Career Heroes - Gareth Smyth

Tell us more about you

I’m very passionate about the computing industry. I enjoy the small things in life, such as exercise, watching sports, and spending time with family and friends.

What kind of work do you do?

I work as an IT Higher Level Apprentice for Almac Group, based at their Craigavon site. I perform a variety of tasks for many teams in Information Services. For most of my time here I’ve worked as a Support Technician at Levels 1 and 2. This involves completing support requests such adding users to different groups and teams on the IT system, which allows them to collaborate and access certain information. I also perform account configuration to ensure all employees can access our networks. A request may also be asking for equipment such as a laptop and a monitor. I also deal with incidents such as network outages. I perform troubleshooting to get to the bottom of the problem.

I’ve also worked as a Data Analyst for Almac, which involves creating informative reports using our own data or data belonging to our customers. I’ve created many reports that were interactive. This was a more mathematical role because I had to code certain expressions in a coding format that would calculate data, such as the average number of files processed and completed per week.

I currently attend college one day per week and work from the office four days a week. Hybrid working might be an option in the future.

As a Higher Level Apprentice, I work in a team as well as independently. We have individual tasks that we perform called tickets. Tickets are how users log any issues they are having with the IT systems and how we log the troubleshooting resolutions we have tried.

How did you become a IT Apprentice?

I completed GCSEs and A Levels at St Mary’s Christian Brothers Grammar School in Belfast, leaving with four A Levels in Sport, History, Politics, and Digital Technology. I applied for my apprenticeship with Southern Regional College, and I was employed with Almac Group.

I completed work experience with Almac in 2019 and I really enjoyed it. That helped me make the decision to go down this route. I also enjoyed technology from a young age, and I loved to learn and read about it online.

I knew that an apprenticeship would be a good option to avoid the burden of student debt. I think this route is the best investment for my future.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

In all honesty, I do not think I would do anything differently. I believe the route that I’m taking is the quickest path to becoming a professional in my field.