DevOps Engineer Review

My role as an Apprentice DevOps Engineer is focused mostly on learning, through job shadowing, business documentation and online courses. My daily tasks involve environment management, cloud infrastructure and automation, as well as managing security tools and CI-CD pipelines. Most of my code is written using Groovy, Python and JavaScript.

Prior to this apprenticeship I knew nothing about DevOps whatsoever, and so I have had to learn a variety of new skills. For example, I had to learn to write in Groovy in order to create modules for Jenkins pipelines, as well as different forms of IaC for cloud infrastructure services.

I quite enjoy my course, it has been a struggle as everything from DevOps ideology to corporate culture was new to me but it has been fun nonetheless. I take satisfaction from learning and the opportunities this role has provided, and so I typically feel engaged and happy after a work week.

The learning course was brand new when I joined, and so it didn't fully align with my role in the office. As such, there were a fair amount of issues which needed to be hashed out. The business side of the course however was very well structured, and I believe most of the issues came from the course being fresh.

I have and continue to receive plenty of support from my employer. During the learning phase of the course, I was offered temporary shadowing of other teams in order to meet project requirements, and the business has been very supportive of my personal needs in regards to time off and health.

My training provider was always available through the learning portal for support, and they offered regular weekly calls to discuss any non-learning based issues for safeguarding. When working on my projects, my training provider offered check-in calls to assess my progress and assist my understanding whenever I needed any help.

The technical skills covered in the classroom sessions for my qualification were incredibly helpful for my role performance. We covered a variety of skills and tools, including building cloud infrastructure, writing a CI-CD pipeline, and coding in a high level programming language. All of these are skills I use in my BAU tasks.

My office offers a lot of extra-curricular activities, and I volunteer to help organise some of my own. On site, we have different sports teams including tennis, football and cricket, as well as a gaming group which gets involved with charity esports events. We also have after work socials for celebrating milestones and sometimes just for networking around the business.

Yes

The culture here is unlike any example of corporate that I've heard elsewhere. Everybody seems happy to help at the drop of a hat, and the opportunities available to colleagues feel only limited by how much you ask for. It's a very welcoming and forgiving workplace, with a focus on learning from mistakes and teaching others your lessons.

Having a background in your desired business area will always be helpful, however the best quality a potential employee could have is an aptitude and enthusiasm for learning. Be honest during the interview process, and be open to different possibilities upon joining. Don't be intimidated by the application process.