DevOps Engineer Review

I am a DevOps Engineer working on one of our public sector client sites. Being an apprentice doesn't mean you sit around and make the tea - far from it. I do the same role any of the other engineers on the team would, which involves writing and deploying various code, and am treated the same as any other member of the team. As a degree apprentice, I spend one day a week dedicated solely to working on my degree, with the other four spent working with the client.

When I started at IBM, I had no experience at all with DevOps, and only limited coding experience. I was trained up through an internal bootcamp before being deployed into a client-facing role. Of course, working as a degree apprentice is also a huge advantage, as I find a lot of skills covered in the course are transferable to my day job.

I thoroughly enjoy the programme I am on. It allows me to gain a bachelors degree in a computer science course, whilst still working a normal day job, not racking up debt, and earning a very competitive salary. The degree side of the course is great fun - we have three residentials every academic year, each being a week long at the start of each term. These are a great way to start each term, allowing you to meet your lecturers and get used to the upcoming module before completing the rest of the module via remote learning. In your first year, the residential tends to coincide with fresher's week too, which is a great experience to be part of.

I feel the programme is very well organised and structured. For degree apprentices, you are allocated an entire day a week to study for the course. The teams I and others have worked with are extremely supportive and accommodating of this day, as well as other university commitments. The course has been running for a few years now and is tailored for degree apprentices only, so the degree side of the programme runs very smoothly.

IBM are extremely supportive of apprentices, particularly of degree apprentices, who take one day as a study day dedicated just for university studies. My line manager is also very supportive and really understand the value of your study time, as well as keeping a close eye on your progression through your degree.

The University of Exeter does a great job at supporting its degree apprentice students. When you start the course, you are assigned a mentor, who works at the university and helps to ensure that you are staying on track with the course. Every term a meeting will be arranged with yourself, your line manager and your university mentor to discuss your progress, ensuring that you are hitting all of the criteria required for the apprenticeship.

I feel that a lot of the content in the course itself can be transfered to your day-to-day role at IBM. However, the course is very broad and therefore not all of the content will be relevant to your role, however the course aims to cover content across a variety of IT based roles, so not all content can be relevant to a single role. Having said that, the course is great at giving insight into broader IT topics, which may be of interest to broaden your horizons in the future.

IBM has a vast array of communities, societies and opportunites available. For starters, IBM has a huge apprentice community, who host a wide range of events, inside and outside of work. In the current COVID-19 climate, there has been a huge increase in 'virtual' debates, meetings and social events, which are great fun to interact with. My team has a virtual games night every Wednesday after work, which is always great fun. When back on client sites and staying in hotels, there are often plenty of social activities to do in the evenings outside of work.

Yes

I would really recommend this course and IBM as a whole, as there are so many great opportunities available, which all in turn enable you to massively broaden your horizons. IBM is a great place to work and the support I've received towards my career is phenominal. With a vast number of roles available too, the career opporuntitites at IBM are endless, even beyond the end of your apprenticeship

If going to uni is not for you and you are really keen to earn money and to not be in debt, this is the best opportunity for you. It's really a no-brainer to get the same degree you would at uni, but you don't have to pay for it and you are earning a very competitive salary at the same time? If you've just left school, this is the best opportunity to get into the professional world, whilst getting a qualification to aid your future career.