Software engineer Review

As a BT apprentice you are rotated into different areas of the business for a certain amount of time, so the tasks and responsibilities can vary. This apprenticeship involves often team working collaboration, and constant communication. Currently, I am on my first rotation completing quality assurance testing for my team.

I joined BT with no software engineering experience, just a basic level of computing from School and Sixth form. After 5 months at BT I can say that I am confident with the basics of a number of different programming languages and a solid understanding of the software development cycle.

I do not dread coming into work each day, this is because I enjoy the tasks that I am given and it is a very comfortable work environment where everyone gets along. Me personally, I enjoy working within groups and working collaboratively and this BT apprenticeship programme is great for that.

BT's apprenticeship programme is very organised. The joining process was very straightforward and I settled into the business very quickly. I had all the help I needed to get started with pace. The structure of your responsibilities is simply shown to you, with the rotation that you will be starting on and the rotation you will be moving to in 12 months time.

I receive all of the support that I need. I feel comfortable to ask for any help that I require and management makes it very clear that any help needed will be provided. I have monthly one to one meetings to ensure that I am happy with everything at work and even outside of work.

From my training provider I receive all of the support I need. I have reviews with someone from the university and my line manager often to speak about how my current university work is going. Here I can raise any issues that I have. I can also speak to staff at the university at any time if I need support with my university work.

I have only recently started the university so do not have much experience of using the university work within my current responsibilities. But, from viewing the topics such as 'Programming fundamentals' would clearly be used in my role so there are lots of opportunities to carry over knowledge into your BT work.

There are many opportunities that appear within BT to participate in. This involves events, volunteering at events, sports activities, networking events, visiting other offices and many more. BT values these opportunities as networking and meeting people across the company is highly important. BT also sees the importance of boosting everyone's morale.

Yes

BT value apprentices incredibly highly and do not look down on apprentices like other companies can, my team have put in a lot of effort to make me involved in the project work and make me feel valued. I was worried when joining as I did not have any experience and I had little knowledge, but people within the company put lots of time and effort in to make sure you feel comfortable and understand the work you are doing.

Be honest about knowledge & experience and do not worry if you have not got a lot of experience within your job role that has been applied for, BT are great at training you up and building your skills. Also when applying for BT try to highlight teamwork/collaboration skills as BT value this.