Apprentice Data Scientist Review
at Auto Trader
Degree Apprenticeship
Data Analysis
Manchester
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
4.1 /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
5/5
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Skills Development
3.8/5
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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
Overall, my role is to utilise data to support colleagues, customers and consumers. My day-to-day can look quite different depending on what kind of project I'm working on. I could be maintaining and improving the data surfaced in our business intelligence tools to support colleagues across the business, building new data products to solve a business problem, or developing data models to help understand our data, answer questions and help build solutions.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
I really enjoy the work-based learning and experience. The taught element of the course is all online - its informative, but not hugely engaging.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
I've learnt so many new skills. I've learnt programming languages like SQL, JSON, Python and LookML, new statistical methods and how to build models and visualisations, version control using Git. I've also learnt a lot of non-tech skills, like how to effectively collaborate with people across the business, how to go about solving a business problem, stakeholder management, time management, organisation and project management.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
In terms of timelines of when things will be delivered and assignments are due in, its well structured. The lectures/webinars are highly variable and it depends who is teaching - sometimes its a well delivered and structured experience, other times it can be a two-hour long ramble.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
I'm incredibly well supported by my employer. If I have trouble understanding something or need some guidance, I know I can ask people for help and they'll always have time for me. I'm put on different projects in different areas to make sure I'm getting a wide range of experiences to support my learning and development. I can attend in-house training courses to develop my technical and non-technical skills. If I have any issues at all, there's a wealth of people I can turn to.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
I'm incredibly supported by my coach - he always makes sure I know where I'm up to, what the next steps are, and what I need to do to achieve my qualification. The lecturers are very open to feedback and genuinely want us to do well, so when we have questions or feel we need extra support they're very responsive.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
It provides a good guide as to what sort of areas I can look into in my role (e.g. developing models, building dashboards, etc.) so I can contextualise the learning into my role. The course also makes us aware of new and emerging technologies we might not be aware of otherwise, which we can then bring back into our roles. However, the qualification does feel a bit disjointed and doesn't cover some things which my employer would view as essential.
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's so much to get involved with! We have:
A variety of sports clubs - football, badminton, running to name a few
Social networks - there's so many! For example, LGBT+, disability and neurodiversity, women, age, early careers, book club, boardgames club, film club, music club, and many more
Networking events and conferences - we're encouraged to attend and speak at events such as PyData, Her+Data, Queer in Tech, etc. People attend a wide variety of conferences all over the world.
Volunteering opportunities - we get two volunteering days a year, I've used mine to help a local park, animal sanctuaries and planted flowers on my local high street
A variety of sports clubs - football, badminton, running to name a few
Social networks - there's so many! For example, LGBT+, disability and neurodiversity, women, age, early careers, book club, boardgames club, film club, music club, and many more
Networking events and conferences - we're encouraged to attend and speak at events such as PyData, Her+Data, Queer in Tech, etc. People attend a wide variety of conferences all over the world.
Volunteering opportunities - we get two volunteering days a year, I've used mine to help a local park, animal sanctuaries and planted flowers on my local high street
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Auto Trader to a friend?
Yes
Why?
We enjoy flexible hybrid working, the culture is fantastic and I feel like I'm a community, there's so much support available and we can get involved in so many interesting things, from volunteering days to educational outreach to sports to social clubs. There's lots of room to grow and develop - it's actively encouraged and supported to continually develop. The work itself is really rewarding, and I find it to be challenging and engaging, but never stressful.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Auto Trader?
You don't need to be a petrol-head to work for Auto Trader!
Do your research into the company - we're really proud of our history, culture and values, so definitely get clued up around them.
Be yourself and let your personality shine through!
Do your research into the company - we're really proud of our history, culture and values, so definitely get clued up around them.
Be yourself and let your personality shine through!
