My journey as an apprentice software engineer

An apprenticeship with BGL and Makers Academy enabled Megan to kickstart her career as a software engineer. Here she talks about what was involved from application to assessment:

Having studied art and design and IT heavily at sixth form, I came to the point where I needed to decide what to do next. All my friends were off to university, but I just didn’t feel that was for me.

I had done a website design module that really interested me so I researched some options and signed up to a Level 3 Software Development Technician Apprenticeship. As I progressed I found - to my surprise - I was enjoying the software engineering side much more than the design. It was clear that was my next step.

Applying for an apprenticeship

I had just finished my Level 3 apprenticeship when I noticed BGL advertising for a Level 4 higher apprenticeship in software engineering. It was perfect timing. I already knew of BGL Group and had heard many positive things from others about it being an innovative company with a successful apprenticeship programme.

The level of detail covered in the application process was incredible and it gave me a clear understanding of the process I would follow to achieve my Level 4 apprenticeship and progress within the business.

Makers Academy

The apprenticeship started with a 12-week bootcamp with coding academy Makers. For me this was one of the highlights of the entire experience, as it involved going to London and learning in a modern, tech environment along with lots of people you have never met before from different backgrounds. The course covered all the fundamentals of programming in Ruby and Java. From there I chose to move on to C#. The course not only gave me a really solid grounding, but also the confidence and interpersonal skills to move into the role with BGL.

Learning on the job

The remainder of the programme is on-the-job learning, which I found fantastic. From the start I had the opportunity to just get stuck in — which is exactly how I like to learn! I remember being introduced to our architecture and thinking ‘It’s so complex. How am I ever going to understand this?’. Fast forward a year and I look back on how much I have progressed and I put that down to how BGL treats its apprentices - trusting them to get involved and including them from the outset.

Assessment

One of my key tasks was creating a portfolio which I built through the year and comprised six submissions which showed how I was demonstrating key skills in the workplace. During the year of workplace training, I also did a knowledge module exam and a further Microsoft certification in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3.

Every apprenticeship also has its own endpoint assessment. I had to pass a five-day synoptic project in which I had three briefs to choose from, ranging from building an application to a custom API. There was also an interview with an apprenticeship assessor which covered what knowledge I had gained and my understanding of it.

Support

The apprenticeship might sound daunting, but I don’t mean it to. In fact, the one thing I would emphasise is the fantastic support I had throughout my apprenticeship. As well as my line manager, I was also assigned a tech mentor who was great to learn from. You also have the support of your team and can benefit from their expertise and the BGL Academy mentors were also brilliant.

All this helped me grow in confidence and ultimately made me want to be a better engineer. From being baffled by large bases of code, people now come to me for the answers and I have progressed to a mid-level engineer which was a personal goal!

If you are considering an apprenticeship, or are not quite sure if you want to take the route of university I would highly recommend an apprenticeship. It is a great way to gain a qualification and working experience at the same time. Also, apprenticeships are available across all levels. There are some that offer training up to degree, so it is definitely worth considering.

It’s not an easy option. I found it hard trying to balance project work with your normal day to day work in the role, but I can honestly say it was worth it. I’m now exactly where I want to be in my career at this stage and I am really looking forward to expanding my knowledge and technical ability further in software engineering.