Cyber Defence Incident Manager Review

My experience in my role has been absolutely wonderful. My team are very friendly, supportive and understanding when it comes to the abundance of questions I have when trying to learn. I can't disclose specifics about my day to day however everyday is interesting, different and I learn something new. I wakeup every morning excited for another day of work. My team are like a family and have been very welcoming, encouraging me to improve myself. I've led calls, taken notes, handled emails, helped to ensure other's actions have been completed etc.

At the beginning of the role we were given basic training courses about cyber safety. Additionally, the company held webinars in how to improve yourself using the various free learning resources they provide for us. This includes LinkedIn Learning and Immersive Labs. It's your responsibility to improve your skills through training resources however, every Thursday evening, no calls are supposed to be scheduled so that you can dedicate some time for this. In general the job has taught/developed my communication skills, organization, task management, security knowledge, incident response abilities and more. The university has helped to further improve my coding abilities, documentation skills and understanding of networks so far.

I absolutely adore this program. It has so many benefits and is definitely the right choice for me. It can be very demanding however I've always been prepared and expected this. I have a strong passion for security and coding so both work life and university is enjoyable to me. As I've mentioned my team is also wonderful. The company itself is very friendly and an inclusive community. There are many networking events, many of which have been virtual/hybrid due to covid. You have access to anyone within Vodafone. Everyone's very open to calls so if you had any questions for someone working in a different area, it's very easy to send them a text and ask for a meeting. The only reason this is not 10/10 is because of the university side of things. The modules are very demanding as we also have full-time jobs. Many others in my class have greatly struggled as they don't have the same background as me in technology (I took computer science for GCSE and A-Level). Other than this, the university is great too. The course I'm on means I travel to Uni in person roughly every month. I attend lectures for a week and then get 5 weeks to complete the assignment with extensions available. It's can be a nice change of scenery. University course fees, accommodation, travel and food is all paid for.

This course is very well structured. During the summer my line manager even introduced themselves to me and invited me to meet the team and get an introduction to how things work before the start of the course. When the course began, we were given a week induction which covered various topics. It was mainly so we could get to know all of the other apprentices in the cohort for that year and various clubs. There's so much support. I can go to my line manager, my team, my assigned buddy or anyone in the youth committee for help if I need it. I'm given a day a week for studying and if I get overwhelmed, my team's made it clear that they'll do whatever they can to support me. On top of this, I have bi-monthly meetings with a University supervisor who checks in on how I'm doing.

As I've said there's a lot of support. There's support within and outside of my team as well as at the University. Additionally, there's an automated bot which can help with technical difficulties or if you need to contact HR with a request. On top of everything said so far, there're also quarterly reviews with line managers for checkups and to ensure that you're on track to meeting goals you set yourself.

There's support from the University as well. The learner reviewer is very good on keeping up with updates and ensuring you're getting along well. The lecturers vary as they all have their own methods and level of thoroughness. Some are more available then others and are more in depth when it comes to marking. Overall, the support is very good with the University too.

So far there's not been too much which is applicable. The modules have been very informative and you learn a lot. As it's the first year there's also been preparation support for how to document assignments and include references. The first itself is a much broader application of computing whereas I'm in cyber security. Next year, they're much more specific. The most relevant module to my day-to-day has been learning about Networks. There's also a work-based project which will hopefully help the entire team and not just me.

There are plenty extra curricular activities. I'm told there used to more when events were less virtual but there's still plenty to get involved in. There are many youth gatherings and have been some parties. There are also many clubs you can get involved in. For example, I'm helping out in the coding club to help run sessions to teach others in the company how to code. University has little to no events, at least that I'm aware of. However, it's great getting to see everyone on the course and now and then we organize our own get togethers after lectures.

Yes

Vodafone is very understanding and supportive. There's also many who've been an apprentice themselves so they understand the difficulties of balancing tasks. Many are also very friendly and are more than happy to help, support you and don't judge you for asking lots of questions. It's a brilliant company and I'm proud to be one of the people who get to represent it.

Vodafone doesn't necessarily care about what you can do. Your performance/ability is not their priority, although it does help. They care about your potential, your passion and your willingness to learn, work hard and help others. If you want to stand out then be honest. Don't try to be something you're not. Do something other than school that shows you have a keen interest in the area and don't apply to something you don't think you'll enjoy. Ask questions, be curious and be a team player.