Digital Degree Apprentice Review

On a day to day basis this role involves project work and business as usual work and encompasses implementing and maintaining information technology solutions. The work differs over the course of the degree, depending on what team you are moved into and your experience and skillset and interests. It is a very great opportunity. Cheshire East Council has a lot of IT teams and therefore has many different roles that may interest you within IT itself.

An uncountable amount of skills have been both learnt from new as well as developed. On this degree apprenticeship you get access to knowledge and workings from a large enterprise. You have the option of experiencing every single part and area of Information Technology. This is because there are many teams performing IT functions, and you have the option to go in-depth with a particular one, or go broad and experience most of the teams that you would like to join. Overall, the learning opportunity is very flexible and if you demonstrate your abilities, enthusiasm and willingness to learn then you will be treated as a member of the team rather than apprentice, whilst still having the support of an apprentice.

I very much enjoy the program because this workplace has so much that you can learn from, and the degree is also quite broad without going too much in-depth in any one topic. If you are unsure what field of IT you want to get into then this is also a great pick for you, as you can pick a specialisation in the second year for going in to the third, which means you can experience different IT areas first before you pick an area to specialise in and do your final year dissertation on. In terms of the workplace again, it is also great you also get free time to learn about things and develop with off the job training.

The programme is not the best organised or structured, but this is also good as there is a lot of flexibility both in the workplace and the university. It truly is a great experience despite the fact it has some elements that would insinuate a lack of organisation and structure. Overall, I still recommend the programme in this area too.

I receive a lot of support from my employer. I believe this employer to actually be one of the most supporting out of what I have heard from other apprentices that are doing the degree with other employers. There will be an ever so slightly chance that you may join a team or department which is less supportive than others, however, from my experience it has all been great.

My training provider provides me with adequate support for my qualifications, however it could be slightly better. All in all, I do feel very supported and things have gotten better over time and especially towards the end of the degree lecturers are way more supportive. One thing that may seem obvious that can be forgotten about; You have to be vocal about your support needs with the university. In general, they will not offer support for apprentices unless you make it known.

The fact that you are able to pick your specialisation within the university units and assessments means that you can choose a path similar to your work job, or something entirely different. This means you can have a direct connection between your qualification at university and your role in the job. Aside from that, this degree in particular focuses on a number of areas within IT. This is beneficial as whatever specific area of IT you work in usually requires basic knowledge from other areas, so everything is a bonus. In addition, the training provider seems to cover that much at a braod level that you will definitely get the chance to experience a unit that directly correlates with your job tasks.

There used to be some extra-curricular activities to get involved in but a lot of those have now become more rare due to COVID and the working from home situations. However, there is a lot of online activities that you can do, as well as away days with the team to make up for the lost bonding and connections from most of the staff working from home. I should mention that you do have the option to work from home or go in to the office in the vast majority of IT departments / teams.

Yes

CEC is a great place to work and is extremely supportive of apprentices. Not only this, but CEC has a very large IT infrastructure and a lot of products that you are actually unlikely to see same plethora with that of a private company. For this reason, learning and development and getting experience with different IT technologies is probably the best at the council.

If you are applying, tailor your interview questions and answers to that of what would be expected of an apprentice. Make sure you know beforehand the level of commitment that will be required, as you are expected to work full-time as well as do your degree, albeit of course with a day release. You will have to get stuck in and do some learning for yourself, and it may be hard to be tutored a lot with today's working environments.