Cyber Security Apprentice Review

Every six months I rotated around the cyber department and worked with different cyber teams. This can include incident response, threat intelligence, consultancy, pen testing, etc. Personally I completed rotations in incident response, threat intelligence, governance risk and compliance and finally anti-piracy. Each rotation will provided differing responsibilities and daily tasks. Throughout each rotation I was required to complete coursework from my training provider and revise for exams.

I felt as though some of my rotations lacked work for me to complete and I did not get enough support from management to ensure I was developing my skills. I did feel as though I gained the most from the threat intelligence and anti-piracy teams who consistently gave me new work to complete and helped me gain new skills.

I found my programme very stressful and difficult to manage as for large periods of time I wouldnt be given enough work to fill my working day and my training provider failed to assign work in a timely manor. This meant I was consistently chasing for new work to do rather than completing actual work.

My program was not organised at all. No teams knew of my joining the program on my first day which meant no training was arranged for me, every rotation was organised last minute and rolling off the program into a full time role was delayed for almost a year due to no documentation and processes being in place. Sky also had minimal communication with my training provider which meant none of my work aligned with my studies.

My line manager was hard to reach throughout my program, A/L did not get approved in a timely manner and I would have to chase them for any issues to be resolved. However my rotation managers were mainly helpful and supported me more closely. It was a shame they were not given line manager authorities to help with logistic issues such as leave approval, travel reimbursements and communicating with my apprenticeship trainer

My training provider struggled to maintain trainers throughout my scheme causing me to have over 7 different trainers throughout my two year program. When trainers left, I often would not be alerted of this and would find out from my email not going through. We were given some training days that consisted of teams meetings where we were read a powerpoint. We were also expected to write our own project briefs rather than be assigned them by Estio.

I feel as though the qualification helped me to gain more cyber knowledge but feel as though networking and other topics were covered too strongly and didn't relate much to my role. Having to deal with many challenges did help me develop my interpersonal skills which has helped me in my role however.

Sky offers lots of socials - mainly over summer which are hosted on campus. There is also an EmergingTalent network for grads/apprentices which host socials at various places in the area. I do feel as though the cyber department don't plan enough of their own socials to boost moral and team collaboration however.

No

I feel as though Sky need to organise and structure their programs better currently and although the environment is generally nice, the lack of processes cause a huge amount of stress to employees and take away from productivity. If this was resolved then Sky would be a much better work place.

I would advise to prepare for the application process by visiting the early careers website and reading about what to expect. Ensure you research the company and the role to help you answer any interview questions. If you make it to the assessment centre you should also be aware of how you are communicating with other applicants.