Graduate Programme Spotlight - Enda McVey

Name:

Enda McVey

Job Title:

Graduate Software Developer

Couse Studied:

BSC Computing (Ulster University Coleraine) & MSC Computer Science (University of Glasgow)

Time with Covernet:

7 Months

What does Covernet’s graduate programme offer?

Covernet’s Graduate Programme allows you to work with a team of experienced, highly skilled developers creating innovative software for some of the largest insurance companies across the UK & Ireland. It is also very hands on allowing you the opportunity to work in all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle.

Within the first 2 weeks you are involved in a series of 1 on 1 training sessions each led by one of your new colleagues, straight off you are getting to know your colleagues and engaging with them on the same level. Every session focuses on a different aspect of your job, from the systems you are working on, to the coding standards which are expected to be maintained. They provide a real insight into the job.

Once your initial classroom training is completed you are assigned a hands-on development Training Project, developing an insurance product from specification through to QA, applying the knowledge you learnt in the first 2 weeks.

Even the training project is assigned a Supervisor, a Business Analyst and a Quality Assurance Analyst. Therefore, you are always working with experienced professionals. Throughout the entire project you are given the opportunity to ask questions / scenarios to help further your understanding and ensure when working on actual customer projects you are meeting the customers brief / requirements. It is also encouraging to know some of these team members have been through the grad programme themselves, they know how it feels to be new to a team and a first-time software role. Everyone is very hands on and are keen to help you develop and learn on the job.

The whole process mirrors a piece of coursework at university, when you would have been given a topic, list of requirements /changes from your lecturer, you implement, test and reissue these to your lecturer for feedback and grading. Covernet follows a similar process making it very easy to transfer from university to the workplace.

What have you achieved from Covernet Graduate Programme to date?

I am now in my 7th month at Covernet, in this short period of time I feel I have become a valuable member of the team. I am more confident in understanding customer requirements as well as creating effective test strategies to ensure my code is as robust as possible.

My progress is monitored throughout the Graduate scheme, my manager and I have monthly 1 to 1 meeting, these are essentially an informal catch-up meeting to check in on how I am getting on and finding the programme. It allows for feedback from the management team and gives me the opportunity ask any questions I may have.

In addition to this, every 3 months my manager and I have a more formal performance review. This is where my progress is assessed against the company values: Leadership, Teamwork, Skills, Communication, Delivery and Business Awareness. It allows me to receive feedback and gauge areas where I am performing well, and areas I can improve on, while seeking advice from my manager.

During my time here I have received the opportunity to work on an array of customer projects. I really enjoy getting to see first-hand what the customer requires and working as part of the team. I am happy to say I am becoming more comfortable working on each stage of the project from Analysis to Testing. My knowledge in database development, code maintenance and testing has developed drastically, and I look forward to what the coming months will bring here at Covernet. It is amazing to know my work is being used daily by big brands.

Learn more about Covernet's Careers.