National Apprenticeship Week - Meet Danial

It’s day two of National Apprenticeship Week, and today we meet Danial Agha, Apprentice Software Engineer at Utilita Energy, and student on Solent's BSc (Hons) Digital and Technology Solutions degree. Danial shares with us his experiences so far, what the challenges have been, and his plans for the year ahead.

Hi Danial, what have you enjoyed most about this first year of your apprenticeship with Solent University?

I’m really enjoying my time at Solent University. I am thoroughly enjoying learning and engaging with my lecturers on campus. Solent University make their lectures and practical labs an enjoyable experience that I have greatly benefited from. 

A major thing that I love about Solent is the lecturers commitment to students learning, there have been times where I have been able to get extra support or advice regarding a topic or an assignment which has helped me improve in my learning, and has helped me perform very well in my exams or assignments.

What have the biggest challenges been?

The biggest challenge I have faced whilst undertaking the apprenticeship would be when l was unfortunately been made redundant during the course. Time management was key to allow me to successfully overcome this challenge as I had to look to apply for jobs and prepare for interviews whilst keeping up with university material whether it was lecture tasks, exams or assignments.

Thankfully during this challenging period Solent University supported me from the day I was made redundant to the day I started my new job. 

What are your plans/hopes for the year ahead?

I hope that I can keep my determination and motivation strong throughout the year, which will allow me to land me a quality grade that I can look back on and be proud of.

I have recently just joined Utilita, a big reason why I chose them over other companies was the various technologies that are integral at Utilita. A plan of mine would be to gain knowledge from various departments that utilise different technologies at Utilita. This will allow me to gain insight so that in a year or two I can mould myself into a department that I am passionate to work with or find a technology that I am passionate to work with at Utilita.

Helena Davis, Head of Learning and Development at Utilita said “We work with Solent very closely with our leadership apprenticeship programmes and with Danial joining us. Prior to us onboarding Danial we met with the tutor to ascertain progress levels and upcoming modules, this enabled us to build an internal development pathway which will run in parallel with the apprenticeship standard.”