Graduate Programme Spotlight - Paul Hassan

Name:

Paul Hassan

Job Title:

Graduate QA Analyst

Course Studied / Degree:

B.S.c Computing and Information Technology

What does Covernet’s Grad Programme offer?

Covernet’s Grad Programme offers a varied range of training directly linked to your role and an overview of the Company itself, the responsibilities and skillsets of different teams within the Company and an insight into the broader insurance industry such as industry terminology, trends and specific needs.

This training is initially delivered as a series of 1 to 1 sessions which not only give you plenty of opportunities to ask questions whenever necessary but also provide a great opportunity to meet several of your new colleagues in a close and friendly environment which continues beyond this training into all aspects of the Company.

After this initial training phase, you get the opportunity to work on a Training project. In my case, this took the guise of a new product based on a real-world example. This was not only hugely helpful in learning how to put my skills developed throughout my University Course and Covernet training into practice, but also gives you the opportunity to work alongside both the BA (Business Analyst) and Development teams which give a great insight in to the day to day running of projects and how the lifecycle of a real-world project will look.

After successful completion of this training project, you are assigned real-world jobs for some of the largest insurance companies throughout the UK and Ireland. These will start off small and you are assigned a supervisor who will help with any roadblocks and answer any questions you have along the way. Before, you know it, these projects gradually build up until you are a fully fledged member of the team.

What are your key learnings to date?

After almost 6 months as part of the Covernet team, I believe I have developed a much more robust set of skills both within my area of quality assurance but also in the more general aspect of being part of an innovative and friendly software development team. Throughout this time, I have noticeably seen my role within the team increase and this is evidenced as I have recently put my training project to good use by completing the QA process on a large-scale new product for a leading insurance brand for real.

It is also easy to track this progress through the monthly informal 1 to 1 meetings with my Manager, allowing me to air my thoughts on both my progress as well as any considerations I have within general work life. Receiving feedback from the management team on my progress and performance is very valuable as it allows me to see when and if I am exceeding expectations and should there be any areas where I could improve.
A slightly more formal 3-month review was also very beneficial in showing the progress I have made so far against the Companies main Values of Leadership, Teamwork, Skills, Communication, Delivery and Business Awareness.

Throughout my Covernet career so far, I have really embraced becoming a key part of a friendly team whilst gradually increasing my knowledge in the many different areas of the 2 main systems used by the array of market leading insurance clients Covernet work with. I look forward to developing this knowledge further in the coming months and would encourage any graduate seeking an IT role in a market leading company with a welcoming and approachable team to consider the Covernet graduate programme.

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