April Apprentice of the Month - Kerwyn Dyte
We are happy to announce that the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Kerwyn @ Digital Catapult!
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Aziz - this was the last chance for Kerwyn to win the award before his Level 3 IT apprenticeship comes to an end!
We received some excellent feedback from Kerwyn’s line manager Nicole Stewart Rushworth, which you can read below!
Kerwyn’s Skills Coach:
Kerwyn is an independent and mature learner. Due to the pandemic, he has faced and overcome many challenges but has picked himself back up again every time!
His communication with both me and his manager is fantastic! Due to Kerwyn's motivation and determination, he has been offered a placement on the L4 Network Engineer apprenticeship!
Kerwyn’s Line Manager
Energy:
Since starting with Digital Catapult Kerwyn has fully immersed himself in the team, he brings a lively energy to our work and he is happy to be involved in so many different activities - including doing the YMCA for a motion capture on a motion capture stage!
He has truly become a part of the team and is always happy to be involved in the wide variety of tasks that come his way, from working on the helpdesk with the IT team to setting up 360 film screenings or multisensory artistic installations.
Kerwyn has thrown himself into the deep end of working at Digital Catapult. Despite the ongoing lockdown, Kerwyn always remains positive and upbeat, never complaining about how the situation has affected his work. He has built positive relationships across the organisation, including with the CTO and CEO, spending several hours in virtual reality with them to demonstrate the work we had achieved as part of one of our projects.
Enthusiasm:
It has been wonderful to see Kerwyn's enthusiasm for his work at Digital Catapult and immersive technology as a whole. From when we first met Kerwyn in his interview for the role his enthusiasm shone through and it has carried with him throughout his apprenticeship. He has consistently asked questions and taken the initiative to get involved with the different aspects of the team.
He consistently delivers work to a high standard and it is clear when speaking with him that he takes pride in and has an interest in the work we do. In his first month at Digital Catapult, he was faced with a variety of events including hosting judging for the British Animation Awards with multiple VR setups, an audio installation with an SME for InnovateUK, and a tour from the Foreign Office and Kerwyn took all of this in his stride, making an excellent impression on the senior members of the Digital Catapult team.
Willingness To Learn:
Digital Catapult is a complex organisation for anyone to work in and Kerwyn has taken the time to understand and get to know the different facets of the business. His role has ended up branching across both the Immersive and IT teams which has allowed for Kerwyn to really expand his knowledge and put his learning from his apprenticeship into practical use.
From his starting weeks in the Immersive Lab, he had to learn quickly how to manage the sheer variety of bookings in our space and learn very much on the job. In one week he was setting up a football training simulator for an Irish client and then for another booking arranging 10+ headsets for a 360 film showing from China.
Ability To Take Feedback:
Kerwyn has been able to take on board feedback for the entirety of his time with us at Digital Catapult, even on the fly in real-time. As an example when we hosted the aforementioned Chinese film showing the client was being particularly picky and somewhat unreasonable in their requests, after speaking with Kerwyn about how to manage the situation he was then able to push back and manage the expectations of the client which lead to a successful event for both ourselves and the guests.
Propensity To Take Action:
One of the great things about bringing Kerwyn into the team is having a fresh pair of eyes on our processes and our setup, over the past 12 months Kerwyn has taken the initiative to look at the way we work and adapt it to make it work for him. In February 2020, a week after he started I fell sick for a couple of days and despite having only been on the job for a week he jumped into action to handle an important booking and arrange the setup and testing of over 10 pieces of content. He has gone above and beyond on the projects he has worked on and developed documents that have been used with external partners and with the wider public.
He doesn't wait for us to ask him to do work and takes the initiative to speak to the team and find out where he can really add value to the work we do.
Our runner-up for this month is Robert Court at Automation Logic, who was nominated by Business Administrator Skills Coach, Mati! With feedback provided by Rob’s line manager, Suzzanne.
Rob’s Skills Coach:
Robert has been consistent since he started his apprenticeship, taking part in group learning activities and asking all the right questions to gain a better understanding of what he needs to learn and achieve.
Rob’s line manager:
It’s hard to believe that Rob only joined us in January as he has become a core member of the team and has integrated himself so well into Shared Services and the wider business.
Rob has demonstrated an insatiable thirst for learning. Not only does he seek out opportunities for learning, but he also takes good notes and listens very carefully, asking pertinent questions. His listening and questioning skills are borne out in the quality of his work which is accurate and timely.