Software Developer Apprentice Review

Item: Software Developer Apprentice at Volkswagen Financial Services
Rating: 4
Author: Anonymous

at Volkswagen Financial Services

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Information Technology

Milton Keynes

Review Submitted: March 2021

Overall Rating

4 /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!

3.5/5 - Overview of Role

4/5 - Skills Development

3.8/5 - 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

At the moment I work in the Local-Based Applications team. This involves debugging various issues raised by other employees and then solving the incident before pushing it up to deployment.
Day starts off with a daily stand-up where each team member states what they are doing for the day, as well as any assistance they could need/give. After the stand-up it is mostly coding, however other meetings pop up towards the end of a sprint (which is 2-3 weeks).

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

3/5

As of right now, work is quite slow and there isn't much to do. Also because the team is so small sometimes I feel neglected from support. However, the team are adamant about getting me on track, even moving me to a new field and such. So while I don't know if I could personally rate it super high at the moment, the future does look very promising

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

4/5

There is a large learning curve in adapting to a pre-existing team in a fast-paced work environment. A lot of e-mails, meetings, and a lot of new people.
Apart from developing your 'business' skills you will also have to know the professional methods used to deploy code and such. As well as following a code standard and everything.
In short, I already knew a lot about coding going into the job, the most valuable thing ive learned on this course is the "professional" aspect of coding.

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

3/5

I think when you are actually coding there is a lot of freedom in how you code. I never felt restrained to a strict structure when it mattered. However, there are structural consistencies that do make it feel more than just randomly fixing code.
Structurally the teams are very clearly defined

How much support do you receive from your employer?

4/5

I get a lot of support now, and whilst the start was hectic and rushed I feel it is constantly improving. And even at the start the rest of the team reassured me constantly that if I ever run into a problem all I need to do is just ask.

How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

4/5

Our teacher is really kind and clearly likes the subject. I've never asked for support but I have no doubt that he he would gladly give support when asked

How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

5/5

Well 80% of the course for the qualification is on site. My manager regularly checks that the work i'm doing is in line with my course specification. The course itself has very open ended wording about the work anyway but its nice to know that it was thought of.

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

I mean yes but I've attended none so i'm not in a place to explain if it's good or not. Like I can see they have a range of various activities and networking events, and the college side offers a lot of networking and such too which I have attended but yeah.

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend Volkswagen Financial Services to a friend?

Yes

Why?

I guess it's just how adaptable everything is. Like when it comes to the work load, or the education side; it's all done at your pace. Plus the work is pretty rewarding seeing like your changes being implemented and used its nice. And the whole work environment and that it's all good no real complaints

What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Volkswagen Financial Services?

I did a lot of research into the company before applying so I knew what they were looking for. The about us page and stuff like that is very useful. I also looked at the future plans for vw and vwfs to see the direction they were heading before hand.

View All Company Reviews