Estio Success Stories

Travis – Level 3 Infrastructure Technician – introduced to the education sector by Estio and helped to rebuild his confidence after a false start to his career.

Choosing an apprenticeship wasn’t just about getting a job for Travis, it was about regaining his self-esteem: “I was never interested in school or college; it never got the best out of me, so when I left to get a job, I knew I didn’t have the grades I needed to simply jump into a career.” This led to a false start in the world of work, and for a while he described himself as ‘quite lost’.

Realising his growing interest in IT, Travis knew he’d found the training provider he needed ‘from the second I got in touch with Estio’, saying “I could feel that they really wanted me to do well. The resourcing team took me under their wing and were fantastic at finding me the right roles and helping me prepare … within just a few weeks, I was attending interviews and getting job offers. It wasn’t like any other company”.

After accepting a position in a school, Travis has spent the last year completing his apprenticeship and building his skills, attributing much of his achievement to the dedicated support of his trainers and skills coaches. “They made learning interesting for me for the first time in my life, motivated me to work hard and showed me how worthwhile it is”. Travis is proud of what he can achieve now and relates how being helped through a successful apprenticeship experience took him on a crucial journey
to rebuild his confidence as well as stepping out into a
great career.

Jessica – software tester for a technology led company in Oldham working towards achieving her career goals and making a difference to her employer.

This forward looking young woman, currently on a Level 4 Software Tester apprenticeship, chose her career “because IT is the future of everything.” In the future she sees herself as a Lead Software Tester, and she turned to Estio to help pursue her goal.

Her course did not disappoint in terms of challenge and skills development and the blended learning, including on-the-job and remote lessons combined with one-to-one coaching worked well: “I enjoyed taking part in the remote lessons with other trainees because there was a good atmosphere within my group, my trainer was always full of energy and eager to teach us new things, just as much as we were eager to learn new things.” In her role she says “I get a sense of satisfaction when I apply what I’ve learnt on my course to my every day working life. It has made me a lot more confident in my job.”

Jessica’s learning didn’t just have an impact on her personally: “The technical skills I have acquired over the past year and my knowledge of the software development lifecycle has helped me improve my reporting and communication skills, which is helping to improve the overall quality of the software at work. My colleagues can see a massive difference in my individual skills and a significant improvement in the department as a whole.”