some confusion surrounding the course I was doing as it didn't align to my job role but I continued with the Cyber Security Technologist course anyway. This meant that it has been really difficult to complete my portfolio as I don't have anything to do with networking. The courses are well run though. The other issue I have had more so with BCS than QA is that the exams being run during quarantine and how they are scheduled. You get a time assigned to you to take the exam but it turns out that isn't the exam time you then have to book it again on the question mark website. I had an issue where I called BCS and asked if my exams were booked and was told explicitly no and then proceeded to get an email saying I missed the exam. The other issue being that you are required to install software on the machine you are taking the exam on and this is not allowed on Barclays owned laptops. I do not have another device with a webcam and most webcams are sold out online therefore I am unable to take the exams at the moment.

Barclays could have communicated with QA better to organise which course I was doing and what my job role was. Other than that Barclays have been really good with supporting me.

Most of my difficulties are a result of my apprenticeship not really lining up with my job role and therefore there isn't much my training provider can do about this. However where I have needed support QA have been really good wih supporting wme with anything I need.

My apprenticeship does help me perform better in my job however a large amount of the knowledge goes to waste as I do not do a lot of it in my job role.

There are loads of optional activities that I can partake in and that is part of what makes Barclays so successful.

Yes

There are so many options with what you can do at Barclays and there is a decent support system in place to help you get into and area of the bank where you enjoy the work you do.

Make sure you get an accurate description of the job role you are going into because once you start the apprenticeships you are in that role for a few years. Once you finish you can move though.