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Postgraduate researcher Faith Matcham is completing a Level 4 Data Analyst apprenticeship with QA Limited who offer many tech and digital apprenticeship programmes including Data, AI, Cloud and Cyber.  Data analytical skills are one of the most sought-after skills by employers currently as they are useful in many roles. 

Apprenticeships allow Sussex staff to study whilst working and all training and assessment costs are covered by the University. Whether upskilling or learning skills for a new role there are over 600 different apprenticeships. See the Staff apprenticeships webpage for information and advice.

What made you choose this apprenticeship programme?

Quite randomly, I was contacted by someone on LinkedIn who was letting me know about an apprenticeship they were offering. I’d never considered one before, but the list of things it included seemed so interesting and it seemed so relevant for me at this point in my career, that I decided to find out more about what apprenticeships were available via the University. A very similar one was included in their list of approved schemes, so without really thinking about it, I signed up!

What have you learned so far from your apprenticeship?

I have learned so much! My apprenticeship is in data analysis. Although I’ve done a fair amount of analysis throughout my career, through my education, my PhD and now as a researcher, I’ve become very tunnel-visioned in my approach. I also did most of my training before programmes such as Python and R were in widespread use, and before machine learning was really a thing in psychological research, so I was aware that my skills were not completely up to date. So far, I’ve learned about data pipelines and management, machine learning and data visualisation, as well as how to use new programmes for data analysis, including Power BI, Python and R.

How do/did you balance your work and study commitments?

I’m very lucky in that I already had a flexible working agreement in place, prior to starting the apprenticeship, and I also have a lot of autonomy in my role. I manage my own calendar and have a lot of freedom with regards to how I spend my time. The apprenticeship includes live events, which are virtual, but held over 4/5 full days, and a lot of independent learning. The live events are all scheduled at the start of the apprenticeship, so I’ve known about them with enough time to manage my other commitments around them. They’re also quite easy going (so far!) during the actual event, so if I need to pop out for a few hours to teach, or I need to leave early to pick my son up from school, if I let them know, there’s no problem. The independent study takes time, but it’s usually something related to what I’m doing at work (some data management, or analysis), so I can usually find a way to make it productive for my day-to-day work and meet those goals alongside the apprenticeship targets.

What were some of the major challenges you encountered throughout your apprenticeship and how did you overcome them?

The main challenge I’ve found is to do with line management and mentorship roles. As part of the apprenticeship, our line managers are supposed to attend regular meetings and help us meet our training needs. Despite having a very lovely line manager, who is very supportive, the line management structure in academia is not very well suited to this. My manager is the Head of School, she manages 70+ academics across the School and she does not have a large role in our day-to-day work. So quite often, she is expected to provide information about my progress and skills development, which she doesn’t really know much about. We’re also supposed to have a mentor to be able to help us navigate the work we’re expected to do, but I haven’t been able to find one yet (although I have a very nice trainer provided by the apprenticeship programme who has been very supportive).

How do you apply the skills and knowledge you have gained from your apprenticeship to your work tasks?

This apprenticeship has been invaluable to my work. It’s provided what I wanted in terms of updating my skills and building my confidence, but there have been other unanticipated outcomes too. For example, all of our Psychology undergraduate and many postgraduate students are taught R, and expected to use it for the research projects. Having never received prior training in R before arriving at the School, this was always very daunting and brought with it a lot of imposter syndrome. Now I know R, I feel a lot better equipped to be able to support my students in their projects. We’re also considering how we might develop our courses, and potentially provide new courses in the future which might include more analytical techniques, and I’m excited to be part of those conversations. 

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?

I’ve become quite addicted. Once I’ve finished my Level 4 apprenticeship, I’m quite keen to move onto the Level 5!

What are you most afraid of and why?

Unhelpfully, because I live within walking distance of the beach, I am terrified of open water! I love a swim, but stay very close to the shore and never go further than being able to touch the floor.

If you are interested in upskilling to enhance your data skills or maybe you know a colleague who is keen to develop these valuable and durable skills please log on to the online QA Data Apprenticeship Session on Tuesday 15 April at 10am. During the session Andrew at QA will provide an overview of the level 3 and 4 apprenticeship programmes.