Degree Apprentice Review

Depending on role the thats provided will depend on the day to day tasks.I had to find my own role and make my own contacts through events. My day to day role is based on me traveling to my client. Once I reach the office I start the day with a catch up with my team discussing what work was completed the day before and I aim to target to complete by the end of the day. Once the scrum meeting is over we start to work on the tasks we said we aim to complete by the end of the working day.

I have learnt a lot of new skills from when I started the apprenticeship as I have been put through a variety of different bootcamps, for example : Pega, Java, and programme languages such as Python. I have also learnt how to make presentations and work documents from the project I'm currently working on. I was taught how to produce a professional work document but also how to present professionally to people within the work environment.

I enjoy the programme a lot due to the vast variety of job roles to apply for within the business. I can constantly choice a different career path to go in if I decided I want to work more technical roles I can, or if I choice to apply for more functional roles then I can apply for it. I also enjoy that the business gives me Mondays off to learn and educate myself and then also gives me additional study days I can use to take off work to revise before an exam.

I don't think the programme is structured well at all due to struggling to find a role within the business to work. As an apprentice straight out of education I thought it would be easy to find work however it wasn't due to the fact that no client wants an unexperienced teenager working on the project. I felt like when I was on the bench that it was my fault even though I had no experience of searching for roles within a business.

When you start the apprenticeship, you get to start with all the new intake as you're not the only degree apprentice they hire. It’s nice because they help you make new friends with each other and get to know each other before you start networking at events. This also helps as it allows university to be less stressful as you already know each other. I think when on boarding the business is incredible supportive however when you've been on the bench for over two months’ management start to become aggressive about being on the bench as they have targets to meet.

UEL are very hopeless when it comes to asking and seeking for help. They're extremely unorganised and say you are given enough time to produce a piece of work in. They also tend to give you all your exams or coursework towards the end of the year instead of spreading it out which results in not having enough time to complete them all and also creating unnecessary stress as they could simply avoid this issues through planning out the year long calendar to spread the dates of coursework and exams at different dates.

The qualifications doesn't really help me better my performance as I doesn't match the job role I do on the day to day bases. However if you get a more technical role which relates to the module you are learning then the degree would really benefit you're learning. Comparing myself to another apprentice with a more technical role, I see how they developed and adapted their skills faster than myself due to being able to use the the things they learn from the degree into a working place.

The University offers a variety of different extra curricular activities that you can do if you join a society, however this was hard for me to join as I don't live near the university and you would have to do it in the evenings usually at the university campus. However Accenture offer extra curricular activities too, such as events and networking events, however due to Covid 19 it has been limited due to the circumstances.

Yes

I would recommend this apprenticeship if you wish to get a free degree without debt, however I would like people to consider the things they will be given up on when accepting this job. I was told during block modules weeks you would be able to stay in university accommodation as live like a university student however this wasn't true. When accepting this job you have to make sure that you understand you will be working full time and studying part time. Its also important to understand how the business operates and makes money. Working within consulting is stressful in the sense that if you're not on a project or chargeable management will be passing the blame to you not portraying yourself well over the fact that they aren't helping you find a role.

Accenture likes to know that you have researched the business and what they do. So, it’s important and vital that you prepare yourself by researching and understand the background of Accenture. It’s important to understand what Accenture stands for and if you stand for the same. If you don't think you share the same values as Accenture, then it might not be the place for you. In an interview it’s important to ask as much questions as possible to understand if you would enjoy working in the environment the business has set out.