Quality Engineer Apprentice Review
at Lloyds Banking Group
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Information Technology
Brighouse
Review Submitted: February 2025
Overall Rating
4.4 /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!
4.5/5
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Overview of Role
5/5
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Skills Development
4/5
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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:
5/5
Software testing, communicating with other teams on the project, supporting other team members in their testing activities, gathering test data, running automated tests, completing leaning modules to gain new skills
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
I enjoy my role both because the subject matter is interesting and constantly evolving, and because I feel valued and supported by those I work with. My team is extremely helpful and knowledgable which has helped me adapt to the new environment. The work is challenging and requires hard work, but I enjoy the challenging aspect of it.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
I have learned how to conduct both manual and automated software testing, software engineering skills, as well as greater communication and knowledge of how to work effectively as a part of large teams. Lloyds Banking Group in general highly prioritises learning new skills for all employees.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
The apprenticeship itself is structured decently well. Lloyds Banking Group itself is significantly better organised than Firebrand who have many communication and administrative issues (incorrect deadlines, misleading learning material labels etc) but it is still certainly manageable and paced well.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
I recieve plenty of support from my employer and have never felt left on my own when stuck with a problem. There have occasionally been times where I have not been able to get enough work, but I can usually find my own learning to do and this was not the fault of my team. The company is extremely supportive and not judgemental of attempts to learn new things.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
3/5
My learning mentor from Firebrand is fantastic and has been very helpful in getting around the often confusing wording or lack of communications from Firebrand. I cannot score them too highly on this because those communication and confusion issues are still prevalent from the training provider, but my learning mentor has never left me feeling like I had no way to find out any information I required.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
In general I have learned far more from simply being around and working with my colleagues and other apprentices, but the courses and portfolio requirements have been useful in pointing me in the right direction. Not all the courses are completely relevant to my role, but they have allowed me to learn new skills which is a prioritisation of the company.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
5/5
There are plenty of events for apprentices or other colleagues to get involved in, with regular networking events, dedicated learning days with opportunities to attend valuable in person teaching sessions, many networks for groups of colleagues to connect based on interest, and in general the atmosphere very much promotes friendly communication and extra curricular activities.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Lloyds Banking Group to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I would and have recommended Lloyds Banking Group to friends. The salary is very good (especially for an apprenticeship) for one, the people are more helpful than any other company I have ever worked at, the work is interesting and I genuinely feel like I am given opportunities to learn and upskill, and the company is the first one I have worked for where I felt like the work environment actually reflected the values stated on their website and in the interview.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Lloyds Banking Group?
The application is generally merit based, not based on superfluous experience like so many other companies are. Of course experience helps, but if you have a strong interest in the area and are able to demonstrate your alignment with the company's values and communicate well, I would strongly recommend anyone interested should apply, even if they do not have prior experience in the area.
The application has three assessments, the first of which is not very difficult and is primarily intended to assess basic competence and weed out those who are simply applying for every job they find. The second is a little tougher but manageable provided you prepare properly. The third is a full day assessment which will involve many different types of activities, and this is the task which is the real make or break assessment. For me this was the final stage and was challenging mainly because of how long I had to maintain my composure for. My main advice for this is focus on communicating genuinely whilst maintaining a proffesional persona and keeping to the question at hand. In the group assessment, do not push others out, but take a leading role if you can. This task focuses on how you communicate with others and how you work together, not how well you can insist on your idea. In one of the assessments you may be questioned on an idea you have come up with where the intervioewer will disagree. You should not immediately abandon your idea, and instead accept their criticism and suggest why you believe your idea is the better choice.
The particular application process may differ depending on the apprenticeship or year, but this was my experience and while the full day assessment is hard, I really appreciated that it was not only based on how many years experience someone had for an entry level position.
The application has three assessments, the first of which is not very difficult and is primarily intended to assess basic competence and weed out those who are simply applying for every job they find. The second is a little tougher but manageable provided you prepare properly. The third is a full day assessment which will involve many different types of activities, and this is the task which is the real make or break assessment. For me this was the final stage and was challenging mainly because of how long I had to maintain my composure for. My main advice for this is focus on communicating genuinely whilst maintaining a proffesional persona and keeping to the question at hand. In the group assessment, do not push others out, but take a leading role if you can. This task focuses on how you communicate with others and how you work together, not how well you can insist on your idea. In one of the assessments you may be questioned on an idea you have come up with where the intervioewer will disagree. You should not immediately abandon your idea, and instead accept their criticism and suggest why you believe your idea is the better choice.
The particular application process may differ depending on the apprenticeship or year, but this was my experience and while the full day assessment is hard, I really appreciated that it was not only based on how many years experience someone had for an entry level position.
