Digital Technology Solutions - Software Degree Apprentice Review
at JLR
Degree Apprenticeship
Software Engineering
Coventry
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
3.5 /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
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Overview of Role
3/5
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Skills Development
3.2/5
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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
Progress through projects - debugging / developing new features. Mostly data pipelines / handling.
Meetings / conversations with internal customers, checking requirements etc.
Work's training courses.
University coursework.
Meetings / conversations with internal customers, checking requirements etc.
Work's training courses.
University coursework.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
Quite enjoyable from the work side. Plenty of projects to develop skills, and time allowed to learn / improve whilst working on them.
The university side is quite disorganised, they're moving to a new tracking system and the staff have limited training / understanding of the platform so struggle to help. Some lecturers are great, with interesting coursework, others are knowlegable but hard to learn from.
The university side is quite disorganised, they're moving to a new tracking system and the staff have limited training / understanding of the platform so struggle to help. Some lecturers are great, with interesting coursework, others are knowlegable but hard to learn from.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
3/5
Developed software engineering skills, familiarity with Microsoft products such as Power Automate.
Developed communication / confidence through team and customer meetings.
Time management / organisation.
Developed communication / confidence through team and customer meetings.
Time management / organisation.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
The work side of things is well organised from my perspective, my department has a dedicated early careers rep that understands the department and provides excelent support and structure for my learning and progress through the apprenticeship. There's also regular meetings with managers and other early careers reps. The university side is less organised, some coursework has been set / explained later than planned, and the time logging system has been unclear as staff have had little training on it.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
Great support from my manager / team with projects and learning. They're happy to answer my questions and introduce me to other parts of the company. My department's early careers representative is also great, having provided good structure for my progression, with regular check-ins as a group and 1:1. There is sometimes limited time to work on coursework, depending on how many projects you have, but my manager is flexible with what I work on and is open to giving me more time around deadlines.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
3/5
Some lecturers are great, very good at explaining concepts and expectations, quick to answer questions and open to supporting you further. All coursework has an optional support session you can attend, to ask clarification questions etc, though some lecturers are more helpful than others in this. In person lectures can be a bit intense / tiering after a few days though.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
The first year is a bit basic, laying foundations for future learning, rarely going above A-level, though some lecturers are good at going into further detail, even if they're limited by the content. This lays a good foundation for understanding processes at work, and for learning required for work projects.
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
Not really, some go on hikes / bowling etc events, and there's a winter / summer ball that we can go to. There's a few work conferences e.g. datafest / supplier showcases that I've been to, which have been interesting.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend JLR to a friend?
Yes
Why?
Good support and structure from work. Nice team / people, who are flexible and willing to support / teach. Well organised, nice pay :)
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to JLR?
Be prepared to learn on the job, have good problem solving skills. People / communication skills will be developed as you get used to the team / format of meetings, so don't worry about that. Make sure you know a decent amount about the company / 'Re-imagine' strategy when applying.
Industrial Operations: Manufacturing Undergraduate
at JLR
- Placement (10 Months+)
- Liverpool, Halewood.
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