ITPROFESSIONALAPPRENTICESHIP(Intermediate&Advanced)
WhatdoesanITProfessionalApprenticedo?
AnITProfessionalApprenticeprovidessupporttointernalandexternalcustomers,helpingthemtobeproductivewhenusingtechnologytodotheirownjobs,byusingtoolstoproblemsolveandtroubleshootnonroutineproblems.TheApprenticesetspeopleuponsystemsandprovidessupportwhentheyneedit,rectifyingissuestomaintaintheorganisationsproductivity.Design,install,maintainandsupportcommunicationnetworkswithinanorganisationorbetweenorganisationsandunderstandnetworkconfiguration,cloud,networkadministrationandmonitoringtools,andbeabletogivetechnicaladviceandguidance.Buildandtestsimple,high-qualitycodeacrossfrontend,logicanddatabaselayers.
TypicalJobRoles:HelpDeskTechnician,FirstorSecondLineSupport,ITInfrastructureTechnician,NetworkSupport,NetworkTechnician,NetworkEngineer,SystemsEngineer,NetworkAdministrator,WebDeveloper,ApplicationDeveloper,MobileAppDeveloper,GamesDeveloper,SoftwareDeveloper,SoftwareDevelopmentTechnician, JuniorDeveloper,JuniorWebDeveloper,Junior Application Developer, Junior Mobile App Developer, Junior Games Developer, Junior Software Developer, JuniorApplication Support Analyst, Junior Programmer, Assistant Programmer and Automated Test Developer, Software Tester,SoftwareTestAnalyst.
EntryRequirements
Individualemployerswillsetthespecificselectioncriteriabuttheyarelikelytobelookingforsomerelevantqualificationsandexperience;anaptitudetestwithafocusonITskills,andahistoryofinterestandusageofvariousITprocessesandsystems.
ApprenticeshipStandardsCompetencies
• Communication:worksbothindependentlyandaspartofateamandfollowingtheorganisationsstandards;competentlydemonstratinganabilitytocommunicatebothinwritingandorallyatalllevels,usingarangeoftoolsanddemonstratingstronginterpersonalskillsandculturalawarenesswhendealingwithcolleagues,customersandclientsduringalltasks.
• IT Security: Demonstrates the necessary skills and behaviours to securely operate across all platforms and areas ofresponsibilitiesinlinewithorganisationalguidance,legislation.Appliesappropriatesecuredevelopmentprinciplestospecificsoftwarecomponentsallstagesofdevelopment
• RemoteInfrastructure:Effectivelyoperatesarangeofmobiledevicesandsecurelyaddthemtoanetworkinaccordancewithorganisationspoliciesandprocedures
• Data:effectivelyrecords,analysesandcommunicatesdataat theappropriate levelusingtheorganisation’sstandardtoolsandprocessesandtoallstakeholderswithintheresponsibilityoftheposition
• Problem solving: applies structured techniques to common and non-routine problems, testing methodologies andtroubleshootingandanalysesproblemsbyselectingthedigitalappropriatetoolsandtechniquesinlinewithorganisationguidanceandtoobtaintherelevantlogisticalsupportasrequired
• Workflowmanagement:worksflexiblyanddemonstratestheabilitytoworkunderpressuretoprogressallocatedtasksinaccordancewiththeorganisation’sreportingandqualitysystems
• Health and Safety: Interprets and follows IT legislation to securely and professional work productively in the workenvironment
• Performance:Optimisestheperformanceofhardware,softwareandNetworkSystemsandservicesinlinewithbusinessrequirements
• Candesignsimplenetworksfromawell-definedspecificationandapplyappropriatesecurityproductsandprocesses • Caninstallandconfigurenetworkcomponents,includingswitches,routersandfirewalls• Canoptimisetheperformanceofnetworksystemsandservices• Canmonitor,testandadjustnetworksystemsandperformancetomeetacceptedstandardsusingdiagnostictools,
analysersandotherequipment• Canapplydiagnostictoolsandtechniquestoidentifythecausesofnetworkperformanceissues• Canapplystructuredapproachestotroubleshootingnetworkissuesandrepairfaultsinhardware,softwareproducts
