T Level placement helps Leeds City College student land DWP Digital apprenticeship

Leeds City College student Vedant Shukla is celebrating securing a software engineering apprenticeship after excelling on his T Level work placement.

Vedant was one of the first students from the college to do the industry-based part of his Digital and IT course at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Vedant loved his time at DWP Digital’s Leeds base and immediately knew he could make a positive impact.

A perfect placement

He said:

“My work placement with DWP was the best I could have gotten: everyone I met there was so supportive of me as a college student.

“I also got to work in a real-life Agile environment (which focuses on a flexible workplace and mindset, collaboration and adaptability to change) from the moment I joined. 

“It was such a wonderful experience as, within a month, I was able to lead a project from the beginning to the end.

“I worked as a business analyst for a lot of my placement as well. This meant interacting with stakeholders, suggesting ways they could improve the project, creating documents, catching up on emails, hosting meetings and so on.”

Eyes on the (career) prize

Determined to bag an apprenticeship with DWP, Vedant made sure he went the extra mile to impress his employers – and it worked.

He said:

“Ever since I joined my placement, they knew I wanted to secure an apprenticeship by the end of it.

“I believe a lot of opportunities will not be handed to you in life, you have to work for it and constantly emphasise the fact that you have a goal, which is what I did.

“I also stayed to do overtime because I loved working with them. I think that’s what showed them that I really wanted to stay and get an apprenticeship.”

An exciting alternative to university

It was the practical nature of T Levels – students spend 80% of their time in the classroom and 20% on an industry placement – that attracted Vedant to his course.

Now, two years later with a software engineering apprenticeship underway, he’s convinced he made the right choice.

He said:

“I never wanted to join university after college, and I knew that the T Level industry placement would give me that breakthrough to get onto an apprenticeship or work right off the bat.

“I have really enjoyed every part of the course since the beginning. I also appreciate all the support that college provided when we had to manage coursework and placements at the same time in year two. Overall, my experience has been very interesting, knowledge-filled, professional and exciting.

“I would definitely recommend a T Level course to others, as it is filled with opportunities that are not simply university-based; you can get into work life right away.”