Image: Madi and Pat with Ian, Andrew Charlton (Madi and Pat’s MMU Skills Coach) and Mike at their graduation ceremony.
After four years of hard work, we’re proud to announce that Madi and Pat have successfully completed their Digital and Technology Solutions degree apprenticeships, graduating with first-class honours. From the moment they joined the team they hit the ground running and haven’t slowed down since!
Originally, we only planned to hire one apprentice in 2022 – but having met Madi and Pat we had a change of plans. Patrick joined us following a period of work experience during his A levels the year before. Influenced by his sister Jess’ positive experience doing her degree apprenticeship at EPIX, he chose to follow in her footsteps, combining study at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and work at EPIX. Then along came Madison, whose enthusiasm shone through – from meeting her at an MMU open evening and into her interview. It was impossible to not offer her a role. Madi was drawn to EPIX and the apprenticeship route as she found the generic university route wasn’t for her – instead she wanted a mix of academic learning and real-life application.
Both Pat and Madi spent their first year balancing internal development and customer requests along with writing articles, learning the basics of MARKUS and the agile methodology we work with.
During their second year the pair experienced more responsibility and further exposure to the real world. They both started attending customer visits and managing small customer projects. A major highlight was our first open day, where the pair took on a day of customer communication, proving they understood the impact of the code they were writing.
As they entered their third year with us the scale of their roles and tasks grew significantly. Madi began to shine in software design, and took on her third-year project, taking the lead on the new survey setup process. Meanwhile Pat focused on how we can improve our internal processes. A prime example of this was his third-year project which delivered the Customer Support Portal.
Most importantly they stepped into new roles as mentors to our newer apprentices, Rohan and Marwah. Madi and Pat had a significant impact on the onboarding process, having both already navigated the same path. They were able to support Rohan and Marwah in wrapping their heads around how to manage working full time and doing a degree. Their ability to give advice based on their experiences helped ease the new starters in – they understood how it felt to start at EPIX with little experience and many, many questions. Being mentors was also a new experience for Pat and Madi who had to learn how to answer many questions, with patience and understanding. Watching them flourish as mentors throughout the year really highlighted how much they have grown during their time with us.
Over the last year the pair have both managed large scale development projects as well as communications with external parties and customers. From providing tender support to writing complex interfaces they have truly bridged the gap between the software and our users. Meanwhile working hard on their fourth-year projects: Madi has produced a new invoicing system which will support our daily operations; Pat has focused on improving our users’ experience by writing a new dashboard, and setup screen which aims to improve the usability and visibility of data from the dashboard.
Usually, university is the time when teenagers transition into adulthood, and for Madi and Pat that growth has happened alongside their careers. Over the course of the apprenticeship both have moved out of their family homes, getting a taste of the real world and the challenges of ‘adulting’.
Beyond their technical achievements, the pair have made their mark in the team. Madi has officially become the most colourful person in the office from her wicked jeans to bright coats. At this time, she also holds the title of reigning champion of the football table!
Meanwhile Pat is always up for a game of pool and tends to be a key figure within office debates. He can often be found discussing cars with Mike, and Chris, or the future of AI with the whole dev team.
Ian, our Technical Director, sums it up: “Having Pat and Madi on the team is absolutely wicked! They are core members of our office family and I can’t imagine EPIX without them.”
So we now have two more exceptional developers with first class degrees – congratulations, Madi and Pat!
Want to read more about our apprentices’ journeys? Take a look at Jess’s and Zahir’s graduation stories below:
