So what was it like to start at Ascendancy?
Well, it’s not only my first apprenticeship but I’m also Ascendancy’s first apprentice, and I had a great first month. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, which helped me settle in fairly quickly. I also found this is the case when clients come to the office for a meeting – the staff at Ascendancy are also very welcoming to them when they arrive.
So what did I get up to in my first month here?
Quite a lot really. In my first couple of days, I immediately assisted with the behind the scenes work of my first website. To see what goes on when making a website was exciting, mainly seeing how all the pieces fit together and how the final product looks. Also, it was fascinating seeing the problem solving aspect of web design, seeing how the team are able to change how something looks just through the code, and also how they worked out what code they wanted to edit.
Aside from my first website, throughout the month I was also involved in many aspects of Ascendancy’s work. This included updates to websites content such as news and events, updating WordPress for current clients’ websites so that they were up to date, and even editing the code for existing websites to add, remove or edit the appearance of content such as adding social media links. My time in the first month also included meetings with clients of Ascendancy, which allowed me to see how meetings ran and developed. This was really enjoyable, as the way the team were never too serious but always efficient, and with a touch of humour, made meetings easy and worthwhile.
In my first month, my biggest and most exciting project was creating a new draft website for a client of Ascendancy. With a theme to follow, I edited the appearance code to completely change the look of the site, mainly using the colours of the set theme to make it more consistent and personalised for the client. This project gave me a great insight into making websites and what goes on between the designer and the client.
So, how does work life differ from school life?
Well, being a local lad the area is all the same and the journey to work is no different except it’s shorter, so I can’t complain really. Compared to school life, work life requires you to be a lot more mature, and allows you to deal with new people every day, but with this also comes responsibility, as clients are paying to deal with you so there is more pressure to be professional and helpful at all times, and ensure they are satisfied with the product.
Overall, my first month in the team was great, and kick-started my first 6 months at Ascendancy which has been a very enjoyable learning curve as I have learnt and developed my website skills to the level that I now take on and manage my own clients and their websites. I’m looking forward to my future at Ascendancy, and whatever that may hold.
Jon Harrison, Ascendancy apprentice
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