Tom Fisher - Software Developer Apprentice
Q: Before you started your apprenticeship, what were your career goals and experiences?
My career goal was to become better at my position and learn as much as possible. I undertook my own learning, but it was less guided. This consisted of spending an hour each night on various e-courses which helped me develop my skills and keep these up to date. My eventual career goal was to become a developer within the company and build my skillset to become an asset to The Private Office.
Q: What appealed to you about taking the apprenticeship route?
I had already done prior learning through my degree, and an apprenticeship appealed to me as it ensures that I can learn on the job rather than being sat in lectures. Apprenticeships are a great way to add value to both the apprentice and the employer as the skills an apprentice learns can serve to greatly enhance the business and provide extra insight.
Q: What kinds of tasks and responsibilities do you have in your job role?
I have a variety of tasks and responsibilities within my role, which is great as it means that no two days are ever the same! My tasks range from creating processes and updating code, as well as:
- Fine-tuning apps
- Providing support for our user base
- Developing apps
- Interacting with stakeholders to ensure that our apps/services are correct for the task at hand
- Liaising with various departments and ensuring that the solutions which are built work well and produce the correct management information for the company.
I also communicate with our external providers and ensure that our system integrated with them well.
Q: What is your greatest achievement been in your apprenticeship?
There have been a lot of pieces of work I have been involved in during my apprenticeship which I have been very proud of. One of these consists of the development of an app which has turned our advice process from taking 45-60 minutes into taking 2 minutes. This has helped revolutionise certain areas of the business and increase the level of work produced within the company.
Another achievement has been the development of processes which have helped streamline the processes within the company and enhance productivity.
Q: What career tips, tools, or life hacks do you wish you had known about earlier?
A tip/life hack I found extremely useful is to learn what type of learner you are. Some people can learn things just by reading books, whilst others are more practical learners and have to undertake a task to learn about it. I’m more of the latter and the apprenticeship has given me the ability to exploit my practical learning style.
Another tip is that with the assessments, breaking these down helps dramatically and can help with flow. Breaking the task down into bite-size chunks makes writing them a lot easier and can help make undertaking them a lot easier.
A final tip is to read around the areas which interest you and to direct your learning as much as possible. For example, I was interested in PHP which was covered in one or the courses. I didn’t quite get it, so I read around it by going online and undertaking various exercises until I understood.
What’s next?
To learn more about our Software Developer Level 4 apprenticeship, visit our Software Developer page to read further & view more in-depth information about what this programme consists of, or get in touch with our friendly team to find out more.
For more insights into the lives of our Baltic Champions, check out our chat with Digital Marketing Apprentice Annalise.
If you’re a current apprentice and are interested in becoming a Baltic Champion, register your interest! As a Baltic Champion, you can volunteer for as much or as little as you like, aligning with your interests, schedule, and personal development goals.