IT Solutions Technician — Software Apprenticeship

Who is this course for?

This apprenticeship is ideal if you’re interested in:

  • Embarking on a career as a DevOps or Systems Engineer, 2nd or 3rd line Support Engineer, IT Support Analyst or Technical Solutions Engineer
  • Developing your knowledge and understanding of key concepts of IT System Development and Maintenance

Level

IT Solutions Technician — Software is a Level 3 Apprenticeship.

Duration

18 months total: 15 months Practical, 3-month EPA.

Funding

£13,000

Overview

Firebrand’s sector-leading Level 3 IT Solutions Technician (ITS) Apprenticeship trains apprentices to implement and maintain IT systems and solutions to meet their business needs.

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) are developed to build, install, maintain, and secure multi-vendor platforms and solutions.

With support from our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), Learning Mentors (LMs), and industry-leading Instructors, learners will work across multiple sectors. Our programme gives apprentices a clear understanding of the components of infrastructure and how they are developed, installed, secured and maintained both physical and virtual.

Firebrand’s programme is taught through a blended framework of Residential and Online Classroom learning based on our Lecture, Lab, Review methodology.

Your apprentice will receive support from our SMEs as well as full access to an e-learning platform that covers all areas of Cyber Security and over 5,000 courses on other relevant business topics.

Prerequisites

Before attending this accelerated apprenticeship, you should have:

  • A minimum of 5 GCSEs or Level 2 Apprenticeship equivalent (apprenticeship or BTEC in a relatable subject)
  • A Level 3 certification may be acceptable depending on the units covered, as there will need to be sufficient new learning to be considered

STEM subjects would also be beneficial to your application.

Job role suitability

To help you determine whether a candidate (a new hire or existing employee) will be working in a suitable job role to successfully complete this programme, you must be able to answer “Yes” to the list of duties below:

  • Applies a professional methodology or framework in their work tasks
  • Executes appropriate due diligence, including formal testing or validation
  • Applies a range of technical IT skills, including accessing remote systems; file manipulation; file editing, changing system or application settings; system administration; setting up and upgrading components (infrastructure or software)
  • Creates and maintains documentation in accordance with best practice, organisational guidance, and legislation
  • Identifies appropriate technical solutions using both logical and creative thinking
  • Diagnoses and understands client requirements and problems using sound analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Communicates effectively in a variety of situations including formal and informally both within their team and externally
  • Operates securely across all their areas of responsibility, in line with organisational guidance and legislation
  • Works at any stage of the software solution lifecycle
  • Undertakes maintenance of a range of contemporary or legacy software solutions to required levels of service
  • Installs and configures software system components including virtualised components where appropriate
  • Writes or maintains simple scripts or code
  • Can search and manipulate different types of data sources, including both structured and unstructured

Curriculum

  • Section 1: Develop, implement and maintain complete IT solutions, including their hardware infrastructure (such as servers and networks) and software (such as operating systems, middleware and applications)
  • Section 2: Professional methodology or framework to gather and analyse requirements; to design, develop, test, and implement IT solutions and to provide ongoing support both directly to end users and for the underlying IT services
  • Section 3: Full set of stages across the whole solution lifecycle: requirements gathering, solution development, testing, implementation and ongoing support

End Point Assessment

All Apprenticeships end with the End Point Assessment (EPA). This is completed by a third party, the End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO).

The EPA evaluates all the work completed through the duration of the Apprenticeship.

For the Level 4 IT Solutions Technician — Software Apprenticeship, the EPA consists of:

  • a Knowledge Test comprised of 4 units, and
  • a Project Presentation and Interview, also comprised of 2 parts, with the independent assessor

The apprentice will only enter the EPA Gateway once the employer is content that the apprentice is working at or above the occupational standard. In making this decision, the in-work mentor may take advice from Firebrand, but the decision must ultimately be made by them.

EPAO determines when all other Gateway requirements have been met, and the EPA period will only commence once the EPAO has confirmed this.

The EPA assessment period in Gateway can be anything from 4 weeks to 6 months.

For more information, check out our EPA Fact Sheet.

Exams

Upon successful completion of the programme, you'll have the opportunity to gain the following qualifications:

  • BCS Level 3 Award in Networking and Architecture
  • BCS Level 3 Certificate in Programming
  • CompTIA A+

Next steps

Upon completion of the Level 3 IT Solutions Technician Apprenticeship, progression routes include:

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