Software Engineering Apprentice Review

Working alone or in pairs to complete or review tasks. Tasks are tracked on Jira. Taking part in SCRUM rituals such as stand up to keep other team memebers updated on task progress; and retros to review what did/didn't go well in the previous 2-3 weeks.

Once moved onto a delivery team, I've learnt a lot from other developers that has improved my coding skills. I've learnt a lot about testing, deployment and CI/CD which I had no knowledge of bfore the apprenticeship. There has also been many opportunities to develop my soft skills such as presenting through demos and showcases.

I enjoyed the program, it has given me a lot of opportunity to de velop personally and professionally. I feel well supported by my Team and others in Sky.

I think it is generally well structured. We started off with a boot camp, then educational projects and then moved to delivery teams. I think this is a good way of slowly stepping up to more responsibility. I thought the training provider's workshops could be more streamlined; some apparentices were not prepared for the classes and the whole class would stop to help them set up. This is my only real gripe with the course. As it was all online, there could easily have been a separate call for people that need to do set up. I thought that the requirements for evidence for the assessment was not clearly explained initially. I had a lot of conflicting opinions on whether my evidence was relevant or not. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, the training provider did seem to standardise and document the requirements really well, so I don't think this would be an issue for apprentices going forward.

I am well supported by my manager and team. Everyone at Sky is willing to help so I have managed to find support when I've needed it.

I thought the training provider's workshops could be more streamlined. I also had a lot of conflicting opinions on whether my coursework evidence was of a good enough standard. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, the training provider did standardise and document the requirements really well, so I don't think this would be an issue for apprentices going forward. Despite this, I was overall very happy with the course and the support I received from my coaches, who I really can't fault. They are always willing to answer questions and review coursework, and are clearly very passionate about what they do. I thought that the requirements for evidence for the assessment was not clearly explained initially. I

I think the training gave a really good starting point, particularly as an introduction to testing and deployment which did really benefit me moving to teams. One thing I think would be brilliant to incorporate into the training some focus on common management tools such as jira. Particularly as several parts were focussed on mini projects, it would have been great to introduce this topic early on as it is ubiquitous in the software development space.

Yes, there are a lot! My department has a live calendar of various events, including cultural events, sports events etc. There is the Sky cinema where you can watch films. We have also had some team socials.

Yes

I've had an amazing experience working at Sky. The opportunity to learn while working on real and interesting projects is great. Everyone has been really supportive here and it is a good environment to work in.

Be yourself and don't be afraid to ask questions