It’s National Apprenticeship Week, and we are ready to celebrate the incredible achievements of our apprentices at TPP Retail! Alex Jackson is now seven months into her marketing apprenticeship, and Joe Spink began his journey with us as an apprentice and is now thriving as a developer.
Apprenticeships offer the opportunity to gain hands-on experience, learn on the job and involve yourself in a real work environment. For our apprentices, it is all about opening doors to exciting opportunities and building a strong foundation for a successful career.
In a recent Q&A, Alex and Joe shared their personal apprenticeship journeys, the challenges they’ve overcome and the growth they’ve experienced along the way. Have a read below as they share their stories and how their roles have developed since joining us.
What are you enjoying most about your apprenticeship?
Alex: “What I am enjoying the most is learning new skills and developing my understanding of the field that my apprenticeship is in.”
What made you decide to do an apprenticeship and why did you choose this field?
Alex: “Before this, I did an art and design course, and at first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do or which route to take. Then, I realised I liked business and the graphic design side of things. With the support of my teachers back in college, they suggested I look into something like marketing. I did some research and decided that university wasn’t the right choice for me even though I had applied. Instead, I decided to go down the apprenticeship route. I chose this field because, after a lot of research, I found it mixes the two things I love.”
Joe: “I decided I wanted to go through the apprenticeship route, because at the time I had just finished college, and I didn’t want to go to university. I wanted to specialise in the field and just primarily get experience younger rather than more learning. I chose software development because I’d taken a liking to it at school and then in college, I did computer science as well, and thought it was quite a nice career to get into.”
What skills/knowledge have you gained that you didn’t expect to learn?
Joe: “Going into this as a back-end developer apprentice, you don’t know the full extent of what you are going to learn. I had an expectation of really only doing back-end development but found that working within a smaller development team I got to do a lot more than just what would be expected of a back-end developer, like using Amazon Web Services and releasing software.”
What was the most rewarding part of your apprenticeship?
Joe: “The most rewarding part was developing a range of skills that just feel so beneficial to have. Then by the end, you’re so different, you know so much more than what you came into the workplace with. Also having a certificate as well to say you’ve passed your apprenticeship, is always nice. I’ve put it on my wall because looking back it’s a reflection of all the work I put in.”
How do you balance learning on the job with your training and coursework?
Alex: “I think I manage to balance all that together because sometimes my coursework is based on what I’m doing in my job so I can mix the two things. We have to plan for deadlines when it comes to coursework so it can fit within my other tasks that I do to make it work together. After work, I log all my hours from the training I have done in my job and any extra research or work I do to make up my training hours. The coursework part of it is writing, and I think it’s just having that balance between doing my work and after work to really focus on getting my coursework done. Sometimes I have feedback work to do, which could be a couple of edits. This takes a lot of time and commitment, however, it will all be worth it in the end and for exciting times ahead.”
What advice would you give to someone who is considering starting an apprenticeship?
Joe: “I would always recommend apprenticeships, but they’re not for everyone. And some people benefit more from going to university like doctors, for example, but for people who can learn on the job, it can be a much easier path to find a job than going to university. It’s harder to learn, especially when trying to put theory into practice with no experience at all. So, if you’re going to consider an apprenticeship, you have to weigh up the pros and cons of higher education compared to being more work experienced.”
What’s one accomplishment or project you were particularly proud of during your apprenticeship?
Joe: “The main thing that comes to mind during my apprenticeship, which was only in the first couple of months. I remember, just before Christmas, my mentor at the time had gone on maternity leave, so I was left working on a project by myself. It was the first time a release was done that included all my work rather than anyone else looking over it. It was only an internal release, but it was still code that was in a production environment. That was quite exciting because my work had no other person’s involvement and so it was the first time my code was released and used by people in the business.”
What’s your long-term goal and how do you see your apprenticeship helping you achieve it?
Alex: “My long-term goal is to keep developing my skills and try and get as much experience as I can. I feel like I’ve done lots of different things here already and no day is the same. I’ll keep putting my best into it, hopefully becoming really successful at my job. My apprenticeship is important in helping me achieve this because, well, it’s letting me build that experience and gain that knowledge through doing my courses, my coursework, and then my end point assessment.”
How does the feedback you receive help your skills grow and develop?
Alex: “I think getting that feedback, not just with my apprenticeship coach, but with Emma, my manager, helps me see where there are gaps in my knowledge and skills. From there, we can take action to help me keep developing. One of the skills that I’m working on right now is content writing and to do that, I’m going to do some additional courses to help me improve.”
It was great to hear about Alex and Joe’s apprenticeship experiences, and we are excited to watch them continue to grow as they take the next steps in their careers. We’re sure they’ll achieve great things!
