How a Digital Apprenticeship provides you with Skills for Life

It’s National Apprenticeship Week. That means it’s time to delve into everything that apprenticeships have to offer. The theme for this year’s National Apprenticeship Week is ‘Skills for Life’. Apprenticeships help you gain the knowledge and skills needed for a successful career. And National Apprenticeship Week highlights this.

Apprenticeships are now recognised as a career development tool. So, there are opportunities across a whole range of job titles and industries. Apprenticeships that have grown in popularity are those geared towards digital-centric roles. This is down to how pivotal digital professionals are becoming for businesses. So, complete one of the many digital apprenticeships available. And you will be starting your career off in the right way. This makes you a valuable employee and develops skills for life.   

Digital skills 

Companies are now relying on technology more than ever before. As a result, there is a distinct lack of workers who have the relevant digital skills. Technology is advancing too fast in comparison to employees' skills. This workplace trend is the digital skills gap. And it's becoming a growing concern for companies. In fact, 55% of UK private and public sector workers say that their company has a digital skills shortage. 

So, as someone who’s new to the workforce, how can you be a part of the solution? Well, that’s where apprenticeships come in. Apprenticeships are a long-term solution to plug the skills gap. To cope with their need for digital skills, companies are using digital apprenticeships. 

A digital apprenticeship will provide you with a whole range of technical skills. Of course, the skills you develop will depend on the specific apprenticeship you do. But, you can expect to gain the likes of IT and data skills. A digital apprenticeship will put you on a path to gaining skills for life. You will be helping your employer, driving innovation while future-proofing their business. 

Transferable skills

One of the best things about doing an apprenticeship is the skills you gain. A digital apprenticeship will help you will develop various technical skills. But, it will also help you develop soft skills. As with anything, you will soon find that communication is key. And this is something which is especially true in the workplace. Whether you are crafting an email, speaking to your manager or giving your point of view in a meeting. It's important to know how to communicate, as this will allow you to progress in your career. In time, your work responsibilities will diversify to include colleagues from other teams. With these skills, you will be able to keep improving, allowing you to take on more exciting projects. 

The different projects you take on as an apprentice will allow you to develop many other soft skills. You will improve in areas like organisation, teamwork, problem-solving and leadership. To make matters even better, these are all transferable skills. These are skills that you can take along with you for the duration of your career.  

Hands-on experience

Apprenticeships are a viable alternative to other higher education paths. This is down to the fact that you get real-life experience. You aren’t cooped up in a classroom only learning about the theory of a subject. Instead, you are experiencing a different method of learning altogether. Quite often, as an apprentice, you will spend 80% of your time with your employer. And the rest of your time working towards your apprenticeship qualification. By applying what you have learned to your role on a daily basis, your development will excel at a much quicker rate.  

As you progress through this process, you will soon get past only taking care of your everyday tasks. Before long, you will be able to take on new tasks and get involved with a wider variety of projects. Over time, your workload will increase. So, there will be increasing demand placed on you as you refine your new transferable skills. This is another challenging, yet possible part of the whole process. This is where you will have to balance your work tasks alongside your apprenticeship.    

Recognised qualification 

Hands-on experience is an integral part of doing an apprenticeship. But, you will also have a qualification to show for your hard work and development. Apprenticeships are government funded. So, you will have a qualification that's recognised by employers around the country. This is something that you can use to spruce up your CV. This is as well as the many transferable skills and achievements that you have picked up along the way.

Industry skills 

When you start an apprenticeship there’s a good chance that you don’t have much experience in the working world. At school, you might have taken subjects which introduced you to digital skills. But, there are some areas that school can’t prepare you for. One is understanding what it’s like to work for a business. By doing a digital apprenticeship, you are in a working environment on a daily basis.  This allows you to develop an array of technical skills. You will also gain an understanding of all the essential cogs a business needs to function.  

Alongside this, you will become accustomed to the latest industry trends and insights. You will also make use of emerging technologies to carry out your responsibilities. When these factors come together, you will be able to adapt to a role in a different industry.  

What digital apprenticeships are available?

Pareto offers various digital apprenticeships. We have course pathways relating to software, data and IT. With plenty of choices, all you have to do is decide which area you want to specialise in.  We provide tailored digital apprenticeships, suitable to different experience levels. This allows us to provide you with a guaranteed learning path no matter which stage of your career you are in. Take a look at our website for more information on our digital apprenticeships.