Software Engineering Apprentice Review
at BT Group
Degree Apprenticeship
Software Engineering
Martlesham Heath
Review Submitted: April 2026
Overall Rating
2.6 /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
-
Overview of Role
4/5
-
Skills Development
2.2/5
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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:
3/5
day to day it has been quite different since I rotated, early on in my apprenticeship I was doing network engineering work, reviewing configuration, writing configuration and doing physical implementation of hardware. In other rotations I had to learn proprietary software and how to configure/use them such as IT monitoring software to capture errors remotely and then port them into our ITOM software as tickets. I had some time doing IT support and DevOps and finally got to work in software engineering after 3 years reviewing/making tickets, designing features, programming and doing some architectural work.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
I have had the opportunity to rotate around the business getting an overview of each other and how they feed into each other within my business area. This has lead to me developing quite a few different skills, largely to do with networking and some proprietary software for monitoring and ITOM. In my finals years of the program I did get to start doing software engineering related work, making Jira tickets, building features, architectural design and programming.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
Many new skills, networking with Cisco, .Net, Next.JS, IT business processes, Jira, Scrum, AWS and the proprietary software.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
Its been all over the place, sometimes I've have very structured rotations where I've had a lot of help and have been able to shadow colleagues to learn. Other times its felt like I've just been a bum to fill seats in some of the times with very little to do.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
3/5
There's always someone around the office willing to lend a helping hand whenever I've needed, the business itself is so large you will never get anywhere if you need help from the wider organisation, that's the reality of working for a corporation.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
2/5
My training provider in Suffolk has been extremely poor, lecturers who are either incompetent or have poor attitudes, continuous breakdowns in communication often not even being able to a hold of them and course content that is painfully out of date, even worse than my college which I completed before lockdown.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
2/5
Its had little relevance, I guess the networking modules and fundamentals of computer science prepare you to most things in IT however the very few software engineering sections have been out of date, poorly taught and I never really applied in my day to day role. Aside from mainstream university content being years ahead of my training provider I hear its not much more relevant once you are in a role anyways from other colleagues in the wider industry.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
2/5
Colleagues will organise sport events on site in Ipswich sometimes, otherwise not much else. Once I got to go to an apprentice event in Birmingham, other than that, not much.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BT Group to a friend?
Yes
Why?
Go to any of the main city offices and im sure you wont run into the issues I've had. The Martlesham offices have had most software engineering talent shifted elsewhere so I feel like the remnants of what was. I've had a good opportunity to learns a lot and the pay hasn't been had at all. I just think I came in at the wrong time.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BT Group?
The application process is lengthy, be prepared to wait while you're in between each stage. Build some home projects so you have something to talk about and show interest, show off your personality, project confidence and you'll make it through the process. You'll do a general application with recorded questions, some online tests that are straight forward, and an assessment center to see how well you perform on the fly and with other people. This is the same for any degree apprenticeship you apply for. Also be honest, if you lie during the application process it will catch up with you one way or another.
