Mainframe Security Services Analyst Review

I go along to daily meetings with my team to discuss any issues and any changes being made. I have a daily allocation call where we allocate new requests to different members of the team. I usually spend my afternoons working on requests or going to apprenticeship meetings, or project meetings.

I come from a music background and have never knew what a mainframe was until I joined my team and so far I've learnt a lot about how a mainframe works. I'm starting to learn the basics of different coding languages which I never knew before joining the team. And because of the COVID-19 pandemic I've been at home the whole time I'm becoming more confident speaking to different members of the team.

I really enjoy my programme. I like the team that I'm in, everyone's really friendly and will help if I have any issues or questions. It has been a little difficult trying to get to know them because everyone's working from home but I'm slowly getting to know them more.

My first week in the bank consisted of a week long induction with my cohort of apprentices. It was nice knowing that we were all joining at the same time and going to the same presentations. The induction gave a really good overview of how the bank's general culture works and what to expect when joining.

Theres a lot of support going around from the bank. In my team specifically I spend a lot of time with a senior analyst who is there to help when I need it. They also suggest projects for me to help with and will have a look at any of my apprenticeship assignments if I need help. My manager is really focused on letting me complete my apprenticeship first and slowly bring in more of the day to day role since the apprenticeship is my priority. In the wider bank there is an early careers team dedicated to help us if we need them and I joined with the help of LTSB and I also have a lot of support from them as well.

Getting information from my training provider has been a bit of a struggle. Most of the course hasn't been made very clear about how many assignments there are and how many courses we have to go on. I'm nearly 6 months into my apprenticeship with the provider and its still unclear of what I have to do and when its due for.

From the assignments I've done so far it has showed me what I have learnt from my role. It has also allowed me to learn more about the mainframes and get a better understanding of how it works within my team. The assignments have shown me that I have learnt a lot so far. The courses I've been on haven't had anything to do with my role so have felt like a waste of time while I was on them.

The bank has different employee led networks that people can join and either become a member or an active member within the network. I have joined the enable disability network which is a network to promote the awareness of disability's and celebrate the diversity it brings. I have a medical condition and knowing the bank has a network dedicated to people with different disabilities made me feel seen when I know a lot of other company's don't offer this type of support.

Yes

From my experiences so far I have been made to feel very welcome by the bank and everyone I've met. I know that the leadership care about our wellbeing and its a priority to them. I like the role I'm in and the people I work with and I know that a lot of my apprenticeship friends enjoy their roles and their team members as well.

I applied for a data analyst role and didn't really have any expectations of where that would actually take me. I would say go into it really open minded and if you find yourself struggling there will always be some sort of help offered to you. The people are really nice and will make you feel really welcomed so try not to worry about everything too much.