National Apprenticeship Week: Trainee to Trainer
Published on: 9th February 2023
Both Josh and James are based at Discovery Park in Kent and started their journey as an IT Infrastructure Technician Apprentice. James finished in September 2022, Josh in November 2021. A deep and broad training base within a friendly team has made them both inspired to manage more projects and team members as they progress in their career. Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth.
What was your apprenticeship and what’s your job role now?
My apprenticeship was a Level 3 IT Infrastructure Technician apprenticeship. I am now the Service Desk Team Leader at Communicate.
Why did you choose an apprenticeship with Communicate, and why did you choose to stay?
I was very lucky in that my Aunt knew Mark and had a chat with him to ask if he would consider taking on an apprentice. Mark was always open to work experience but had not yet thought of doing an apprenticeship. He decided to invite me in for a meeting and after this chat in the office, he offered me the apprenticeship. I chose to stay after my apprenticeship as I could see the development routes available to me and I really enjoyed working on the park and the variety of jobs we completed.
How did your apprenticeship set you up for your career?
The apprenticeship set me up for my career very easily, it provided me with the necessary training and tasks that I had to complete in order to pass the apprenticeship.
What did you like most about your apprenticeship?
I enjoyed the range of jobs we completed. It was great that I was, and am still able to learn and assist in all areas of IT. From VOIP telephones, mobile phones, and radio communication to the other scale of managing physical/cloud servers and configuring networks for new clients. I have always been supported in my role both from team members in our Kent office where I am situated and our head office at Wynyard Park.
What are your career aspirations now?
You never stop learning in the IT world, and I hope to develop further into a senior role where I gain more responsibilities and handle more staff and projects.
What was your apprenticeship and what’s your job role now?
When I was in my apprenticeship, I did a course called “Infrastructure Technician” (my job title was Apprentice Infrastructure Engineer), this was a level 3 course and had a duration of around 14 months as I managed to finish it earlier than expected. Once I finished my apprenticeship, I moved into being a “Trainee Infrastructure Engineer” which in the next few months of me writing this will have “trainee” removed as I make my way up in the company and in knowledge.
Why did you choose an apprenticeship with Communicate, and why did you choose to stay?
When I arrived for my first interview, I noticed how nice everyone was and how easy going they are. After this and after talking to the site’s operations director, Mark, I also realised how in depth the job is, especially at Discovery Park as the site is huge and we manage pretty much every building here and almost every company.
How did your apprenticeship set you up for your career?
I got a distinction in my apprenticeship which set me up amazingly, it really made me realise what I’m capable of doing. I started with an understanding of IT however I do feel that with the assistance of my apprenticeship company, I have been able to enhance my skills to a point where I feel I am an asset to the team.
What did you like most about your apprenticeship?
I liked the structure of my apprenticeship, Intequal did a really great job with the course. I had 5 modules all of which had around 6-8 weeks of training, building up to an exam for each. After the modules, I then moved into EPA (end point assessment) which finished everything off with an interview with an assessor who then graded all of my work and presented me with the grade a few weeks later.
What are your career aspirations now?
Now, I would like to go higher in the company and hopefully manage my own team of help desk engineers. I really enjoy training the new staff and would like to continue this as well as guide existing help desk engineers to a higher work standard!
And there you have it, today’s IT infrastructure apprentice can be tomorrow’s IT leader. Tomorrow, in the final installation of this series, we’ll check in with Jacob and Oliver. They’re both mid apprenticeship currently, and they share how their training is shaping their future career plans too.
