National Apprenticeship Week: IT’s More Than Computers
Published on: 7th February 2023
In the first instalment of our National Apprenticeship Week series, we speak to Zac and Liam about their IT Infrastructure Apprentice roles.
Whilst Zac is on the cusp of finishing his apprenticeship, Liam has been in his Technical Support Engineer role for 9 months. Both enjoyed a broad learning experience with the opportunity to build new skills, be that within technology or soft skills within their team. Let’s hear it from the pair themselves.
What is your apprenticeship and job role?
My apprenticeship is a level 3 Network Technician apprenticeship with Baltic Apprenticeships and my current job role is a Junior IT Infrastructure Engineer, up to now I have primarily been covering first line requests and learning along the way.
Why did you choose an apprenticeship with Communicate?
I first approached Communicate to do some work experience over the course of summer and to work with computers, which I had a great interest in. I was offered an apprenticeship here by my now manager Chris. I decided to take on the opportunity and haven’t looked back since.
What’s your biggest learning since starting?
I have learnt most about developing my technical skills in IT, like working with various software and becoming familiar with different technologies, thanks to my apprenticeship. I have also learned a great amount in other skills such as communication, task management and more.
What do you like most about your apprenticeship?
I like how easy the apprenticeship has been to fit alongside my work duties, Communicate have been very supportive and allowed me to focus on my apprenticeship when necessary so I can absorb what I’ve learned as much as possible. All my training has been completed remotely which makes everything much easier and more accessible.
What are your career aspirations once you’ve finished?
Communicate has given me many amazing opportunities within the field of IT. I have taken a great interest in doing both physical and network-related jobs so I hope to take on a more field-oriented role including these responsibilities in the future.
What was your apprenticeship and what’s your job role now?
I began on a level 3 IT Infrastructure Engineer Apprenticeship with Baltic Apprenticeships which was a 12 month course, and I’m currently a Technical Support Engineer.
Why did you choose an apprenticeship with Communicate, and why did you choose to stay?
I chose to do an apprenticeship with Communicate as working as part of a team really appealed to me and having a range of people with differing knowledge and experience massively helped throughout.
One of the points that have mostly made me choose to stay was the team. I enjoy working with everybody and we have a really good social side within the group as well as work ethic.
How has your apprenticeship set you up for your new role?
My apprenticeship really contributed towards setting me up for my new role afterwards as with it being my first professional position within the IT industry it gave me a huge range of experience as well as exposure to different situations and customers.
What did you like most about your apprenticeship?
Throughout the whole apprenticeship, one of the involvements I liked most was being thrown in the deep end and having a wide range of work to do as well as the content within the training courses.
What are your career aspirations now you’ve finished?
My current career aspirations now that I’ve finished is to progress as much as possible within the company and try to solidify myself in a more senior role in the future, as every day I want to progress and build my experience so that I can help others and be a first point of contact for any questions.
In tomorrows National Apprenticeship Week piece, we’ll hear from Henry and Dom on their experience in cyber security apprenticeships, and how they’re getting on now they’ve been offered permanent contracts within the Security Operations Centre team.
