It’s never too late to upskill - Lisa and Flora share their apprenticeship journeys

From self-taught code and cyber security to formalised learning with an apprenticeship at RSA. Flora Osei, Security Consultant, and Lisa Rankin, People Data and MI Lead, demonstrate that it’s never too late to upskill. 

There are many avenues and opportunity to upskill at RSA and #SkillsForLife is what National Apprenticeship week is all about. 

To round off the week, we caught up with both Flora Osei, Security Consultant and Lisa Rankin, People Data and MI Lead who give us an insight into their apprentice experience at RSA and remind us that you can decide to upskill with an apprenticeship at any stage of your career path. 

Over to Flora and Lisa… 

Why an apprenticeship now, what's informed your decision to upskill? 

Flora: My background has been in communications for a majority of my career, I studied Journalism in Uni and went on to work different comms roles. So when I moved to cyber, everything I knew was on a self-taught basis. Although what I have taught myself was to a good enough level to complete my day job, I wanted to be able to expand the capabilities of my role and be able to move around within cyber and I felt I couldn’t do this without formal training within cyber security.  

Since starting my apprenticeship, I’ve expanded my knowledge enough to apply for an internal role as a Cyber Security Consultant, which I don’t think I would’ve been able to do without studying. It’s been a success and I was offered the role at the end of last year! 

Lisa: I love learning, I’ve always wanted to do a masters and I really enjoy data. I first started learning to code in my spare time during lockdown and as ‘normal’ life resumed, I found I didn’t have as much free time to dedicate to coding so was keen for a more structured way to learn how to code.  

The Masters programme also offered more than coding and included other aspects like managing digital change, developing leadership skills and provided the opportunity to put learnings into practice in my day job. It’s also great that I won’t have loads of debt at the end of it… I’m lucky that RSA have invested in me and my development. 

How are apprentices and apprenticeships changing insurance? 

Lisa: I think apprenticeships are helping piece together the wider operations and strategic direction of organisations. In my case, I can really see how theoretical topics and new learnings have been put into practice and improved how we do things on an operational level. 

Flora: Apprenticeships challenge us to think differently. My apprenticeship is very current in the sense that we look at recent topics rather than basing learning on historic information (although this is useful). It feels like it is in line with current trends. To do an apprenticeship after not formally studying for a while also requires you to think differently and ignite a part of your brain you may not have used in a while. 

What has surprised you about your apprenticeship? Has there been anything that you didn’t expect?  

Flora: Initially I thought an apprenticeship would feel like I’m back at uni… I was expecting lectures and seminars weekly but it’s nothing like that. Lectures are held in one week blocks at different times throughout the duration of the apprenticeship, so it allows you to do both the classroom learning and the apply it at work. This has really helped solidify my understanding of some trickier topics. 

Lisa: I’m surprised by how much I’ve grown both personally and professionally. I’ve recently done my end point assessment and reading over my portfolio really made me realise how far I’ve come over the 2 years – very proud moment! 

How are you managing learning and working your day job? 

Lisa: Planning is key! I love to plan and be organised, so I always know when my deadlines are approaching and when I need to carve out dedicated time to study. Planning also includes maximising off the job time to overlap with relevant work topics like attending lunch and learns and external events. I also like putting what I learn into practice and being tactical in topic choices for my data analytics project (dissertation) by making it related to my day job. I’m really fortunate to also have both a supportive team and leader who understand the requirements that come with balancing an apprenticeship and full-time job. 

Flora: RSA have been great as I have had every Wednesday away from BAU to focus on all my apprenticeship activities. Whether this is completing coursework or revising or studying in lecture environments, the split has been so helpful for my learning. 

Interested in #SkillsForLife? 

If you’ve been inspired by the stories we’ve shared this week and would like to learn more about the 53 apprenticeships RSA offer, please visit our careers hub to find out more.