Member Article

Celebrating National Apprenticeship Week

This week we are celebrating National Apprenticeship Week 2022 – Build the Future, running from the 7 – 13th February 2022.

The 2022 National Apprenticeship Week’s theme is “Build the Future” – a theme that is very much aligned to our own apprentice program. At Smart IT, we strongly believe that investing in young talent and moulding those individuals into first class engineers, with all the knowledge and experience necessary to do one of the most challenging support roles in the North East, helps build a future work force that is loyal, knowledgeable, and customer focused.

Like most apprenticeship schemes, all apprentices earn a range of qualifications and experience that will kick start their career in IT and Telecoms. However, the Smart IT Advanced Apprenticeship scheme is one of the very few that will certify engineers to be Microsoft Certified IT Professionals or MCITP for short.

We currently have a total of nine apprentices working at Smart IT, we caught up with Thomas to find out more on their apprenticeship journey:

What sort of things have you learnt since joining Smart IT?

“My technical and theoretical skills have had a massive jump since joining, I’ve learnt so much even in a fairly short time and have gained a good understanding of working within an environment which I haven’t experienced before. It has given me a massive boost to my confidence and improved socials skills.” Thomas

What made you choose Smart IT?

“The reason that I chose smart IT was because I have always had a strong interest in IT, and I plan to follow this as my chosen career path. My goal is to follow my brother’s footsteps and achieve the level of success he has, in the advancing world of IT. Smart IT allows me to learn new skills and information do be used within the real world” Thomas

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about doing an apprenticeship?

“I believe that an apprenticeship is 100% the way forward for a student’s education, as it allows for both hands-on experience of the working world and the opportunity to learn when working. In my opinion, it’s the best way of learning rather than full time education like sixth form. An apprenticeship allows you to demonstrate your learning, then at the end of the program, you have already proven your skills to other work colleagues helping you progress higher up in the world of work.” Thomas

To create first class engineers, Smart IT have teamed up with technology training provider QA to build a unique apprenticeship scheme that provides all the necessary knowledge and experience required to mould a first-class engineer. Ofsted rated QA Apprenticeship schemes ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.

“We are exceptionally proud of our Advanced Apprentice Program, we are committed to attracting, developing, and retaining our apprentices. Over the years, many of our most successful engineers have come from the apprentice program. We recently celebrated William Gallon winning North East Rising Star at the National Apprentice Awards.

Despite the challenging times, we are clear that increasing apprenticeship opportunities is part of our ongoing strategy and we recognise the benefits it brings for both the employees and Smart IT.“ Jon Proud, Smart IT Operations Director

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