Before this degree apprenticeship, I dedicated my time to full-time study at The Manchester College, where I completed a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Computing. I found out about degree apprenticeships at the start of college. I had originally heard some stuff about them but didn't actually know the amount of benefits that came from them. However, one day in Year 12, I visited MMU (Manchester Metropolitan University) for a careers fair, where many employers had stands with apprentices you could talk to and ask for insight and advice. That day I approached a previous degree apprentice who had recently graduated and, I believe, is currently continuing his journey at IBM. He explained everything about how these programmes work, and it took me a while to actually believe it! What do you mean you get to do a degree for free AND gain incredibly valuable work experience at the same time with a competitive salary?! In the end, I let that become my new target for the next step in my career, as I was genuinely blown away by the idea of getting such an opportunity. After finding out about the competitiveness of degree apprenticeships, I embraced the fact that this would not be an easy task whatsoever and nothing would be 100% guaranteed. So I got to work and spent many hours, with a lot of discipline, building a personal brand, networking, and building my professional profile around a specific area of my sector (in my case, cloud computing and DevOps), as it fascinated me and I was very eager to work in a professional environment where I would earn real corporate experience in my area.

Before I was able to secure my degree apprenticeship offer, I faced several bumps on the road. One of them was the fear of failure. What if all this effort gets me nowhere by the end of the year? What if I secure an offer, yet still miss the entry requirements? Obviously this also came alongside lots and lots of rejections, each one slowly aiming to break me. However, this is the most important thing that I will always say to aspiring apprentices or even school-leavers: do not fear failure, because the only time you fail is when you decide to give up and stop fighting for your dreams.

Throughout the entire journey of hunting for an offer, I met many amazing people along the way who wanted to see me remain motivated. Early on, a 1:1 consultation with Apprentis gave me personalised guidance and a real confidence boost, and some of what I took from it still sticks with me today. It helped me make sense of the struggles, recognise my own efforts and understand why I needed to keep moving forward, even when the conditions weren't ideal at all, as it would all make sense in the end. Today, I am incredibly glad I stuck by this mindset and I hope to inspire other young people to have the same, if not a stronger, spirit than mine.

I originally found my apprenticeship simply by looking online and applying through the employer's website. I had to learn a lot about interviews, the STAR method, test centres, online assessments and a lot more. I'd say this was probably the longest part. Apprentis offers an amazing way to prepare for your applications and smash your interviews, and it is something I wish I had found earlier.

My day-to-day at the bank includes a lot of problem-solving and communication. Right now I am at a stage where everything is continuous learning, and I honestly couldn't be any happier, because this is exactly what I wanted. I knew that a traditional university route would not bring this amount of knowledge to me at my age, even if I wanted it to. One key thing I have taken away from being here is that imposter syndrome is very real, especially in tech, and you may never be able to get rid of it. But I enjoy working in an industry where your actual skill is highly valued, there are so many ways you can transfer those skills, and you always keep learning new things no matter how far you are into your career.

I originally come from a working-class family in Spain. I am the first person in my whole family to go corporate, and also one of the first to ever go into further education. To be able to do this at my age is revolutionary within my bloodline, so it's something I'm incredibly proud of personally. Professionally, I believe this is absolute gold for my development and overall career. Four years of professional experience plus a degree at 22 is very strong and can help with the future of my career. I couldn't be any more grateful for this opportunity.

My biggest achievement is definitely being able to inspire others. I want to share my journey with the world and make young people feel more capable and determined towards what they wish to achieve in life, whether that is apprenticeships, university or even their own business. I want to help this generation, in our current economy and upside-down job market, become confident, always try their best and not give up on their dreams just because someone on the internet says it's impossible — it's not.