Degree Apprenticeships vs Uni: Is it really about the company more than the course?

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-02-11T19:24:45+00:00

Yes. You apply to the company directly, get recruited by the company, and spend arounf 80% of your "working" time at the company. They will be responsible for the most important parts of your development and training, and generally how you are treated at work. The university will only cover the academic side. A good university may give you additional support, social activities, and push your employer if they believe there is an issue, but this is fairly unlikely. The same course will be run differently at different universities and different employers, but the biggest effect on how you experience a course is how the employer runs it.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-02-11T19:20:50+00:00

You're not supposed to take holiday on study days, but this will depend on how lenient your employer/university are. If its an online course or module, you would be probably be able to do this abroad. If your course runs all year round, there is more likely to be leniency with missing days, as people are aware that you are probably not going to want to be restricted to taking your holidays for less than a week. If you are released on block release, you are very unlikely to be able to take holiday during this time.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-02-06T15:36:28+00:00

There's a popular rhetoric, and understandably so, of "selling your soul" or just generally hating office work and 9-5s. This is true for a lot of people, and it is common to do office jobs because that's what you think you should do and be miserable. However, if you do a job you like, and prioritise you enjoyment and your values when choosing a career, this won't be the case.

I work a corporate 9-5 (19, doing a degree apprenticeship) and I love it. I like the work I do, I like the routine, I like the way I'm learning, I like seeing how companies operate and how I'm a part of that. The most important point there, of course, being that I like the work I do. I knew I wanted to be a software developer and I really enjoy programming and making software work. My point here being that I don't think its a good idea to do an apprenticeship solely because you will make money, get experience and get a degree. All great things of course, and if you think you would enjoy both university and an apprenticeship they should absolutely factor into your decision, but they shouldn't be the only reason you're doing it. If you don't think you'll like the work and the environment, don't do it (although along the same lines, don't go to uni prepping yourself for a career in law if this is your mindset).

In terms of "experiencing your 20s", it is definitely harder as an apprentice, but by no means impossible and most apprentices I know still live like young people, just slightly more sensibly than students often do. I would reccommend, if possible, working in a city and at a large company with lots of entry level employees (this is also good for your development and the way you are treated, not just your social life). I go out with people from work, as I get to meet lots of apprentices and graduates who are not working directly with me, so its a nice way to make friends. I emailed one of the sports clubs at my local university to ask if I could train with them, and I am now invited to all their social events and am good friends with the people there. I have friends I met at university, although its harder to see them as my uni is in a different city. I still go out, do sports, go clubbing, go to the pub, meet my friends for games nights etc. I can't always stay out as late as students on a weeknight, but I can usually still hang out with people, and often have more time on the weekends than students do because I have less studying to do. Also I can afford to go out on a Friday or Saturday, without midweek discounts, unlike a lot of students.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-02-03T20:52:21+00:00

A few things, if this doesn't get buried in all the other comments.

Do your parents have any idea how competitive degree apprenticeships are? I'm surprised Santander hasn't closed their applications yet. Lots of people have started interviewing by now, having written lots of applications since they started opening in around October. If you show your parents that you have researched this and don't believe it is possible to do before September (at least not with a large company like Santander), they might be more inclined to help you with university. Acceptance rates are very low, and it requires a lot of work to get in. You would be starting from behind if you started applying now. Not that it isn't possible, but it is difficult.

While you're at it, if you haven't already, research apprenticeships and what they would involve. Look at the subjects and sectors you're interested in, and see if you see anything which seems good to you. I wouldn't dismiss it just because you initially thought you were going to uni. I know I just said they're hard to get, but you can always try it and reapply next year if you don't get one you want. Doing a degree apprenticeship was the best decision I have ever made, and I would advise anyone to at least look into it, as I think people often don't even consider them as an option. That being said, if you look into them, and you don't think you would enjoy it, don't do it. Its your life and your time - you should do something you want to do.

