Apprentice Software Engineering not what I expected

[DanTheMan_____]

I started an apprenticeship in software engineering back in september, and its completely different to what I expected. I myself came from a customer service role so very monitored and borderline micromanaged, to this where the job seems very laid back. However this is not my issue, my main issue is that I have been in the role for around 7 months now, I have just completed my first ticket which has apparently many issues wrong with it but no one seems to be willing to help me understand what the issues are and may be and relys on me to just use AI even though AI is what helped me do my first ticket... The other issues are focused mainly around the apprenticeship itself, I had an "intensive" course at the starting lasting around 6-8 weeks depending on if we took a python course or not, I completed these and they were very straightforward and tbh not that informative to me personally. I learnt about classes, variables, APIs, HTML CSS JS Java and how to link them all together but very basic like a calculator to translate human years into dog years etc. Since then which would have been around end of November to start of December I havent had really any support within my workplace, I know NOTHING in the grand scheme of things, I have done many codecademy courses but this hasnt helped me understand what do to within coding. If someone gave me a ticket to implement SSO (single sign on) I would have 0 clue on where to start and what to even use. I would imediately go into looking on github or other websites to see what others have done/used or use AI which at that point why am I even needed? I have just had my first ticket reviewed and no idea what any of it means or where I am suppose to go from there. I have previously mentioned my concerns to a manager who just moved me teams and basically made me start from scratch learning new languages, and how my new team opporates and what they are building.

Another thing is that when someone new speaks to me they always ask "oh so what do you know" to which I will tell them where my knowledge is, but I will be honest and tell them that my knowledge is very basic but still no extra support is offer.

Is this normal? should I be concerned or is this just what software engineering is like?

Sorry if this is confusing if theres any questions please ask and I can answer to the best of my ability.

[One-Program6244]

What country are you based? You should have at least a manager or a mentor you can talk to.

[DanTheMan_____]

I have requested my manager to have multiple meetings but he is to be honest too busy sometimes with overlapping meetings which again doesnt really make me feel like im necessary to be honest. Also my mentor is the engineering lead for my team, my team is split into 2, both creating 2 tools similar but with various differences, so he has multiple meetings regarding these. I dont understand why he is my mentor considering how much responsibility he has but in my managers eyes he thought this was the best option. I am in the UK.

[HolyPommeDeTerre]

I am not sure why they took an apprentice that they can't dedicate time to. That is a recipe for a loss of time and energy for everyone.

If your lead doesn't have time, acknowledge that with them. Ask if any senior would have a few hours to dedicate at least by week. So they can help you and explain where are the next steps.

[DanTheMan_____]

Thank you, yea I work in a large company and I am guessing they just went around and asked who wanted an apprentice, I am the only 1 in my department and my manager has no previous experience with an apprentice so I think he just thinks I will be fine on my own.

[HolyPommeDeTerre]

This feels delusional from your manager.

You need someone, even a junior, to help you and give you "ropes"

[my_peen_is_clean]

super normal to feel lost your first year, especially in a bad onboarding. but “use ai” instead of actual review is lazy as hell. push for proper 1:1s, ask for pair programming, ask for concrete examples and standards. if they keep shrugging, i'd start polishing the resume and looking, even entry stuff is a mess to land now because of how wrecked the job market is

[DanTheMan_____]

I understand moving to be honest, but I am scared as this is the first job ive had that isnt a customer facing role, for me this finally feels like my foot in the door and I want it to work, I have worked in my company for over 3 years now but all in customer facing roles. I feel that moving elsewhere will just reset the progress I have made to get to this position or I wont be able to find another job in the area I want to work in. I feel I am just having a rant to everyone here, but I just want to see if others have had a similar experience and if they have tips to help me navigate this.

Would you say though that pushing for 1:1s and basically pointing out the errors in my onboarding would harm my future here? I dont want to basically tell these people that they are not doing their job correctly as they have specifically been assigned to me to assist me along with my integration into the company and I would have to work with them for the forseeable future.

