Member Article

The sky's the limit for Warrington Digital Apprentice

A 20 year old from Runcorn is making waves at Digital agency Ixis, streamlining processes and even writing software that did part of the job for him.

Josh left Blue Coat C of E four years ago at age 16 and decided to pursue an apprenticeship. Both of Josh’s parents are teachers, and he knew that new skills could take a long time to filter through the school system into the classrooms. In an industry like web development, the rate of change is so fast; it made more sense to Josh to begin an apprenticeship so that he could keep up with emerging tech and software.

Ixis are a leading specialist in open source web development platform Drupal and when Josh started he had little experience with web development, and none with Drupal. However, he quickly progressed through his initial tasks and was moved onto the service desk, the frontline for client contact, where any one of the clients could come through to him and needing help.

His stand out moment since beginning his apprenticeship is writing the software Samurai. The security updates at Ixis used to freeze the entire support team and take a full day to complete. Josh wrote an application, using Drupal as the framework, with the goal of automating the process. Now it only takes one person and less than half the time; a great achievement.

Since starting at Ixis Josh has completed two level 3 BTEC qualifications in IT Systems and Principles and Professional Competence for IT and Telecoms professionals.

He is currently working towards a Level 4 Software Developer Qualification with Happy Apprentices. The course is comprehensive and updated frequently, and it even contains Drupal components. Josh says that he would not say no to any more qualifications in the future with Ixis.

Josh said: “I would recommend an apprenticeship, but only if you are really committed, have a passion for your job and want to learn. It is rewarding but it takes a certain way of thinking.”

Barry Standen, Josh’s supervisor at Ixis said “we are delighted with how well Josh is getting on; he has worked really hard and is a valuable member of the team. I am very much looking forward to seeing what he can achieve!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ixis IT .