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Is Apprenticeship

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Skill Overview

This occupation is found in every sector in organisations ranging from large multi-nationals, public sector bodies and government projects developing multi-billion-pound software solutions to support key projects to small consultancy firms designing bespoke software solutions for clients.
For example, Financial Services, Transport, Security and Defence. The broad purpose of the occupation is to understand a client's requirements as provided in design specification and then build and test high-quality code solutions to deliver the best outcome.
Software development technicians are the supportive entry level team member helping to create computer programs. Some assist in developing the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device. Others assist in developing the underlying systems that run the devices or that control networks. For example, a software development technician may work to support a software developer or wider team on Transport ticketing systems, traffic light control systems, customer-facing websites for journey planning and account management, internal websites for monitoring the status of train and road networks. They may assist in developing software to create bespoke asset management systems.
The software development technician may work on assisting software developer teams in devising innovative solutions to problems such as flood warning systems and creating products that enhance farmers engagement with sustainable farming approaches. Organisations use software to ensure that their operations become ever more effective and robust reducing the incidence of downtime by building quality tested software solutions to give a better service. For example, in commercial organisations this can give them a competitive advantage by being able to analyse significant amounts of data quickly and efficiently to provide the business with information and management systems. This can save time and help the business spot profit making opportunities. For public sector bodies the right software solution can drive up performance and help target scarce resources more effectively and ensure that customer expectations are more likely to be met.
A software development technician typically works as a junior member of a software development team, to build simple software components (whether web, mobile or desktop applications) to be used by other members of the team as part of larger software development projects or by end users. They will interpret simple design requirements for discrete components of the project under supervision. The approach will typically include implementing code, building on code that other team members have developed, to produce  the required component. The software development technician will also be engaged in testing that the specific component meets its intended functionality. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with software developers and may also assist the wider team in their interactions with internal and external parties including users/customers (to understand their needs and evaluate the software developed through user testing). The software development technician may also interact under supervision with team members from a range of specialist fields including designers, developers, engineers, analysts, and project/delivery managers (to ensure the effective implementation of software solutions).
A software development technician is typically office-based however field-based research and testing may require periods of time working in the environments of the clients whose needs they are seeking to meet. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for assisting in the development of software solutions across the full software development life cycle, from research and development, through continuous improvement, to product/service retirement.

Learning Objectives

Duties of the job role covered as part of the Apprenticeship:
Duty 1 D1: Follow clearly defined requirements to deliver software development activities and products																																
Duty 2 Report progress against metrics on software development activities accurately throughout the stages of the software development lifecycle																																
Duty 3 Identify and report any impediments to progress in development activities to supervisors																																
Duty 4 Follow instructions to convert customer requirements to technical requirements																																
Duty 5 Communicate outcomes from development activities to team members and other stakeholders both internal and external																																
Duty 6 Identify and implement security features of a proposed design																																
Duty 7 Write logical and maintainable software solutions in line with given specifications to meet the design requirements and organisational coding standards																																
Duty 8 Apply security principles and practice to the software development tasks assigned																																
Duty 9 Maintain appropriate project documentation throughout the software development tasks																																
Duty 10 Apply appropriate recovery techniques to ensure that the software solution being developed is not lost.																																
Duty 11 Undertake unit testing of solutions, with appropriate levels of test code coverage, to identify and, where necessary, escalate issues																																
Duty 12 Contribute to testing of the end-to-end software solution to ensure a high-quality output																																
Duty 13 Support delivery of deployment phases, including trials and final release.																																
Duty 14 Identify the need for a suitable 'bug fix', appropriate to the severity and priority of the issue identified.																																
Duty 15 Practice continuous guided self-learning to keep up to date with technological developments to enhance relevant skills and take responsibility for own professional development

Funding Option

Funding Eligibility

For apprentices aged 16-21 the training costs are fully funded by the government. For apprentices aged over 21, there is a 5% co-investment which would be paid by the employer. Alternatively, the training costs can be covered by utilising the Apprenticeship Levy Fund.

Skill Price ex VAT (£)

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Skill Eligibility (Prerequisites for skill/software requirements)

Applicant must be eligible for ESFA funding and in a job role where the duties in learning objectives can be undertaken as part of normal day to day activities

Last Application Date

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