An Apprentice from the 3aaa Academy in Birmingham recently won a competition to develop her IT skills and enhance her Apprenticeship journey.
Lucy Norton, a Level 3 IT Apprentice from the West Midlands entered and won the TCS Appathon Challenge with the dart game app that she had designed specifically for the competition as part of her Apprenticeship training with 3aaa. http://www.mykindacrowd.com/Challenges/tcs-appathon. The flexibility of the 3aaa training programme gave Lucy the opportunity to enter the competition as part of the web development training week. Lucy, currently an Apprentice with U-Tax Accountancy Services, used the competition to enhance her skills in IT and App development as part of her overall Apprenticeship training. Laura Armfield, the 3aaa Regional Apprentice Intake Executive for the Midlands said “Lucy is a standout Apprentice and one of our most successful Apprentices. As well as excellent feedback from her Employer she has gone above and beyond to improve her skills in different areas. Winning this competition is just one example of that.”
As a result of winning the TCS Appathon Challenge, Lucy was then invited on a week’s work experience at their annual Future IT Technologies Inspirational Week called ‘Mission You’. TCS, who are part of the TATA group hold this annual inspirational week for 14 -18 year olds to give selected Apprentices a taster of what it’s like to work at one of the world’s leading technology firms. As the week went by, Lucy continued to impress the team at TCS and may have an opportunity of a full time role following the completion of her Apprenticeship with U-Tax and 3aaa. Anshoo Kapoor, the Head of Talent Management at TCS was delighted with Lucy’s progress within such a short space of time. “Lucy has been an absolute pleasure to have on board and shone with her contributions and confident ideas along with expressing great knowledge of the IT industry. We would love to have Lucy on board in the near future and would be very willing to work with 3aaa to recruit Apprentices to do rotational activities between their departments for broader knowledge and experience.”
Lucy reflected on her experience in an extremely positive manner as she realises the sky is the limit as she continues on her Apprenticeship journey. “I had the once in a lifetime opportunity to work for one of the biggest companies in the world. I enjoyed working for TATA in London and it has opened doors for new Apprentices possibly working for them through 3aaa as well as a possible job for myself once my Apprenticeship is finished. During this week I have learnt valuable skills to take to the workplace and have worked with a wide range of people with different experiences. I would go back in a flash to redo the entire experience again”.
Lucy’s hard work and dedication can be seen as an inspiration for all Apprentices that are at the start of their journey. Laura Armfield, the 3aaa Regional Apprentice Intake Executive for the Midlands added “She is an active and outgoing member of the group who has pushed herself to seek out new challenges and put herself in new situations. This is a positive message to all young people out there; with 3aaa’s support and your own hard work, you really can reach your goals and be whatever you want to be”.