Business analyst Review
at Santander
Degree Apprenticeship
Finance
Milton Keynes
Review Submitted: July 2020
Overall Rating
4.3 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4.5/5
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Overview of Role
5/5
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Skills Development
3.6/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
engage with business leaders and users to understand how data-driven changes to process, products, services, software and hardware can improve efficiencies and add value. I must articulate those ideas but also balance them against what’s technologically feasible and financially and functionally reasonable. i work with data sets to improve products, hardware, tools, software, services or process. Daily I do whatever is asked of me by my manager at the time before I switch to another role every six months doing something completely different
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
5/5
I find the programme way better than any of the alternatives, I couldn’t see myself going into a full time job but on the other side of the coin I couldn’t see myself going full time into uni, and this is a perfect balance between the two, I love the content of the course and is definitely something I could see myself continuing on in the future, it is a great course to me
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
I have developed my coding language skills massively since starting as for university coursework there is a fair amount of coding to make sure I get a good understanding of it, I also have built up a lot of business knowledge which allows me to interpret data easier. I have also built up my knowledge of Microsoft studio due to the fact that I use it more or less daily so I know a lot more.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
There are definitely a few areas that could be improved on. The planning on the employer is perfect and I wouldn’t change that at all because I like that I rotate around every six months to try something new, however the organisation of the university could be better because I feel like there isn’t enough commutation from the lecturers to the students which can make it a little bit tricky especially due to corona to relay information
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
This depends on the manager I have every six months, I personally believe that my first manager expected me to know exactly what I was doing from day one which made it a fairly bit trickier to understand the ropes and what I was meant to be doing. However my new manager is a lot more helpful and makes sure to speak to me on a daily basis to help me get my work done and understand what I Am doing
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
My employer helps a fairly large amount due to the fact that whenever university work is due in a I get Fridays off to either stay at home or come in and work on it which is a massive help, but also I can always ask people around me to help me understand certain aspects of it better which really helps to build up on a knowledge from inside of the work place and not just theoretically
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
There are tonnes of aspects of my university degree that relate directly into what I am doing in my job, as there is a lot of business knowledge required for my job the qualification really helps me to build on it and I am able to gain a better understanding of how a business works as a whole. There is also a lot of coding in my university course which also ties in with the main work.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
3/5
Whilst there are extra activities for me to join in I tend to not do them due to the fact I am very shy and prefer my own company, however every year there is a big event for the whole of the company which is a celebration of the entire year of business which I got to experience and was a lot of fun because you get to see your university friends from the other branches of the business such as in London
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Santander to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I believe that overall the value you are getting out of the company is definitely equal to or more than what you are putting in, the salary is very good for an apprentice and on top of that you don’t get into masses of debts to have a university degree but you still get to experience university life for the time you get up to Nottingham which is a lot of fun and the business as a whole is great to be a part of
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Santander?
Be yourself, and make sure if you get an interview to listen to what the interviewers are saying, if they are giving you information on the company try to write it down and show that you are really interested in what they are saying, make sure to list any experiences you have had that may help you in the job role and make sure that you sell yourself to be hardworking and you have a great attitude