andthenetwork• Canundertakesystemupgradestonetworkhardware,softwareandoperatingsystems
• Canintegratenetworkrelatedsoftwareintoanexistingnetworkenvironment• Caninterpretwrittenrequirementsandtechnicalspecificationsfornetworkactivitiesandmaintainaccuraterecordsof
networkmaintenanceactivities.• Canlogandrespondtonetworkservicecallsandprovidetechnicalnetworksupporttoendusersasrequired• Candocumentworkdoneinaccordancewithagreedprocedures• Canoperatewithintheparametersofservicelevelagreements,standardsand/oragreedresponsetimes• Canoperateeffectivelyinthebusinessenvironmentandrespondstobusinessissuesrelatedtonetworkengineering• Logic:writesgoodqualitycode(logic)withsoundsyntaxinatleastonelanguage,writessimplecodefordiscrete
softwarecomponentsfollowinganappropriatelogicalapproachtoagreedstandards(whetherforweb,mobileordesktopapplications)
• Userinterface:candevelopeffectiveuserinterfacesforatleastonechannel • Data:caneffectivelylinkcodetothedatabase/datasets,makessimpleconnectionsbetweencodeanddefineddata
sourcesasspecifiedTest:functionallyteststhatthedeliverablesforthatcomponenthavebeenmetornot • Test:cantestcodeandanalyseresultstocorrecterrorsfoundusingeitherV-modelmanualtestingand/orusingunit
testing • Problemsolving:canapplystructuredtechniquestoproblemsolving,candebugcodeandcanunderstandthe
structureofprogrammesinordertoidentifyandresolveissues • Design:cancreatesimpledatamodelsandsoftwaredesignstoeffectivelycommunicateunderstandingoftheprogram,
followingbestpracticesandstandards • Analysis:canunderstandandcreatebasicanalysisartefacts,suchasusercasesand/oruserstories.Followsbasic
analysismodelssuchasusecasesandprocessmaps • Deployment:canunderstandandutiliseskillstobuild,manageanddeploycodeintoenterpriseenvironments • Developmentsupport:appliesindustrystandardapproachesforconfigurationmanagementandversioncontrolto
managecodeduringbuildandrelease • Developmentlifecycle:canoperateatallstagesofthesoftwaredevelopmentlifecycle,withincreasingbreadthand
depthovertimewithinitialfocusonbuildandtest.SupportstheSoftwareDevelopersatthebuildandteststagesofthesoftwaredevelopmentlifecycle
• Canapplygoodpracticeapproachesaccordingtotherelevantparadigm(forexampleobjectoriented,eventdrivenorprocedural)
• Caninterpretandfollow:
− softwaredesignsandfunctional/technicalspecifications− companydefined‘codingstandards’orindustrygoodpracticeforcoding− testingframeworksandmethodologies− company,teamorclientapproachestocontinuousintegration,versionandsourcecontrol
• Canapplythemathsrequiredtobeasoftwaredeveloper(e.g.algorithms,logicanddatastructures) • Implementssoftwaretestingproceduresonsoftwareapplications(includingdesktop,web,mobile,embedded,
mainframe)toensureagreederrorsandsecurityissuesareidentified,recorded,prioritisedandcorrectedbeforerelease.
• Reviewssoftwarerequirementsandspecificationsforsoftwarefunctionalityandsecurity,anddefinescomprehensivetestsandconditions.
• Designssimpleteststrategiesfornon-complexprojects. • Analysestestrequirementsanddesignsandpreparesatestplan. • Designsandbuildstestcases,testscripts,andtestprocedures,withexpectedresults. • Developsandcollectsrepresentativeandrealistictestdata. • Conductsarangeofdifferentsoftwaretestingtypes(includingUnitTesting,IntegrationTesting,FunctionalandNon • Testing:FunctionalTesting,SystemTesting,StressTesting,PerformanceTesting,UsabilityTesting,AcceptanceTesting,
RegressionTestingandExploratoryTesting);interpretingandexecutingsetsofmoderatelycomplextestscriptsusingagreedmethodsandstandards.
