To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, we are revisiting and checking in with our employees who completed their apprenticeships with us at Comms365. We have also introduced new apprentices to the company! We talk to them about their experiences below.
In the second article of our three-part series, we have spoken to Jamie; who completed his IT apprenticeship a couple of years ago, and Henry, our new IT apprentice, to see how they are getting on and why they made the decision to become an apprentice.
Jamie, Level 3 IT Apprenticeship
1. How long did you do your apprenticeship for?
It took me a year to complete my apprenticeship.
2. Why did you choose to do an apprenticeship?
When I finished my previous college course I wanted a change. I found that doing an apprenticeship would allow me to gain a qualification and work at the same time. Doing an apprenticeship is currently helping me to gain experience that I would never get doing a college course.
3. Would you recommend an apprenticeship to others?
Yes, doing an apprenticeship is one of the best decisions I have made to date!
4. How has Comms365 supported you throughout your apprenticeship?
Since the first day I started I was included in all team related activities which allowed me to feel supported and made me feel comfortable, I could not ask for a better team to work with! Alongside the team support as a whole, all of the senior management team have been supporting me with any questions I may have.
5. Is there anything you found challenging about the apprenticeship?
The new surroundings and the fact that I had to answers phones, this was new for me.
6. What has been your favourite thing about doing the apprenticeship?
Learning new network technologies such as Port forwarding, DDNS and VPN which I have since implemented on my own home network.
7. Since we last spoke in 2019, how have you developed at Comms365? Is there anything you are particularly proud of?
I have started to challenge myself by learning new technologies as part of my progress to completing the CCNA.
Henry, IT Solutions Apprenticeship
1. How long have you been doing your apprenticeship for?
I officially started my apprenticeship as an IT solutions technician on the 05/10/2020 so I have been on my journey for almost 4 months.
2. Why did you choose to do an apprenticeship?
I chose to do an apprenticeship as I didn’t really want to stay in education and go to university. An apprenticeship seemed like a great alternative to university as it allows me to gain experience while working and also gain new skills and knowledge at the same time.
3. Would you recommend an apprenticeship to others?
I would recommend an apprenticeship to those who aren’t interested in continuing education as this allows them to learn new skills and gain a job by the end of it. This will then allow them to build a career. It is an ideal route to go down after finishing education as I didn’t really know what I wanted to do just like a lot of other people who are in that position but this apprenticeship has really proven to be a good decision for me.
4. How has Comms365 supported you throughout your apprenticeship?
Comms365 has been extremely helpful throughout my apprenticeship so far as they support me a lot with my work and allow me to practice the skills I learn from the apprenticeship. Moreover, a lot of the people I work with, especially in my team have been through the apprenticeship scheme with Comms365 so they are able to give really good advice and tips which allow me to complete my work to the best of my ability.
5. Is there anything you have found challenging about the apprenticeship?
The most challenging part of the apprenticeship so far has been writing my projects on working at Comms365. This has been quite difficult to do especially as starting off in my role I have been learning the basics and there isn’t many things I can write projects about as I am still learning. However, Comms365 have really helped out with this as they have got me involved in a lot of the things that go on in my role as an IT solutions technician such as building a bonded solution.
6. What has been your favourite thing about doing the apprenticeship?
My favourite thing about the apprenticeship is learning new things which I find really interesting. For example, I have learnt a lot about IP addressing and 4G which is a big part of what Comms365 offers and it has really helped me with my knowledge when talking to customers. I also enjoy working at Comms365 as it is a really enjoyable place to work, full of friendly people.
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