LDN Tech Alumni: National Apprenticeship Week 2021

For over six years, we’ve been helping apprentices kickstart their career within the tech industry. Each of these apprentices has a story and a fountain of knowledge and experience to be passed down to the new generation of apprentices each year across the UK.

So for National Apprenticeship Week, we decided to get in touch with some of our LDN Alumni currently working within the tech sector and ask them about their apprenticeship experience!

We talked to Andrew, Robert and Jojo and asked them the same set of five questions to see what advice they had for anyone looking to kickstart their career with an apprenticeship and why they decided to start an apprenticeship with LDN.

Andrew Pridotkas

Apprenticeship Qualification
Software Developer Lvl3

Currently
Software Engineer Apprentice at Vodafone

Robert Dunne

Apprenticeship Qualification
Digital Marketer Lvl3

Currently
Content Marketer at FanFinders

Jojo Masala

Apprenticeship Qualification Software Developer Lvl3

Currently
Salesforce Consultant Apprentice at Pracedo

Why did you decide to apply for an apprenticeship?

Andrew - Having tried university prior to LDN I realised that although my subject choice was interesting, I wasn't able to get the hands-on experience that I felt would truly make me understand what I'm learning. When I realised that apprenticeships were an option I joined immediately and have never looked back.

Robert - Having tried the A-level approach to higher education, I was drawn to the idea of an apprenticeship after realising the skills I was most capable with (and enjoyed most!) revolved around writing and digital technologies and tools, which are areas frequently found within apprenticeships. When I considered this as well as the benefits of learning on the job and gaining invaluable amounts of experience at a young age, I realised it would be an extremely effective route into the working world.

Jojo - I wanted to get experience working while also studying software development in a classroom environment. I thought I would learn the most in a real-life work environment, but also wanted some time to study the fundamentals. An apprenticeship was a great way to combine the two and get paid while doing so!

How do you feel an apprenticeship helped to get you where you are today?

Andrew - I think it's safe to say I wouldn't be where I am now had I not taken the apprentice path. The hands-on experience and day to day exposure to the industry alone are an invaluable asset. I received a lot of positive feedback and offers during my interviews after completing my course and was able to choose the career path I wanted.

Robert - Having now finished my apprenticeship, one of the most noticeable things my apprenticeship helped with was my ability to problem solve and create solutions within a working environment. The ability to partner fundamental learning surrounding my area of work, with day-to-day experience on the job gave me the confidence and understanding within the work I was doing to assess different scenarios and create effective solutions.

Jojo - I got the opportunity to work with great people and on great projects. This allowed me to get a distinction! My employer also supported me in getting six Salesforce certifications, which I am very proud of.

What was the best thing you learnt throughout your apprenticeship?

Andrew - Getting to know myself. I was very lucky to have been given the opportunity to try a lot of different things and often got pushed out of my comfort zone, which while scary sometimes, helped massively with trying to figure myself out. I'm hands down a lot more confident both as a person and in my interests thanks to the amazing experiences I've had.

Robert - Having never previously worked on any sort of ‘campaign’ in previous work, learning some of the fundamentals surrounding how to effectively plan and put together a marketing campaign was an extremely useful bit of learning. It gave me greater insight into how to successfully plan and manage different types of campaigns. I have been able to use this on a number of occasions within my work and has also allowed me to be more independent within my work.

Jojo - I think the best thing I learned throughout my experience was how businesses approach digital transformation projects. I know how a software developer affects this process, from the proposal of a digital transformation project and gathering requirements to closing a project.

What challenges did you overcome during your apprenticeship?

Andrew - Whilst I could always read more about my subject or practice the skills I needed, at the onset I struggled with keeping all my duties organized. As you can imagine, it can be an interesting challenge trying to keep a healthy work/study/life balance. Luckily I wasn't alone and LDN provided plenty of support from classes to mentoring.

Robert - Having come into an apprenticeship from an A-level style of learning, adapting to this new style as well as applying it day-to-day was an early issue I faced. I found once I was able to begin applying my learning in my work, I was able to slowly make connections which made this learning much easier as the basic information I was being given in classes begun having some ‘context’ within daily life.

Alongside this, time management became something I had to put greater focus on due to not only managing working requirements, but also commuting, my apprenticeship work, and my life outside of marketing. All of these had different time constraints I was managing at one time or another, however, I was able to overcome this through simply finding and creating different structures for my day to allow me to not only stay on track in a time sense but also maintain priorities across the different things occurring in my life.

Jojo - In the beginning, it was difficult to keep up with the business terminology, especially the Salesforce specific ones, but this issue was resolved with experience.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting an apprenticeship?

Andrew - Just go for it, it will be a huge step and it might be daunting but it won't be long before you'll start making long, confident strides, so just go for it!

Robert - I think one of the most important things I can advise is to use everything at your disposal, and I mean EVERYTHING! Whether it is the learning in class, advice from your tutor, conversations with your manager or even talking to other apprentices, by choosing an apprenticeship, you’ve decided you want to go down the hands-on approach, so why not get more hands involved?

The people around you will either have more experience than you or different experience than you all of which is knowledge you can use to add to your own, which in turn will make everything easier.

Jojo - Stay on top of your coursework and put yourself forward to all the opportunities you get - especially the ones that push you out of your comfort zone!