Lauren and Dale are Microsoft Apprentices who receive their training through the QA Academy in Manchester. They are on the same course so their schedules are identical and they work with the same people in our office. They split their time between their classes and coming into the office - at the moment their time is weighted towards the classes but that balance will shift as their apprenticeship progresses.

Lauren and Dale work with Web Application’s Network Engineer Allan (and occasionally Robin) doing the internal computer networking necessary for the office. At the moment Lauren and Dale are our own personal construction workers. Really.

You see, we have been recruiting lately, and we need to increase the amount of desks and PCs to accommodate our recent growth. Lots of desks are also getting switched for newer, slightly smaller desks to make room for the new ones. This means about 18 desks need to be assembled. In the last two days our esteemed apprentices have finished 4 desks so, I think it is probably a good thing that they are doing a Microsoft Apprenticeship instead of carpentry. Next week our apprentices will be back in class so it will be up to Allan to continue where they left off. That’s fine though, Allan considers assembling furniture the highlight of his job, just ask him.

In addition to construction our apprentices are also setting up the PCs for the newcomers, making sure everything is connected properly and that each PC has the necessary software installed. Dale and Lauren also have the joy or mix and matching monitors, checking that everything is compatible and we have enough wires and things for hooking up all the machinery.

With all of this going on it is not too surprising that these two feel that they get plenty of variety in their day to day tasks. Both Lauren and Dale are enjoying their classes and think that their classes and the time in the office are mutually beneficial. Everything they learn in class seems to relate directly to what they are working on in the office, and Allan is a great teacher himself, explaining why things are the way they are and correcting some of the out-of-date information from the textbooks.  The I.T. industry is an ever-changing beast.

The class sizes are pretty small, there are ten people in Lauren and Dale’s class, and they have a teacher they like which makes a world of difference. The balance between coming to work in the office and time spent in the classroom seems about right to the apprentices, especially as they will eventually be spending more time in the office environment. The work they have been given in the office has not only met but exceeded expectations, they didn’t think we would give them so much responsibility. We have faith in our apprentices!

After they finish their year, Dale and Lauren will have a number of qualifications, including CompTIA A+ Technician, Network+ Technician and be Microsoft Certified. When asked whether they had any advice for other people considering the Microsoft Apprenticeship, Lauren replied, ‘You have to put your best into it, you really need to make sure it’s what you want to do and you need to have a passion for it to succeed.’ Dale responded, ‘It’s a great program but you need to make sure you do plenty of work at home or you won’t get everything you’re taught.’ Sounds like good advice to me. Things are going well, we enjoy having Lauren and Dale around and hope that they enjoy being here too!

Visit our Recruitment page to learn about apprenticeships and jobs available.