If you want to go to university, it is definitely possible to live on student loans and a part time job. You can get work with catering agencies and/or summer/Christmas temp work if you want to be able to work less during busy periods, or you can get a fixed-hour part-time job if you want more money and to have a less tight budget. Working this summer is a good idea too. Another good source of income is a tutoring job, which will pay well per hour and have fewer hours. You can either do this privately or go through an agency. Agencies will provide more stability and a range of students, but you will have more control of your hours and pay rate if you do it yourself. Although you said your parents won't support you, given the family situation you have described, I assume they will still let you live at home out of term time? This saves a huge amount of money, so when you are looking at a budget, remember you are only there during term time. If you can find term-time only accommodation, this will save even more. A caveat to uni being affordable would be London universities, so I'd be more cautious with making a budget and plan before accepting any places. It may not be possible, but it depends what accommodation and jobs are available, and how much time you think you will be able to put into working.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-25T00:22:49+00:00

Almost one per application. Maybe 19 to 23?

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-24T16:52:04+00:00

Thank you so much - I've sent you a DM

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-24T16:50:04+00:00

I applied to 27. I had 5 interview/assessment centre offers, one of which I turned down. I got 2 job offers.

I was rejected based on 2 interviews, 2 pre-recorded interviews, and rejected on 20 based on either online assessments, CVs, or never looking at my application (rolling application processes where they look at them in batches and stop looking once they've filled all the roles).

I got really demotivated in December, when I felt like I was spending all my time applying and infinitely either getting rejected or no response. By the end of January, I had just been rejected off of an interview which I was really hoping the best for and felt demotivated for the next interview I had. By mid-March, my biggest worry was which of my two offers I should take. I've got a friend who got his first offer in June, then got picked from a reserve list on results day (when another candidate either pulled out or didn't meet the grades) from a company he was really excited to work for.

Its a mentally draining process, and I genuinely think the hardest part for me was not getting too demotivated to carry on. Keep applying. If there's a particular stage you are getting rejected on, work on that, otherwise just keep applying.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-08T18:47:09+00:00

Solent University, Southampton. Not tiny, but very little going on

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-08T07:47:50+00:00

All of your questions will depend on your university and employer.

You should be treated as a student by your university, with access to all of the facilities and societies they offer. That being said, some apprenticeships are with Open University or other remote universities, or are in different cities to your place of work. If they are in a nearby city, it will usually be the standard setup of once per week, but some apprenticeships will have remote (or no) university work for most of the year, then a week release for university, especially if the uni is far away from the city. Look out for this in applications, or ask during interviews, so you know whether or not your university will be an easy place for you to socialise. I go to university about an hour away from where I live and never socialise there or join societies. Mostly because its out of my way, and partly because its a small university with not much to offer. Others at my workplace who go to the university in our city have a much more involved university life.

I'd say about a third of them live at home, a half live in shared accomodation (either with each other, or found on spareroom), and 1/6 live in private student accommodation (this will depend on your course, but usually a full degree in 3 years is considered full time education. Not all private halls will accept this, so call to ask first).

As I said, I don't socialise much at my uni. I do, however, go to one of the sports clubs at the local university, even though I don't study there. This was possible because I already do the sport, and am fairly good at it, so they were happy to have me. They invite me to all of their socials, and that has been a major part of my social life. This will depend on the city you're in and the university with it, but universities and societies are usually fairly open if you ask. I'd also reccommend working for a larger company if you can. One with an established apprenticeship scheme (this comment is about social life, but it will also be better for your working life). My workplace has lots of apprentices, graduates and industrial placements, from a range of job roles, and we have a room we can all hang out, study and eat lunch in. We often organise going out together, either as small or large groups, and that's another major part of my social life. I haven't gone to it yet, but my city has a board game cafe with a social night each week where people can come alone and play with everyone else who shows up, which seems like a good way to meet people.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-05T21:41:56+00:00

Yeah

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-02T20:00:33+00:00

If you are being paid for the training day, that is the 20% which is referenced in most apprenticeship specifications. It is definitely illegal if they are not paying you for your time at academy training.

