Automation Tester Review

Collaborating with Business Analysts and Developers, taking part in Agile ceremonies. Performing testing tasks on a large application such as manual testing, automation testing, accessibility testing, exploratory testing, regression testing.

In university I have learned about software development, testing, machine learning, algorithms, databases research methods, professional practice. In work, I have expanded on these skills by putting them into practice as well as learning about the different toolsets that can be used and the ways of working collaboratively.

I enjoy my program. We stay in the same job role for our full four years to become experts in our role. I am surrounded by great colleagues and peers. The experiences I have had in University and the workplace have been positive.

From an overall perspective the programme is structured well. From a university perspective there are some issues. They are often very last minute when relaying important information which can be difficult when you are also working a full time job. There is also no time allowed during working hours for study or coursework completion so a lot of the work is done outside of the typical 9-5.

On starting the apprenticeship we are assigned an HR support contact and a mentor within our teams. The HR contact we were assigned has been supportive, we have check-in meetings and, if we are facing any problems around these meetings, they are happy to help. The support mentor I had in my first team was immeasurable and my line manager on that team was very involved with my progression throughout the programme. I was able to go to either of them or any other member of my team with a question or a problem and I was heard and the appropriate help was given no questions asked. Since moving to a different team I have felt the level of support in my team has dropped a lot. I think the support varies depending on your team in the business and it is just your luck who you are assigned to.

The support from university has been great. The university put on a summer school before we officially began our first semester to help students to improve their Maths and Programming knowledge in preparation. Dr Matthew Barr has been our advisor of studies for the past four years and he has provided so much support to us all with regular meetings and instant help if required. In terms of other lecturers, the support has been mixed. Some lecturers are more than happy to help if you have a question about the coursework or if you have faced difficulty with access and they provide great feedback. Other lecturers barely answer emails and don't seem interested in providing feedback that will help us to improve.

Whilst I have enjoyed my time at university, I don't think it has necessarily helped me to perform better in my role. I think everyone has different ways of studying and learning. I prefer practical learning to theoretical learning and I feel that, personally, I have learned more on the job than in university.

There are social activities like cinema nights, wine tasting, crafts, sports on all the time and there are lots of networking events to take part in. The company has several Pillars which put on events for specific groups of people e.g. Women in Tech

Yes

The company is good, the benefits are great, the campus is lovely, most of the people are really great to work with.

Be yourself and be enthusiastic! Don't be afraid to ask questions.