An interview with 

Marie Collinge

I’ve always had a keen interest in tech, and I would see and speak with developers and think ‘I want to do what they’re doing!’ Whilst I was on maternity leave from my previous role as a HR Manager, I completed some online courses in JavaScript and Python, before joining the Northcoders engineering bootcamp. I then applied for the Apprentice Software Engineer role at MONY Group in partnership wth Ada, the National College for Digital Skills and attended the assessment day which I really enjoyed. I was over the moon when I was offered the role!

Every day I’m learning and improving my skills as a developer, which is really exciting. The people at MONY Group are a great bunch - my mentor, Sam, is fantastic; he is so supportive but also allows me the time and space to work things through by myself. The same applies for my managers, my team, and everyone I have interacted with across the business! Every single person I have met so far has been so generous with their time and knowledge.

I start my morning with a stand-up meeting with my team to discuss the tickets that are currently in play. I’ll then catch up with my mentor and review my current tickets to see if I need any help or pair on a more challenging problem.

In the afternoon, I’ll spend some time working on my university assignments or completing self-driven learning around a topic, for example at the moment I am completing a Java course online.

There may also be other meetings such as our team weekly goal refinement or one-to-one reviews with my line managers.

It is different because of the increase in remote working; however we still attend the office twice a week and I find myself really looking forward to these days. On the days I am working from home, my teammates are always available online for a quick call and we speak regularly throughout the day, so I never feel like I’m on my own. I’ve found MONY Group to be such a collaborative environment and there are different events happening regularly, so you’re able to get to know people from other areas of the business too. Finally, as a working parent with two young children, working remotely is hugely beneficial for me, especially as MONY Group is so flexible around start and finish times.

I love problem solving and either creating something from new, or fixing something that was broken. This combined with the fact that MONY Group is really making a difference to peoples’ lives by helping them to save money, was an integral part of why I wanted to come to work here.

Every day I’m learning something new or putting a new skill into practice and it gives me a huge sense of achievement. I’ve already completed a few tickets that are running in the live environment, so it’s a great feeling to think that my code is out there being used by the public!

So, so much! In the four short months I have been here, I feel like my knowledge and confidence has increased dramatically! As my first technical role, I’ve been learning the processes and procedures in a professional technical environment, as well as developing my coding skills. I’m learning a new language, Java, as well as working with software and tools that are completely new to me, like Jenkins and Jira.