Apprentice Review
at NatWest Group
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Software Engineering
London
Review Submitted: May 2024
Overall Rating
3.9 /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
-
Overview of Role
4/5
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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
My responsibilities include carrying out testing for maintenance releases with external vendor. Working on dev tasks in my projects. Communicating and collaborating with team members to resolve issues. Creating test documents for audit purposes.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
I enjoyed my experience a lot, it was something new to me and I have been able to develop a good understanding on development but also real world problems in investment banking. I enjoyed problem solving and providing valuable input to team.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
Time management skills have improved where I break down my tasks and goals into three categories to complete them. I've developed Problem solving skills when doing UAT testing and using those results to investigate the code problems.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
Balancing the workplace tasks and apprenticeship tasks was difficult in the beginning, one of the reasons was the apprenticeship tasks weren't spaced out well. Meaning you have the training, you do the training tasks and then you get 2 to 3 weeks to complete a report about that training with work from the workplace. Which is not enough time and you have to think about what the right work for that report would be. So the report aspect is quite rushed and the deadlines are not good.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
Support from my employer was great. I have catch ups with my Line manager every week to discuss what I've done during the week and here I can discuss any challenges I'm facing. My manager provides me support where I need it and have given me opportunities to exercise some skills such as presenting skills. I presented in front of the management team to become better at presenting. Moreover, my team members are also really supportive in my learning. If there's anything I didn't understand, we would have knowledge transfers.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
My Coach was supportive and whenever I needed support, I was able to organise a call with him to resolve the issue or get better understanding for something I didn't understand.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
One thing I found really useful from my training was use of version control which is heavily integrated in the workplace.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
4/5
I volunteered to be an apprentice ambassador to help the upcoming apprentices. Moreover, I've also volunteered to present and share my experiences in front of young people at a NatWest event.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend NatWest Group to a friend?
Yes
Why?
From my experience, it allowed me to learn about an industry that I didn't know much about when I first started my job. I was able to learn transferrable skills that I can use in other roles and learn to be proactive.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to NatWest Group?
Don't be afraid to fail, because you are going to fail. Rather than focusing on the failure, focus on how I can improve and learn to become better at the task. Have recurring zoom calls with team members to understand things you don't understand and ask to perform those tasks yourself to apply what you've learned.