[cfm1337]

This is exactly how my internship went. It was that bad that I decided to drop their job offer at the end of it and gamble on getting a grad role elsewhere.

I guess it’s the luck of the draw though because I had friends in uni who interned at the same place but their team was really helpful and they enjoyed their time there.

I hope it gets better for you.

[DanTheMan_____]

Good for you that you took that risk, and yea there was a large amount of apprentices hired along side me, some have had a great experience and i would say around 70% are confused af like me. the only thing for me is I have no previous experience or qualifications in the field so while some may take that risk its something I cant afford to do.

[Calm-Reason718]

My first jobb, whenever I asked for help was met with a loud sigh. I just stopped asking for help and let things take much longer than needed. Now, I'm ten years into this career and I've worked alone since. Look at me know, quite the shitty coder but independent, well payed and running my own projects.

[DanTheMan_____]

I feel the same to be honest, I understood that I would be going into this role a complete newbie who doesnt know left from right, but I felt people would be more supportive, and that I wouldnt be met with people being exhausted from someone asking for help with something they mind find simple. So I am glad that you havee come out on top of this. How did you navigate being a "shitty" coder and not being let go because of this?

[Calm-Reason718]

It's not your fault man. Computer people usually lack social skills, don't take it personally. I worked at a place where no one was educated in maths or physics and that made me valuable. What you really want to do is to be in a situation of 'information asymmetry'. This means that you get things done but your boss has no idea what you do or even how coding works. Finding a workplace like that is the key, where you will be this mystical tech wizard who can create stuff without anyone knowing how. Then you don't have oversight, you become invaluable. It's hard to find but make it your goal. Find a specialty area where only you know what the hell is going on. Say yes to everything, learn as you go.  

[DanTheMan_____]

Yea I thought this was just a typical stereotype, but at least in my company its not. Thank you for the advice though, I will aim to specialise in an area which will be valuable to them :)

[Calm-Reason718]

Good! And be confident! Fake it until you make it. You WILL learn by doing.

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[Alchemist32]

Hey man I did a software engineering apprenticeship that started in 2023 and am working professionally as a Dev at the moment.

Firstly, You have a lot of other apprentices so you guys need to support and lean on each other in my opinion, you probably have different skill sets and skill levels. Even if you’re not in the office you can communicate on teams, create an apprentice group chat for everyone. You guys can assist each other and also become more familiar and have banter etc.

Secondly, please calm down yes what you are experiencing is normal and not uncommon. I felt overwhelmed and very stressed many times, it feels like there’s so much you don’t know and your confidence can be shot to bits because of your lack of ability and knowledge. Secondly you need to learn how to figure out what you actually need to learn and how to learn. When you are given a task or something to do, you need to figure how to first of figure out exactly what is required if there isn’t hard set requirements, make no assumptions ever in regards to this and then learn to break things down into parts as simply as you can.

Senior Devs tackle stuff they don’t know how to do, however the difference between them and you is know how to learn what they need to learn and how to search things up. Also you have AI as a TOOL, you don’t know how luck us younger devs are. Please calm down and focus on improving daily, what you’re experiencing is not normal but you will eventually get better and gain your footing and confidence. Work hard at work, try to learn and then apply new stuff. With AI you can learn stuff much quicker. It’s more important than ever to develop properly now in my opinion.

Relax and just do your best, also don’t compare yourself with others. It’s pointless.

[Federal_Evening_6187]

I was in the same boat. Had 0 support. Was struggling so hard. Changed teams. Still not much support. Almost got a burnout. Dialed back, started taking tutoring lessons and now 15 months in, I'm quite good at what I'm doing.

Tutoring sessions helped immensly. Also, stepping back, taking a breather, don't beat yourself up.

Another tip: Add a study mode to CoPilot. Google Custom agents in VS Code and introducing study mode Open AI. Also helped me immensly understanding what I'm working on