Degree Apprentice Review

On the day to day bases really can differ and it depends on if you're on a project, and if you're on a project what your role is within the project. Currently I'm a BA with a project. So my day to day tasks include producing documents after collecting and finding requirements need for the project. In the beginning of the apprenticeship I had less responsibilities and as time has gone on I have gain more and more responsibilities.

Since starting the apprenticeship I have learnt an important skill Accenture and the apprentice management value is networking skills. If your close with HR or higher management you are treated nicer compared to the rest of the apprentices who just do their work and go home instead of being a brown noser. I actually believe since starting the apprenticeship I have actually LOST skills that I had before due to management affecting my confidence with my performance at work.

I don't really enjoy work for Accenture due to many factors, the apprentice management i.e. They state they have apprentices best interest at heart but I struggle to believe this to be true. Another reason I don't enjoy the apprenticeship is that I was told I get to shape my career and try variety of roles however I have only been able to ever do the same job role every time I get placed on a new project, even after voicing my concern on wanting to gain variety of skills and experience.

The Programme is organised terribly to the point that last year the business had to restructure the program. I don't ever know who I should be contacting if I have issues, and sometimes this leads to chasing for help. Even with the new structure to the programme its still extremely terrible, apprenticeship management claim to have all the knowledge surrounding the programme, yet daily battles occur regarding the basic requirement set by the government surrounding study days. Lastly the programme is so badly run that the contact given are yearly starting from September to August stating my pay rise go up each year after 12 months of equal pay before the increment, however no apprentice was allowed a pay increment until 6-7 months late without backpay.

If I ask for help or support from the apprentice team, I can usually find this however I feel this only occurs when it benefits the indidual member of management. For example there was an issue with a race discrimination that occurred and management took it seriously and dealt with it, which in my eyes made a certain individual look good. On the other hand when apprentices go to management regarding not having enough study days off to fit the requirements told by the University itself they so no we have all the legal amount of days we need given to us.

Most if not all apprentices that are part of the degree apprenticeship scheme for UEL from Accenture hate the training provider. They seem to care about having to produce the least amount of work for themselves instead of actually teaching and engaging students. I know when students mark their attendance for University and then leave the class because the teaching and engagement is so bad. I really hate and dread the days I have university and I really don't know I have passed exams and assignments.

The qualification that I have and gain at University has little to no correlation to the work and projects I have and have had in the past. So unfortunately I can't comment on if it would help my personal work performance better within the job role I do in Accenture. For example the role I work is as a BA in Accenture however I do modules which include coding and programming for certain assignments.

Accenture do offer extra curricular activities however I rarely participate in these, due to not having any interest in being promoted and also I cant be promoted until I finish the degree apprentice program. Within the Accenture culture everyone knows if you want a promotion you need to give back to the business before being deemed deserving of the promotion. I don't enjoy having to do extra work or extra curricular after work as I struggle for time to balance my personal life with work and university work.

No

I think and truly believe the program needs a lot of work and improvement within the business. I know and seen better degree apprenticeship and this is down to the business understand how to run the degree apprenticeship program effectively. I think Accenture truly needs to understand how to to make apprentice feel comfortable and confident to work within the business. For instance I know other business have roles and placements aligned for the duration of the degree apprenticeship for each apprentice. This would allow for the maximum on job learning and allows to have a variety of roles before specailising in a certain role. Instead I have had 4 month duration and 6 month duration on the bench having no job role.

I think firstly Accenture cares a lot for culture and diversity. They believe in investing their time and money into employees that they believe have a passion for technology as a whole. They don't mind hiring people that have no coding or programming experience as long as you have a can do attitude. The on boarding process is extremely easily and all online and you even get to have a day to spend with all the new intake for the degree apprenticeship program to see who your fellow peers will be.