Three IT Apprentices, Three Starting Points: Building a Career in Tech at Exel Technology Group

For Callum Brant, the journey is only just beginning.

When we spoke to him, Callum had been working as a Support Agent at Exel Technology Group for around a month. His role involves helping customers with queries and problems, troubleshooting issues and learning from the colleagues around him.

Before starting, he had expected the workplace to feel much more formal.

“The reality is a lot more relaxed,” he says. “It’s very open and welcoming.”

That environment has made it easier to settle in and start developing quickly.

Callum says one of his favourite parts of the role is being able to discuss problems with colleagues and ask questions when he needs help.

“It’s a very open environment. You can ask questions about anything.”

Callum Brant, IT Support Technician Apprentice

Even in his first few weeks, he had already started learning more about troubleshooting, including the steps he can take to diagnose common customer problems and work towards a solution.

And although he is still at the beginning of his apprenticeship, he can already see a future for himself at Exel.

“I see myself continuing with Exel after the apprenticeship and staying with them, getting more experience for maybe second line or a further role within Exel.”

FROM FIRST-DAY NERVES TO FINISHING AN APPRENTICESHIP

For Harrison Merrett, that early stage of the journey is much easier to look back on.

Harrison joined Exel Technology Group in June 2025 and, when we interviewed him, had completed his end-point assessment that same day.

His role also centres around customer support, from managing tickets to answering calls and helping customers resolve issues.

But Harrison is open about how daunting the experience felt at first.

“I can remember walking through them doors and just being unbelievably scared,” he says.

“Everyone in the office would say I was such a quiet person. I didn’t really speak to anyone.”

Over the course of his apprenticeship, that began to change.

Harrison credits both his day-to-day experience at Exel and the learning he completed through his apprenticeship with developing his communication skills and confidence.

“It’s just made my communication skills grow so much and made me want to speak to people more each day.”

Harrison Merrett, IT Support Technician Apprentice

His technical knowledge has developed too.

Through the apprenticeship, Harrison was introduced to areas of IT he had not expected to encounter in his current role, including virtualisation and virtual machines.

“Learning things that I wouldn’t think I’d touch on through the apprenticeship” has helped him feel more confident not only in the job he is doing today, but in the wider skills he could build in future.

That combination of learning and working was one of the things that attracted Harrison to an apprenticeship in the first place.

After sixth form, he knew he wanted to enter the workplace rather than continue solely in education.

“With the apprenticeship you still get that education by your side, you get that qualification behind you, but you’re also working,” he says.

“You earn an income on the side, which is really valuable.”

Asked what he would say to somebody else who feels unsure about taking that first step, his answer reflects how different things feel now.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I was the exact same.”

A DIFFERENT ROUTE INTO TECHNOLOGY

Andrew Renshaw’s starting point was very different.

At 37, Andrew was not beginning his first career. He was making a deliberate decision to change it.

He had previously studied history at university and had spent years working outside the technology sector. Technology had always interested him, but he did not have the formal background that might normally be expected when applying for an IT role.

The apprenticeship gave him a way in.

“Technology has always been another passion of mine, but I didn’t really have the education for technology,” Andrew says.

“This kind of helped me get into the industry that I was interested in originally, but I didn’t have any background in it.”

Being an apprentice also helped take some of the pressure away from entering an unfamiliar sector.

“There’s that expectation that you’re not the finished outcome,” he says. “There are going to be things to learn.”

That did not mean the transition was always easy.

Andrew says that during his first six months he experienced plenty of self-doubt.

“There was a lot of imposter syndrome and thinking, ‘Can I really do this?’”

Now, the dynamic in the office is very different.

“People do seem willing to come to me for advice and stuff now, whereas the first six months it was always me asking other people questions.”

For Andrew, being able to learn while immediately putting new knowledge into practice has been particularly valuable.

He compares it with his university experience, where much of the focus was on theory.

“With this, you’re getting the chance to put it into practice right away, so it doesn’t really get lost,” he says.

And for anyone wondering whether they have left it too late to change direction, Andrew’s experience offers a fairly clear answer.

“There were so many times where I thought, ‘I’ve spent so long in one career – do I really want to reset and change it all?’

“But I’d say it’s probably been one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life.”

Andrew Renshaw, IT Support Technician Apprentice

SUPPORT WHILE YOU FIND YOUR FEET

Although their circumstances are different, all three apprentices talk about the importance of having people around them while they develop.

For Harrison, knowing that support was available from both Exel and Baltic made a difference throughout his apprenticeship.

“Whenever there are any sort of issues, we can go straight to [the management team],” he says of Exel. “It’s just the fact of having someone there all the time just to be able to talk to.”

He describes the support from Baltic in similar terms, knowing he could contact his tutors whenever he needed help.

Callum also points to the support he received before he had even started the role. During recruitment, Baltic kept him updated, explained what the apprenticeship involved and helped him prepare for his interview.

“They kept me in the loop,” he says. “They would give me tips for the interview to make sure that I really nailed all the questions I was asked.”

That support continues once the apprenticeship begins, alongside the experience and guidance learners receive in the workplace.

Head of Support Jonathan Harris says seeing that development first-hand is one of the most rewarding parts of working with apprentices.

“You see them from that first day when you interview them and then see them come out of their shell.”

“You see that confidence grow as well as the skill set grow.”

Jonathan Harris, Head of Support, Exel Technology Group

Support Manager Lizzie Hill describes Exel’s aim as “building careers rather than just putting people in jobs”, with the business thinking not only about what an apprentice can do today, but where their interests and skills could take them in years to come.

YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT

Callum, Harrison and Andrew started their apprenticeships from very different places.

One is finding his feet in his first few weeks. One has just reached the end of his apprenticeship after developing from a nervous new starter into a confident Support Agent. One used an apprenticeship to make a career change into an industry he had wanted to work in for years.

None of them began as a finished IT professional.

And none of them needed to have every step of their career mapped out before they started.

Harrison perhaps sums that up best.

“I technically still don’t know what I want to do in the future. I’m not sure if many people do, to be honest,” he says.

“It’s just all about getting your foot in the door.”