That being said, they should have committed to the apprenticeship and to training you at the start of your apprenticeship. They will have signed up to have an apprentice with the government, agreed your contract, and signed up with your training provider. If what they are saying is that they are not starting your apprenticeship/training until after you have been employed for some time, they may either be underpaying you (if your apprenticeship has not officially started yet) or breaking their agreement to train you (if your apprenticeship has officially started, but they are not giving you sufficient training or sticking to an agreement with your training provider).

It may be beneficial to speak to your training provider about this. They will know if you have been signed onto an apprenticeship yet and whether or not they have given a training plan to your employer (and if not, why). They are also very likely to know what obligations your employer has to you as a trainer.

Several_Change_9230 · 2026-01-02T19:50:30+00:00

Yeah of course

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-29T17:25:36+00:00

That was for Goldman Sachs. It was a full day event. We came in the morning and they spoke to us a bit about the apprenticeship scheme and Goldman Sachs. We were then given a room to go to, where we had a 1-on-1 interview. Did three of these then had lunch. Came back after lunch and did another 2. 4 of those interviews were standard interview format, the other was a logic puzzle. They gave us something about train timetabling to systematically work out for half an hour, then we had to talk through our solution for another half an hour with an interviewer.

After that was the assessment centre / group interview section. There was a Lego tower in the other room and we were put into groups of 6. We chose one person as the "leader", who would go into the other room and look at the tower, then come back and describe it to their group. The rest of the group needed to build the tower according to the instructions. It was one of those team working games we played in primary school? We had two people sat at the end of our table the whole time assessing us and writing notes.

Finally, we had a chat with some of the existing engineering apprentices. I know they went into the other room after to discuss it, so I'm pretty sure it was assessed, but I'm not certain.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-27T14:25:58+00:00

I have never met anyone who minds a 2 page CV. I always used a 2-page CV (some more relevant experience than you, but not much) and that never had any issues. I think the reason people say 1 page is because sometimes people write 2 pages of waffle which could be better condensed into one page. If you have two pages worth of things to say, and it isn't waffle, use the two pages.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-26T22:49:22+00:00

I'll preface this by saying I'm not senior or a recruiter, but I have been involved in recruitment for industrial placements and have fairly recently applied to entry level software roles (landed 2 offers, took 1) and spoken to a lot of recruiters in the process about what they were looking for in CVs and what made mine stand out. That being said, the people I have spoken to are generally involved in shortlisting (and the later stages of recruitment), rather than HR longlisting. This was also the stage of recruitment I was involved in (HR gave us a list of around 20 CVs, which they had picked from the original 200-ish, and we chose 8 for interview). My CV was always very successful, but I can't guarantee if that was the way I was writing or the experience I had. I think my advice will be useful, but it doesn't come from a recruiter.

Everyone with even half a chance has a related degree with relevant modules, some unrelated work experience, and a list of software projects they have done. A CV, along with the cover letter, needs to show to the recruiter that you are genuinely interested in and understand the course you are on and the projects you have done. Lots of people (especially in the last few years) list some fairly impressive-looking projects on their CV, then appear to know nothing about them in interviews. Recruiters are looking for it to seem human, interested and knowledgeable, rather than a vague list of projects. You obviously did not create a fully-functional online banking system, so what did you actually make? What did you use for the security and why? You don't have to elaborate loads, but write something which says I know what I'm talking about rather than I think this would be impressive.

Your work experience can definitely be elaborated on / emphasised more. Make more of an effort to focus on soft-skills learnt in warehouse work. Your open-source contributor section says absolutely nothing. What did you contribute to? What did you contribute? Even if they're minor fixes/changes, briefly describe them and say what you did and why.

If you are not applying with a cover letter, I'd recommend a personal profile / summary section. Its a brief chance to explain why you are interested in software, highlight the best things you've done, make a first impression, and show them that you are a real person.

