IT Degree Apprentice Review

Overall, it can be quite varied due to the nature of the program, in that we are rotated around different teams in 6 month placements. I have covered a few different areas including PMO functions, Development, Testing, BA/BRM roles, Cyber Security as well as Service Delivery. It is difficult to go into too much detail about them all, because of the variance, but it does allow you to experience the different areas of IT. The roles have all given a unique perspective, which I don't think I would have got from studying for 3 years in a standard degree programme.

The study course at the university has helped me in learning aspects of development, including web languages HTML, CSS and PHP, as well as languages such as Python and Java. I'm not a "developer" kind of person, so quite a few of these were new to me. In terms of the on-the-job learning, I've certainly learnt and developed the soft skills, to become a well-rounded individual, again something I think would have been a struggle had I studied for a conventional degree during the COVID times.

Overall, it's pretty good. It does have it's up and down moments, which can be influenced by the levels of pressure imposed by needing to meet university deadlines, but I've never had an issue getting extra time to complete work if needed. I'd say the programme has certainly improved over time, particularly with changes to ensure we have a dedicated manager, as well as more choice over the placements we enter.

It's well planned out. We do have a Line Manager who we can ask any HR/process concerns to as well as monthly 1-2-1 meetings to ensure we're on track, which has improved over time in terms of consistency. We do also have a mentor, who we can meet regularly, who can be a great person to go to if we need some objective guidance on how to deal with certain things. You would also have a Personal Tutor at the university who you could talk to if needed, though I normally tend to just raise most things with my manager, or the module tutor if the concern is specifically study-related.

It has varied over the programme, but certainly during the COVID times, I would say I've had a lot more support from SSE than I would ever have got from a conventional university programme. My mentor is pretty excellent, and he's always happy to help. It was something I had neglected to use for while, but I make a lot more use of my mentor in these later stages of the programme, even if it's just to talk for an hour about work and how the study is progressing. I know my mentor would be very supportive in my final project too where needed. My managers have also been compassionate wherever I needed it, particularly as I had some difficult times during the last couple of years. The only criticism might be that I'd have liked more of a drive to get the teams into the office a little more as we came out of COVID, as the opportunities to simply "have a cup of tea and chat" are more plentiful in person.

Generally the University have been fairly supportive. I would say there have been some minor issues which result from an Academic Institution not always understanding that a business does have operational requirements, of which we do support with as DA's. The module-specific support does vary by the lecturer, and I've had mostly positive interactions here, albeit with a few frustrating ones.

Generally, there's a good mix of things I've learnt through the degree, which are certainly important to know. I do personally think the real-world experience of working in the corporate environment has probably helped me with some of the softer skills though, things which are actually quite difficult to teach and perhaps some modules could be reviewed as to how much value is added by teaching these.

This is something I would certainly like to see worked on. Because of the virtual world we're now in, the extra-curricular stuff is something that does get forgotten about. There are some annual challenges we do have (i.e. the Plank Challenge) which happens in the autumn which we can partake in. It would be great to see some more development of these sorts of things.

Yes

Overall, SSE is a good place to work, and there's some pretty good people in SSE IT and across the business who do really care about ensuring we all get the best out of our programme. It's not perfect, but I think that's more issues with the virtual world that we need to get used to and how we can ensure everyone feels included.

Given SSE no longer offers the programme in it's current form, I won't go into specifics about the recruitment process. Generally though, I'd just advise any applicant to simply "be themselves and be authentic". There are some really great benefits to working at SSE that we have, and knowing that we all play a part in the UK's journey to net zero.