Software Engineer Apprentice Review

On a daily basis, my role consists of participating in a stand-up session in the morning, to establish what work/tickets need prioritising; making primarily front-end commits to the appropriate repository; ensuring that I am keeping on top of administrative tasks as well as my university work, and reviewing code that my colleagues have made so that changes can be made.

Yes, since I began the apprenticeship, I have learnt skills such as adapting to the working world early and maintaining a professional routine; writing high-quality code in line with a specific project; coding in new programming languages such as C# and Java, as well as new frameworks such as Express, React and Node. As for developing existing skills with my apprenticeship, I have improved my programming and computing skills - and I have been able to utilise my problem solving skills within my work and projects.

I enjoy pretty much every aspect of y degree apprenticeship programme - I absolutely enjoy the courses and modules at Manchester Metropolitan University; I absolutely enjoy the work that I do for my employer, especially when creating new functionality on specific programs; and I absolutely enjoy being involved in the working world at my age, as opposed to the usual academic routine that full-time university students are in.

I think that my programme is quite well organised - the university courses are spread across each year in an appropriate format, and the 9-5 routine with my employer is very good for me, allowing me to become much more accustomed to working life in the future. I do feel as though this can be improved slightly for employees waiting for projects, though.

I receive an appropriate level of support from my employer in the form of managers, performance managers and from my colleagues that are on the same project as me. Especially in the form of administrative guidance and programming assistance. I do have good opportunity to work independently, but whenever I need support, I can be sure that there will be people to help me.

When working towards my qualifications, my training provider provides me and the other apprentices with good-quality support, such as having Skills Coaches and lecturers available for support, and having Student Voice and Student Union opportunities available. As for the lectures and labs themselves, they are all very clear and detailed for me to take in the content, especially for the programming modules.

Some of the content that has been covered by my training provider may not exactly translate to the work that I am doing in my role at my employer, but I feel as though that my qualification does help me to perform better in my role, as with the education opportunity I am able to develop my knowledge and confidence with computing and programming, which could definitely help me out in the future - especially with the current Enterprise Programming module.

Yes - at work there are multiple opportunities for volunteering, social events and networking events that I really enjoy attending. As for my training provider, there are also multiple societies, Union events, and apprenticeship connection events, available for all apprentices. I do not usually attend many social events, but when I do I have lots of fun with others!

Yes

I would absolutely recommend KPMG to a friend, and especially the apprenticeships that they offer, because not only would they have multiple options to choose from (given that KPMG offers a variety of professional services such as Audit and Legal), but because an apprenticeship programme like this would be very beneficial for people to experience and adapt to the working world at an earlier age, and develop their professional skills like me!

The advice that I would give to others applying for KPMG is to be sufficiently prepared for changes to their usual academic lifestyle, and to always be proactive when working for them, so that you can keep on top of administrative tasks, as well as ensuring that you feel satisfied with the work that you do at KPMG.