By Ella Ciampi
I started working as an apprentice manager at EPIX over a month ago, so now seems the perfect time to ask Pat and Madi some questions to get insight and advice for my first year.
In my first month, I feel I have really gotten to know the team and I have also started to go to university. However, one month has nothing on the year that Pat and Madi have already completed. So, we made some time for me to interview them about their experience in their first year as apprentice programmers.
Being in a new place means every day is not just a learning curve, it is a learning mountain; in the last month, I feel my skill set has increased drastically. In light of this, I was curious to find out about Madi and Pat’s greatest achievements in the last year and what (if any) issues they had to overcome. Madi’s is her blog series which you may have seen. Madi Investigates is a series that “was created because I wanted to learn all kinds of things and write essays about them … it’s an excuse for me to learn cool new things and share it at the same time”.
When discussing with Pat, he wasn’t particularly sure – he says every day is always better than the day before. Therefore, Pat states his greatest achievement was to do this as he has had to consistently ask questions, research, and try which has in turn massively increased his skills. This also allows you to achieve something you wouldn’t have been able to yesterday, as each issue “requires me to learn a new skill and problem solve”.
Something we all get the privilege of doing is going out to our customers’ sites to meet them, along with getting to speak to a few of them over the phone – which Madi has also had the experience of. We both agree that this can be a little daunting in the beginning, however over time this has led to us being more confident. Meanwhile, Pat is excited to go on his first client visit this month!
As a teenager, I always envisaged having an office job would mean sitting in a warehouse-style building full of people tip-tapping away at computers and everything being light grey and boring. However, I don’t think I could ever forget the first time I went to our office (which was for my interview), based in the St James building on Oxford Road in the centre of Manchester. When I arrived, I realised I had to go into this huge, almost grand building. Then I walked into an office that was full of colour, personality, and good music (one of my favourite songs was playing) and at that moment I knew I had to really impress them in that interview, and I guess I did.
The music in the office is still my favourite thing, but I was curious as to what Madi and Pat’s favourite things about the office are. Pat said, and I quote, “We just have a really cool office … every part of it is cool but my favourite thing is the coffee machine”. Madi and I cannot give any input on this as we don’t drink coffee. Madi agrees that the music is what makes the office so fun (Ian loves to surprise us with the type of music we get to listen to) but she also really likes our new hot chocolate maker.
Since I joined, we have been on multiple office outings, it’s a chance for us to socialise and get out of the office for a bit. Everyone in our EPIX family has been so welcoming, which is something that Madi made a note of during our discussion, in particular appreciating the feedback and acknowledgement of everyone’s hard work at the company. If we are in the office on a Friday then we all go out somewhere for lunch, Madi and I both reckon that this is one of our favourite outings as it’s so relaxed and enjoyable whereas Pat’s favourite outing is our most recent booked outing Chaos Karts which is basically real-life Mario Kart.
At EPIX, we are constantly evolving. I wanted to know what Madi and Pat learnt last year that has affected the way they will work this year. Pat realised that spending more time planning and managing his time would lead to him being more productive which I couldn’t agree with more – you can never spend too long managing yourself! Madi felt that in the last year, the skills she has gained have given her the confidence to challenge herself by picking up more daunting issues, such as working more on the mobile app.
This year Madi and Pat are in their second year at Manchester Metropolitan studying the Digital Technology Solutions degree, and they are both looking forward to beginning their advanced coding course at university, however, this also comes with the challenge of university-level writing.
While I had the opportunity I also asked the pair for any advice they had for me, to which they both agreed that it is valuable to not only ask questions at the right time but also to ask everyone. They said to ensure you listen to the responses as they may not be relevant today, but they could be next week. Finally, when it comes to Ian and Mike definitely listen if they mention anything they like or are interested in and agree on it! Especially if it’s something you can produce an idea on to show them and get that ball rolling.
Great advice for the year to come!