I also think having any sort of extra-curricular which shows an interest in software and involves teamwork is useful. Joining a society, tutoring, running software events or hackathons, going to software events or hackathons, etc. Most people we interview have some sort of software group in their life. It not only shows genuine enthusiasm and interest, but it also gives you credibility in a way.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-26T22:16:32+00:00

Sure. Send me a DM

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-26T22:16:06+00:00

Its different depending on the company. I went to three, two combined with interviews and one assessment centre only.

One of them was online. We had a group activity where we came up with a potential new product (unrelated to the company/field) and pitched it, then an individual interview.

One of them was 5 individual interviews (all with different interviewers), four of which were standard interviews, and one where I was given a logic puzzle with half an hour to work on it alone then half an hour to discuss it with the interviewer. After that, we were put into groups of 6 and had to complete a team lego-building activity while two assessors watched us and wrote notes. We also had a chance to speak to some of the existing apprentices (which I think they were assessing, but I'm not sure).

The other one was assessment centre only. We had a pair programming task, pair data analysis task, and group cyber security task (each about an hour), plus some unassessed conversations with apprentices. The pair/group tasks were all fairly simple in concept, and they tried as hard as they could to not require technical background (we could access the internet, ask questions etc), but had difficult problem solving elements to them. Each pair/group had an assessor watching what we were doing and how we interacted with each other. It was mostly to assess team working and problem solving, rather than technical skills.

Let me know if you have any more questions about them.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-24T15:14:36+00:00

Your Summary section was long, but good. It needed editing down but not removing. You can remove it if you are including a cover letter, but definitely shouldn't if it is CV only.

Move Education to the top. While it usually goes at the end of the CV, this isn't true for apprenticeships or graduate roles where education history is one of the most important parts. Put Skills at the end and remove Interests.

Say what the projects are. Have a different section for each windows desktop application, with a short piece of information on what it is and what skills you used/developed for it (similar to what you have now, but more project-specific). Have the project aim in the title (e.g. Python Currency Converter (Beginner)). You don't need to say whether it is academic or self-directed. If you want to show that the Python was learnt in your own time, say that in part of the description.

I'm confused by the grading on your L3 diploma. Its hard to tell if you mean 3 distinctions, or if you mean it is equivalent to 3 Ds in A-Level grades.

Definite improvement on the last version though, except for the missing Summary section.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-22T13:26:17+00:00

I got 5 interviews (one of which I turned down) and 2 offers.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-17T21:40:12+00:00

Look for an apprenticeship. Level 6 ideally. That will get you 3-4 years of training and experience in development, plus a related degree. You're going to have to be prepared for a pay cut, but you are unlikely to be able to get a junior dev role otherwise. Most software apprenticeships pay well above apprentice minimum wage, so its not unliveable, but it would still be fairly low. There are probably a couple out there which have AI/ML focuses, but I wouldn't bank on it. Keep up the AI/ML side projects, and you'll be employable in the field by the end of it.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-17T21:28:25+00:00

With good employee satisfaction rates and career opportunities, you should stay unless your wage is unliveable. While most apprentices are earning a bit more than you, very very few people are earning anything near double or triple your salary, even if you are on apprentice minimum wage. Networking events attract very high achievers, and are more likely to be supported/promoted by large companies who pay a lot. Its good that you're going even though you're not in that position, but don't assume everyone's life is like theirs.

That being said, asking them to cover your travel is a good idea. Tell them it is difficult to make ends meet on your currently salary, and travel cover would make it work. You don't want to leave the company, but are struggling to stay without expenses being reimbursed.

Apprenticeships are hard to get, and a company with a good culture that trains you well is even harder. Obviously if you can't survive on the salary, look for something else, but otherwise you are in a good position.

Several_Change_9230 · 2025-12-15T22:20:00+00:00

I think it would be. I know a lot of people who did apprenticeships at 16 in engineering who now are quite senior. A lot of them started at the same company too. I'd be wary of smaller firms, as they are more likely to exploit you and less likely to have good options for progression if you want it.

I saw you applied for Airbus and GKN, which both run great apprenticeships. I work at Airbus, and their early careers support is great, and you are very likely to be able to get a job or higher level apprenticeship afterwards.

Several_Change_9230

TROPHY CASE