January 2015
Over the past few months, I have begun to join the Business As Usual (BAU) team, who are responsible for delivering small development requests to improve the efficiency and expand the functionality of the business’ existing systems. Everybody has been really welcoming and helped me integrate into the team. As well as working on small development requests, a few other developers and I have had the chance to work on a couple of exciting development projects for the business, which included re-mastering an existing system and creating an entirely new system from scratch. Despite the learning curve for these projects and the challenges we had to face, I feel this broadened my experience with a whole variety of technologies. I found it extremely useful to not only witness the creation of an entire software system from scratch, but actually be a valued part of that process.
As the business currently runs an extremely successful Graduate Programme, over the past few months we’ve been fortunate enough to attend some of the graduate-specific courses and cross-site training in Bristol, allowing us to gain a greater exposure and understanding of the other areas of the company and improve on more business-related skills rather than technical. These included workshops in improving communication skills and also presentational skills. I found these extremely useful, as giving presentations has always been a great fear of mine and this placement has definitely helped me find confidence in that area by challenging me to go outside of my comfort zone and overcome this.
I’ve learnt such a huge amount in only six months, that if the placement ended tomorrow, I could leave happily knowing that Motability Operations has already taught me a wealth of knowledge in both technical and business areas, and ultimately helped me transition from a university student into a young IT professional.
I very much look forward to what the next six months brings!
August 2014
After completing my first month within Business Systems at Motability Operations, I feel thoroughly prepared and excited for the placement ahead, receiving vast amounts of training and support from everyone to help me in my role. I have spent the last couple of weeks being welcomed into the Development Team, who are responsible for building and maintaining the business’ internal applications, and working closely with analysts and testers to build robust IT solutions. Over the next few weeks we will be trying to integrate automated deployment into our system release cycle, to utilise its benefits.
Although I have a technical internal role, through various department and company inductions you are exposed to various parts of the business, such as the Customer Solutions Team and Customer Contact Centre, which allows you to understand further the business as a whole and how your role both fits in and aids each department. One thing I find particularly beneficial is the presence of an assigned mentor, as they are always willing to help with any challenges you may face and ultimately provide support in all aspects throughout your placement whenever you need them.
Despite Motability Operations not being very well known, I can already tell that this is a brilliant business to work for and is best described as 'a hidden gem of the UK'! Everyone here is so friendly and willing to help; you are always within a short range of a mentor, manager or just a friendly face to support your development into the company, but also as a commercially minded individual. It truly is a company that strives for the highest standards, whilst acknowledging and rewarding its great performance both internally, and in the excellent customer service it provides.