I’m on the graduate accelerate programme. It’s a flexible programme where you can pace your development across 18 - 30 months, until you become a specialist in that skillset. Although I didn't fully understand what BAE Systems did at the time, I was invited for an interview, and it sounded really interesting. Once I learnt about their scale and what they do, I felt BAE Systems would enable the type of role I wanted.
Before I joined as a graduate, I did a placement year. If you do well, you'll get a conditional job offer for a graduate programme. I am always learning, especially with people around me. It allows me to be better at my job.
I joined the graduate programme during the pandemic. I’ve found BAE Systems have been trusting and flexible, offering different types of hybrid working arrangements, which is good. You still also get the social side. There is a whole graduate social committee, and many graduate social events and forums happen across the country.
In the graduate programme, they've got a whole process around personal development, where you learn your technical skills too. They help you develop soft skills, a lot of analytical work and also teach you how to talk and communicate effectively. I feel I have developed both professionally and personally.
I've stayed because I have been working with my current team for about a year and a half now, and it's fast-paced. You get to come up with ideas for capabilities for the systems and be at the forefront of a lot of collaborative projects. The team I work for is a big reason I have stayed, as well as the benefits. There's a lot of support behind helping employees as much as possible.
I have worked on a collaboration project with Microsoft, about how we can use cloud computing, in terms of defence, and deploy it anywhere in the world. We were the first company to create a thing called an SDK (Software Development Kit) for combat systems, which is like the brains of the naval ship. It’s been widely used around the world at the moment.
BAE Systems offer a flexible and inclusive work environment where I feel I can bring my whole self to work. Being part of the graduate programme has opened up a lot more opportunities because of the experience I have gained along the way, within an inclusive employer that takes care of you.
