Supercharging a career in tech with Multiverse and Apprentice Nation

The perfect example of all of this coming together is our work with Apprentice Nation.

Apprentice Nation(opens new window) is a collaboration between Multiverse, RockCorps, BT and Lucozade. Together, we’re on a mission to energise and inspire young people to shape their futures. Through a combination of unique music events, interviews and skills training, the platform raises awareness of apprenticeships among young people – particularly those in historically underrepresented groups.

Providing accessible and gamified content, Apprentice Nation gives young people the chance to earn rewards while they learn, including headphones, laptops, vouchers and even a video hangout with the artists.

Through the power of music, Apprentice Nation has raised awareness of the incredible opportunities on offer to hundreds of career starters.

Abdullah benefitted from the learning content and networking opportunities presented by Apprentice Nation, and has now landed an apprenticeship at a multinational tech company.

Here is his story of how he did it.

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I was born in Pakistan, and moved to the UK four years ago when I was 18. The challenges of that move started straight away, because I couldn’t find anyone who spoke Urdu at the airport - and I didn’t speak a word of English.

I did find school a challenge. Not only was I learning English, but I also just didn’t like the way I was being taught. I was studying A-Levels in Maths, Computer Science and Business - but the content was always so theoretical and I could never see how it would be applied to the sort of work I wanted to be doing. I was desperate to get out into the world of work.

I did consider university, but the high costs made it impossible for me. I couldn’t even get a loan, because they’re only available once you’ve been in the UK for three years. So I set out into the world of work.

I’d taught myself to code and I always knew that I wanted a career in tech and software engineering. I got myself a job as a computer engineer, but it was very heavily dominated by hardware. Hardware is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, where there’s only one way to solve it and put the pieces back together. I much prefer software, which is more like a riddle - with lots of different solutions and the opportunity to always learn.

But because I was a self-taught coder, I still wanted that formal training. With university ruled out, I started looking at apprenticeships.

Apprentice Nation was a massive help for me during that application process. They really give you a sense of what the real-world situation is when you’re looking for jobs. One of the best pieces of advice they gave me was to tailor my CV for each job I was applying for. I ended up with 30 different versions of my CV - but it was worth it in the end!

Eventually, with the help of Apprentice Nation and Multiverse, I started getting interviews at top tech companies. After a wobbly start, I started finding the interviews easy and even impressed myself with some of my answers!

My favourite interview question was this: how many iPhones could you theoretically fit in a bus?

I answered that, since it was a theoretical bus, let’s make the dimensions 10cm x 10cm, and say you can fit 1 iPhone in there!

I was so pleased to get the job, and start earning and learning on my apprenticeship. I’m learning loads of new things that I could never have taught myself - like the role of cloud services. And all the while I’m gaining experience in one of the largest multinational tech companies.

I’m hoping to start my own IT business one day, so the knowledge and experience I’m gaining on this apprenticeship will be invaluable.