TechnicalKnowledgeandUnderstanding
• Workingknowledgeofarangeofcablingandconnectivity,thevarioustypesofantennasandwirelesssystemsandITtestequipment
• Understandsmaintenanceprocessesandappliestheminworkingpractices • Understandsandappliesthebasicelementsandarchitectureofcomputersystems • Understandswheretoapplytherelevantnumericalskillse.gBinary • Understandsherelevantnetworkingskillsnecessarytomaintainasecurenetwork • Understandsthesimilarities,differencesandbenefitsofthecurrentOperatingSystemsavailable • Understandshowtooperateremotelyandhowtodeployandsecurelyintegratemobiledevices • UnderstandingandworkingknowledgeofCloudandCloudServices • Understandstheimportanceofdisasterrecoveryandhowadisasterrecoveryplanworksandtheirrolewithinit • Understandsthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenarangeofcodingandlogic • Understandsandcomplieswithbusinessprocesses • WorkingknowledgeofbusinessITskillsrelevanttotheorganisation • Understandsandappliestheprinciplesofnetworking,protocolsandassociatedtechnologies(specificallythisshould
includethelatestpublishedversionsofOSIlayermodel,IP,TCP/IP,routingandswitching,WANs,LANs) • Understandsandappliestheappliedmathsrequiredtobeanetworkengineer(e.g.algorithms,data,binary,probability
andstatistics)• Understandsthecausesandconsequencesofsystemfailureincludingloadbalanceandstorageprotocolsandresponds
appropriately• UnderstandsthearchitectureofatypicalbusinessITsystem,includinghardware,OS,server,virtualisation,middleware
andapplications• Understandsandrespondstosecuritythreats,firewallsandvulnerabilities• Understandsandoperatesatallstagesofthesoftwaredevelopmentlifecycle• Understandsthesimilaritiesanddifferences(takingintoaccountpositivesandnegativesofbothapproaches)between
agileandwaterfallsoftwaredevelopmentmethodologies • Understandshowteamsworkeffectivelytoproducesoftwareandcontributesappropriately • Understandsandappliessoftwaredesignapproachesandpatternsandcaninterpretandimplementagivendesign,
compliantwithsecurityandmaintainabilityrequirements • Understandsandrespondstothebusinessenvironmentandbusinessissuesrelatedtosoftwaredevelopment • Understandsthebusinesscontextandmarketenvironmentforsoftwaredevelopment • Understandsthestructureofsoftwareapplications • Understandstheroleofconfigurationmanagementandversioncontrolsystemsandhowtoapplythem • Understandshowtotesttheircode(e.g.unittesting) • Recognisesthattherearedifferentmethodologiesthatcanbeusedforsoftwaredevelopment • Understandstheparticularcontextforthedevelopmentplatform(whetherweb,mobile,ordesktopapplications) • Understandstheirrolewithintheirsoftwaredevelopmentteam • Understandshowtoimplementcodefollowingalogicalapproach. • Understandsandcanapplythebasicconceptsofsoftwaretestingincludingtestingtypes;testprocedures;testing
techniques;testingtoolsandtestingterms. • Understandshowtouseandapplyautomatedtesttools. • Understandstheimportanceofaccuracyandcleardocumentationofsoftwaretests. • Understandshowtousebugtrackingtools • Understandsandcancommunicatethedifferencesbetweensoftwaretestingandverification. • Understandsindustrystandardsoftwaredevelopmentparadigmsandmethods(including.ObjectOriented,procedural
andagile)toconducttesting. • Understandsthatsoftwareshouldbe‘securebydesign’andhowtotestforsecurityrequirements. • Understandstherangeandfeaturesofsoftwaretestcommonlyused(UnitTesting,IntegrationTesting,Functionaland
Non-FunctionalTesting,SystemTesting,StressTesting,PerformanceTesting,UsabilityTesting,AcceptanceTesting,RegressionTestingandExploratoryTesting).
• Understandshowtosetupandconfiguretestingpackages. • Understandstheroleofsoftwaretestingwithinthewidersystemsdevelopmentlifecycle.
UnderpinningSkills,AttitudesandBehaviours
• Logicalandcreativethinkingskills• Analyticalandproblemsolvingskills• Abilitytoworkindependentlyandtotakeresponsibility• Canuseowninitiative• Athoroughandorganisedapproach• Abilitytoworkwitharangeofinternalandexternalpeople• Abilitytocommunicateeffectivelyinavarietyofsituations• Maintainproductive,professionalandsecureworkingenvironment
QualificationsThe core apprenticeship knowledgemodules are summarisedbelow forboth the Intermediate andAdvanced IT ProfessionalStandards,andfurtherdetailsofothercompetencyunitsareavailableinthefullApprenticeshipStandardsfromTranZed.CoreKnowledgeModules
• KnowledgeModule1:NetworkingandArchitecture(Intermediate) • KnowledgeModule2:MobileandOperatingSystems.(Intermediate) • KnowledgeModule3:CloudServices(Intermediate) • KnowledgeModule4:CodingandLogic(Intermediate) • KnowledgeModule5:BusinessProcesses(Intermediate) • KnowledgeModule6:NetworkPrinciples(Advanced) • KnowledgeModule7:NetworkSystemsandArchitecture(Advanced) • KnowledgeModule8:NetworkSecurity(Advanced) • KnowledgeModule9:SoftwareDevelopmentMethodologies(Intermediate&Advanced) • KnowledgeModule10:SoftwareLanguage(Advanced) • KnowledgeModule11:Programming(intermediate) • KnowledgeModule12:TestingTools(Advanced) • KnowledgeModule13:TestingConcepts