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techUK Supports National Apprenticeship Week 2017

To mark #NAW2017 - techUK features a number of guest blogs from tech apprentices up and down the country.

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To celebration National Apprenticeship Week 2017, we feature inspirational apprentices who work with techUK members. 

Check out Hannah, Alex, Lillie, and Joe's stories about their tech apprenticeship journeys:

Hannah Maiden - Capgemini

Apprenticeship facilitates career change

Hannah Maiden would be the first to agree that she doesn’t conform to the familiar image of an apprentice. Married with three children, Hannah has already enjoyed a career as a civil servant. For Hannah, an apprenticeship with Capgemini is not a way of entering the world of work for the first time: instead, as she puts it “it’s a great way to change my career into a completely new direction”. Hannah told us our story as a contribution to National Apprenticeship Week.

Hannah Maiden

“A recruitment drive in my previous job provided me with the realisation that an apprenticeship was a viable way of changing my career. Before Capgemini I was working as a civil servant. They had been going through a period of recruitment and had taken on apprentices. Some of the new apprentices were of an older age, which made me realise that apprenticeships were open to more people than I thought, including myself.

“My previous job wasn’t fulfilling me as much as I wanted it to and while looking for other opportunities, I spotted the apprentice positions available at Capgemini. The more I read about the company and the opportunity, the more excited I became and I applied straight away. I felt it was an opportunity to reignite my career and learn new skills in a sector that is continuously growing and developing more and more amazing things.”

“I’m now just a few weeks into my apprenticeship and, thanks to an initial course in accelerated learning, I am rapidly gaining the skills required by my new career as a Test Analyst. 

“The only thing that’s got in the way is a mild injury. I twisted my ankle in the evening, after my first full day at Capgemini, which meant I was limping everywhere for at least a week and couldn’t fully take part in the outdoors adventure day we had on our third day! Having said that I have learned a lot more about myself and I particularly enjoyed the course where we learned about self-development and personal branding.

“As regards apprenticeships, I think they are hugely important. People have different learning styles and different circumstances and (apprenticeships) allow for people to receive fantastic training while earning and being within the working environment.

“Looking ahead and with this new career underway, my ambitions are to be happy in my job and making the most of the opportunities that come my way. I want to pass my NVQ, and develop my knowledge and the person I am by continuing my learning as well as continuing to make the most of the time I spend with my family.”

Alex Watling - Accenture

I work in the London Liquid Studio, one of the Innovation teams in Accenture. I am the technical lead and an AI specialist within the studio.  I work on exciting projects, such as Collette: The mortgage adviser of the Future. Working with the latest AI technologies – Watson, Amazon Alexa, Google home. Most recently I have been working on Microsoft HoloLens, building facial recognition augmented reality applications.

Alex Watling

As I had never programmed before joining Accenture, through the apprenticeship I learned everything from the basics of programming to advanced machine learning techniques. One of the greatest learning challenges I faced, was learning to utilise IBM Watson. While learning Watson I was one of the only people working on it globally, I had to learn independently – I feel that because I was applying my knowledge straight away through the apprenticeship, I could learn quicker with higher motivation. Aside from programming, I have also learned presentation skills, gained business knowledge and leadership skills.

I plan to stay on the apprenticeship scheme up to and beyond Masters degree level if possible. I want to gain more knowledge about machine learning, deep learning and convolutional neural networks. In 5 years time, I see myself working at the cutting edge of AI technology, whether that be improving a company’s efficiency with intelligent automation or using cognitive systems to test cyber security. I see myself striving to push the field of AI to its very limits, hopefully discovering new methods of getting machines to think like us. My dream is to create general, conscious, truly intelligent AI.

Lillie Tedder - BT

I am a Degree Apprentice in BT TV. I rotate roles every 6 months to gain experience in different departments. I currently work in Content Operations dealing with non-live & live content; quality control (QC) content, dealing with faults and regulations. Previously I have worked on the Annual Boat Race Project, Premier League and dealt with customer issues first-hand.

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With the BT Apprentice scheme it’s not just about your operational role. We get some amazing opportunities to host visits for apprentices from other businesses and some senior directors. We host school visits, work experience and run Traineeships/Digital Skills. This helps me develop my softer skills which benefits me on the university side of the scheme. I feel I have become more confident in myself and my abilities and feel I have come a long way with my presentation skills and talking in front of groups.

In the near future I would love to complete my apprenticeship to become a qualified technical engineer and to join a team with enjoyable and satisfying work. But I can say without hesitation that so far I have enjoyed my first year and a half here as a BT apprentice.

I chose an apprenticeship over other options such as university because I could study for my degree and apply what I learnt within the following weeks. It allows great flexibility to work and study at the same time and at the end of my apprenticeship I can come out with a full honours and none of the debt that comes with it. My parents supported my decision to go in to an apprenticeship scheme because they already understood the benefits; my brother had already been down the apprentice route and is now a qualified electrician. I did a lot of legwork to find out about alternative routes into a career – employment, further full time education or a mix of both; an apprenticeship. I continued to look at all the big companies,

I would say to anyone that is looking in to other options rather than university, there are apprenticeships, traineeships, work placements available – consider them to gain experience in the field first, as it shows willing on your CV. Don’t stress about not getting something straight away, take your time, look into your options and choose something you will love!

Joe Izatt - Agilisys

After some reflection, dropping out of sixth form probably wasn't a high point in my life but it was perhaps the tipping point I needed to find out what I wanted to do.

At the time, I was feeling restless, apathetic, and for the most part fed up of the direction I was heading. It took some (a lot of) parental nagging, and a whole lot of video games to realise I needed to catch up with real life and fulfil a potential that was at risk of wasting away.

Joe Izatt Digital Apprentice at Agilisys

I applied to Arch Apprenticeships in July 2015. It was the end of the summer holidays, my friends were packing their bags for a new term of sixth form and I was considering doing something completely different. It wasn’t long before Arch offered me an interview with a tech company called Agilisys based in Hammersmith, London.

Agilisys aims to transform the lives of millions of people across the UK through the power of technology, working predominantly with public sector organisations who are beginning or on their digital transformation journeys.

After being successful at interview, I became the Digital Communications apprentice in the Agilisys marketing communications team. My days involve designing imagery for our social media channels, collating and composing content, and engaging with and increasing our social media followers. I am involved in marketing campaign planning, and have had the chance to design and distribute collateral including video and animation to share across Agilisys’ external channels.

Thinking back to that interview when I was asked "Joe, what would you say makes you the right person to join the team?", I have to admit, I stumbled - but now, almost two years on, I can tell you how I would have answered that same question today.

"I am a confident person. I am a team player but also ready to challenge and provide feedback when needed. I do not argue, I look for creative discussion. I am creative in my thinking but strive for perfection”.

If there's anything you take away from reading this, I hope it’s that undertaking an apprenticeship has transformed my life. A once timid, socially anxious and demotivated boy I have now found a career path that I love along with a chance to showcase my digital skills to help Agilisys in its evolution as a technology and transformation specialist, and most importantly made friends and learnt a lot along the way.

 

Channel website: http://www.techuk.org/

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