Celebrating The Success of Roq’s Apprentices this National Apprenticeship Week

National Apprenticeship Week

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2024 is the 17th annual celebration of apprenticeships in the UK. The week brings together everyone who is passionate about apprenticeships to celebrate the value, benefit and opportunity that they bring to apprentices, organisations and the country as a whole. The theme for NAW this year is ‘Skills for Life’, with www.apprenticeships.gov.uk encouraging everyone to consider how apprenticeships can help individuals develop skills and knowledge needed for a rewarding career, and employers to develop a workforce with future ready skills.

Roq’s Apprenticeship Programme

In 2023, we welcomed Roq’s first ever cohort of Quality Engineering Apprentices. The aim for the apprenticeship was to provide an opportunity for career-changers, ex forces/services and tech-returners with quality at the heart of everything they do to develop as excellent technology professionals. Roq’s programme did this through a mix of practical and theoretical learning elements, ongoing support from our fantastic team of Career Support Managers, and exposure to a variety of client projects.

Skills for Life

Roq’s Apprenticeship Programme aimed to not only develop the next generation of Quality Engineers but also provide a range of soft skills and valuable experiences that would prove useful in all careers and walks of life.

Roq Apprentice Tom Grummett gave us a fantastic insight to his apprentice experiences so far.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the apprenticeship at Roq and it has given me an opportunity to develop a wide variety of skills related to software testing. From building a strong foundation during the bootcamp at the start of last year, I’ve been able to gain real experience of testing techniques and working methodologies while on client projects. Being able to work on actual client projects has allowed me to develop ‘soft skills’ that are not only relevant to software testing, but can also be applied to a wide variety of situations both in, and out of the workplace. There has been endless support from other members of the Roq team who have helped me further develop my technical skills, as well as improve my overall understanding of specific testing approaches. This is something I found really helpful when submitting my EPA as I was able to look back over the work I had completed during the apprenticeship with a better understanding of how it could all be applied in different practical situations. I’m really happy to be nearing the end of the apprenticeship and look forward to my ongoing personal and professional development as a Quality Engineer.”

Apprentice Success

Our current apprentice cohort have already achieved so much in their short time at Roq, being involved in a number of client projects as well as internal initiatives such as the design and build of a fully functioning automated marketing dashboard, building and testing their own websites and completing the Roq Academy Bootcamp.

A selection of our apprentices were also recently shortlisted for S&A Academy Apprenticeship Awards, with Joanne Greenhalgh winning the award for ‘Going Above and Beyond Expectations’. Other nominations included ‘Best Problem Solver’ and ‘Most Improved’.

This is what Jo had to say when asked about her time at Roq so far and the submission of her End Point Assessment.

"My time at Roq so far has been a great experience! Our colleagues have been really supportive throughout, from helping us through our time in bootcamp last year, to working on client projects and especially as we’ve been working towards completing the EPA. Developing soft skills alongside the obvious technical skills we signed up for has been a great way of developing skills for life. I really saw how far I’d come in terms of these skills when putting my EPA together, so that was a great exercise, as well as an obviously crucial element as I come to the end of the apprenticeship. It feels great to be nearing the finish line and I’m looking forward to continuing to develop the skills I’ve learnt.”

Best of Luck to Our Apprentices

As mentioned by Jo and Tom, Roq’s apprentices are in the process of submitting their End Point Assessments, which is the final stage of an apprenticeship and an impartial assessment of whether each apprentice has developed the skills and knowledge that was outlined at the beginning of the programme.

It has been truly inspiring to support our apprentices through their journey and to see first-hand the progress and positive impact they've already made within Roq

We asked Roq Chief People Officer, Sean Gray for his take on our apprentices' achievements...

"It has been truly inspiring to support our apprentices through their journey and to see first-hand the progress and positive impact they've already made within Roq, with the feedback we've had on them from our clients and colleagues being nothing short of glowing.

Although they've had a lot of work to complete during their apprenticeship, between coursework, assessments and projects, their work ethic, attitude and passion has been faultless. I am certain that every single one of them will progress in leaps and bounds as they continue being an integral part of the Roq team."

Each apprentice will have their EPA marked by Roq’s apprenticeship partner – The S&A Academy – and if they are deemed to have met the criteria laid out by the Roq Apprenticeship, they will successfully complete their apprenticeship at Roq. 

Please join us in wishing our apprentices the best of luck with their EPAs and also congratulating them on everything they’ve achieved so far.