What apprenticeship course did you take?

I took the Level 3 Information Communications Technician course by Azure Cloud Support Specialist over the course of 15 months.

Tell us about the important things you learned during the apprenticeship

I learned about all the different legislation that I need to be compliant within my daily duties, for example, the data protection act which is important working in IT as you have access to a lot of systems with people’s data that needs to be handled in the correct way.

I also learned about the fundamentals of computer networking. The course helped me to get a better understanding of how the devices work within the office functions.

Finally, the course taught me about project management. As part of the apprenticeship I had to plan and implement a project that would help the business. This taught me some greats skills with time management and gave me some independence in my job to build something from start to finish.

How will the apprenticeship help you do your current job?

The apprenticeship gave me some real experience that I can implement into my daily job. When troubleshooting someone’s issues, it gave me a wider range of things that I can check to try and find the route of the issue, things that I wasn’t aware of before the apprenticeship.

Did your team help/support you during your course and if so, how?

The IT team was big a help throughout my course, it was great to be surrounded by knowledgeable people in their fields to ask questions whenever I needed help. One that comes to mind is a task I had to create and configure a Linux virtual machine. I was following the instructions from the apprenticeship company, and I was getting stuck in an error loop. I asked my manager, and he was able to help me resolve the issue as he had a lot more experience dealing with Linux and was able to spot the issue I was having and help me to understand where I had gone wrong.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I’d like to complete more qualifications to become better at my job while also looking to specialise in DevOps or continuing down the route becoming a Senior IT Engineer.

Any other comments you wish to add?

I’d like to thank Sapphire Utility Solutions for giving me the opportunity to gain experience and start my career in a technical focused company.