My experience as a Cyber Security Apprentice at the DVLA

Eliot Penny, Cyber Security Apprentice discusses his experience as a Cyber Security Apprentice at the DVLA.

I’m a Cyber Security apprentice. I hadn’t planned on being one and I wish I had thought of it sooner - it would have saved me a lot of stress, a few thousand pounds and I’d have been happy. Like a lot of young people completing their A-Levels I had to decide what my future was going to be, and like a lot of young people that question became, “What are you going to do at university?”

I ended up choosing to study physics and hated it so left. As you can imagine I had no idea what I was going to do next.

I can’t quite remember where I saw it but one day I stumbled across an advert for apprenticeships within the civil service. I looked on the site at the various courses that were on offer and found one I knew I’d have to apply for: Cyber Security. I went through the application process and was ecstatic the day the confirmation of my place came through. Since then I haven’t looked back and it’s been great to prove to myself that leaving university was the right choice for me.

I’ve been an apprentice for 18 months now and it’s been great. Most of my time is spent in my department doing work or completing my NVQ. I’ve been working with different people in my team to understand what they do and to try it out for myself. I’ve had a taste of protective monitoring, auditing, risk assessment, incident handling and vulnerability detection. I’ve also been given a couple of small scale projects of my own. From the day I started I’ve felt involved with the team, contributing to the work they do and learning from their experiences.

I know from my own experience that university is not for everyone and I believe everyone should have the right information to make the best choice for them. The Get In Go Far campaign shows that apprenticeships are a real alternative to university. They allow you to do something you love while also earning a salary and a qualification. There are a massive range of roles available and so there is bound to be something for everyone. If you are soon to be finishing school either at GCSE or A-Levels you should ask yourself “Can I get to where I want to be in the future with an apprenticeship?” If the answer is yes then go for it, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

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