Thinking about an apprenticeship?

For National Apprenticeships Week, we look at how apprenticeships have been working at Beaming

In 2016 we recruited our first two apprentices, with both joining us in the role of IT and Telecoms apprentice.  They quickly became valuable members of our technical team, dealing with real time customer issues and completing projects to support other members of the company, whilst also studying for their college qualifications. With our first intake about to complete their apprenticeships and a third recruited in June 2017 now settled in and taking on new responsibilities, we take a look at how apprenticeships work for us.

As Sonia Blizzard, our Managing Director, notes, ‘We value apprenticeships as a way of bringing curious, enthusiastic people into our organisation who develop into the skilled technical staff we need as a business, whilst they benefit not only from the training on offer but the opportunity to join a team where they can make a real difference and develop solid foundations for a good career’.

What is it like to be an IT and Telecoms apprentice?

Our current technical apprentices, Dan and Bradley, attend Sussex Coast College one day a week and then work four days per week at the Beaming office. They have been with us for over six months and have both settled in to life at Beaming. Dan shares the benefit he has found from taking the apprenticeship route, ‘It is an excellent first step in to real work. I now know what it’s like to do normal working hours and what real life is like without it being hidden behind the cushion of education.’

Apprentices are working as part of the team from day one but are always supported whilst they learn as Bradley found out, ‘I was provided with guidance and support from all the technical team until I was comfortable to start being more independent and figure things out for myself’.  We offer an interesting and busy environment to work in, ‘Everyday is different, I can never guess what is going to happen which makes it a whole lot more interesting.’ said Dan.

Here is what their day could include:

• Dealing with customer calls and emails
• Learning Cisco
• Configuring hardware
• Socialising over an hour long lunch break
• Improving skills by watching colleagues work
• Going on site at customer locations to see how issues are resolved on-site
• Looking at the core network and learning how it all works
• Completing college ‘homework’

Learn more by reading our interview with an IT and Telecoms apprentice at Beaming.