To mark National Apprenticeship Week, we’d like to take a minute to introduce you to Kieran, who joined Yealand in November and who is undertaking a Data Technician Apprenticeship.
Over to you Kieran.
I joined Yealand from sixth form where I had studied finance, sport and business studies. I didn’t really consider going to university, I much preferred the idea of working whilst gaining a qualification. I was never pressured by my parents to choose one route over another. I know they wanted me to do what would make me happy. I didn’t particularly enjoy maths at school, but I do like working with numbers. It feels good when I see a problem and I know that the answer lies within the numbers – there will eventually be an answer if you keep working through the numbers.
The type of work Yealand does fits perfectly with the Data Technician Apprenticeship standard.
The Data Technician apprenticeship will take me around 16 months to complete. I am required to complete off the job learning and Yealand is supporting me to do this by arranging for me to rotate through the fund operations departments. I’ve spent my first few months in the Middle Office team where I’ve already been exposed to lots of data sources, so I am off to a good start.
I get to engage my brain every day.
There wasn’t much opportunity to use Excel at school and my Excel knowledge has vastly improved since joining Yealand. I have also learned about working in an office environment, about communicating with others, managing my tasks and balancing my work and home life. I learn something new every day and I am confident that this will continue, my Team Leader says she still learns something new every day too. I like being in an environment where there is the opportunity to continually learn and develop my skills.
The transition from school to Yealand has gone better than I anticipated. I feel trusted. I have the independence to get my tasks done and the freedom to interact with my colleagues and build good relationships. My team leader doesn’t tell me what to do in the same way that a teacher would, so I am finding my own drive to get things done. I thought working would be dull, but it’s not. Before joining Yealand, I imagined that I would be at the bottom of the hierarchy and I wondered if there would be a divide between the young people and the more experienced members of staff. It really isn’t how I imagined, everyone mixes and interacts with one another regardless of background, and I feel like I’ve joined a family. It was my brother’s birthday at the weekend and someone asked me if my brother had a nice birthday. He doesn’t even work at Yealand!
What am I looking forward to?
I am looking forward to getting my exams out of the way and I am excited about the possibility of using the skills and knowledge I gain from the Apprenticeship to help develop how we use data at Yealand. I know others who are undertaking an apprenticeship and they say they are learning just to keep up, whereas I think I am learning to one day educate the others who I work with. They have taught me so much already and I aspire to return the favour.