The current global pandemic has had a large reaching effect on everybody across the world and in all aspects of daily life. When I started working at Epix in September, certain precautions were already put in place; all the desks being socially distanced, one way systems throughout the building, hand sanitiser at the entrance to the office. Despite everything that was going on, everyone at Epix was really friendly and helped me to get settled within the company.
Three weeks after we started, however, we transitioned to working from home rather than working in the office. Although it was strange, I found this transition quite interesting, it has allowed me to develop my skills whilst still being able to ask for support from my colleagues. Despite these strange conditions, we continued as we usually would using Slack and Zoom for communications, meetings, and training.
I am, however, only one of the four apprentices currently working at Epix. Here is what they thought about being an apprentice during a pandemic:
“At Epix Systems our transition to remote working was a seamless and painless one. Our agile workflow and development cycle have remained at the forefront of how we work and the team based support and camaraderie we used to feel working together in the office is still prevalent today” – James
“Working again once furlough started to end certainly wasn’t easy, though I do feel lucky with the unique way Epix eased us back on. Going from one day, to three and to finally working 5 days per week again. I have also seen some of my family members going back to work, and they did not have this privilege, being shoved straight back to working full time. Although there was still other concerns such as the possible impending doom of the end of humanity, being eased back on in the way that Epix did, as well as how ready to accommodate they have been, due to the necessity of home working, definitely made this transition easier.” – Willow
“I’ve found working at home for Epix during the pandemic to be very similar to working in the office, there have definitely been some changes that are not so great such as not having a pool table and not being able to talk face-to-face to my colleagues, but there have also been some advantages to working from home like not having to commute and being able to use the oven to cook frozen pizzas for lunch. Overall, I’ve found it to be an opportunity that I don’t usually get, though their may be some drawbacks I’ve tried to get the most out of it.” – Zahir