Barclays
Jamie Edge, Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Graduate
Digital hero of the year: Jamie’s award-winning apprenticeship journey
Meet Jamie Edge, a Digital and Technology Solutions Professional graduate who began his apprenticeship journey as a level three apprentice at Barclays before choosing to fast-track his career by pursuing a degree apprenticeship with Manchester Met. From the experience he gained during his apprenticeship, Jamie was able to rollout a company-wide initiative that was a first for a UK high-street bank. Read more about Jamie’s apprenticeship journey below.
Choosing to study a degree apprenticeship
After leaving high school, I began my career through the Barclays Technology Apprenticeships scheme, undertaking a Level 3 programme in IT and Telecommunications. This route was preferable as I learn most effectively when there are practical scenarios to immediately apply newly developed skills within. This complimented a vast amount of experience that I was gaining whilst on the job. When I heard that the Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship programme was launching, I was eager to apply. I had several years of experience in my role but was keen to compliment this with a broader knowledge of the Computer Science and Software Engineering domains whilst also gaining a recognisable formal qualification.
During my time on the programme, I was awarded “Digital Hero of the Year” at the Digital Technology Leaders Awards in 2018 and gained two internal awards recognising my contributions towards innovation in 2017. I was also awarded a Certificate of Merit by Tech Industry Gold in 2020 for my achievements during the Degree Apprenticeship course.
Delivering value to the employer
Undertaking my final year project provided me with the opportunity to develop a solution to a problem that existed outside of my usual area of focus. I was able to learn more about another part of my organisation whilst designing and building an innovative solution that would benefit it. The project also enabled me to experiment with different tools and techniques that I have since started using in other contexts. The experience that I gained whilst working on the project was valuable because I developed a deeper level of knowledge in several areas of technology which has since enabled me to perform my role more effectively. I have also shared many learnings with a wide range of colleagues, providing a further benefit to my organisation.
There are many accomplishments that I am proud of, however the most notable so far has been successfully building a Siri integration in the Barclays Mobile Banking application. This was a first for a UK high street bank and gained a significant amount of recognition.
Career progression and fast-tracking a promotion
I was promoted to a Lead iOS Developer role in 2017 and led development of numerous large-scale features in the Barclays Mobile Banking application, such as redeveloping the home screen that customers see first when they log in. In 2019, I moved into a role as a Lead iOS and Cloud Engineer, expanding my responsibilities from client-side application development to full-stack development. The experience that I was gaining whilst undertaking the course helped me successfully transition into this position as I had already completed several server-side application assignments. Deciding to expand my skills in server-side engineering further, I most recently moved into a role as a Lead Software Engineer in 2020, focusing on the construction of distributed applications within a public cloud platform. Whilst this is similar to my previous role, the scale and complexity of the services that I work with is much greater. The range of technologies and architectural patterns that I was exposed to during the course continues to provide me with an invaluable insight when making decisions.
I feel that completing the course has helped me to expand my technical expertise and opened many different career paths that I would not have considered previously.
Final thoughts
I personally feel that Degree Apprenticeships provide an excellent opportunity for anyone who is eager to start working whilst also wanting to challenge themselves to gain a formally recognised qualification. When I originally chose the apprenticeship route at the start of my career, I thought that I would not have an opportunity to gain a degree whilst remaining in full time employment, however the degree apprenticeship offering changed this entirely. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to take this route and hope that it continues to be offered to others.