From work experience to full-time tech team member

Beth Harper joined the Met Office straight from school, and then did an apprenticeship before landing a full-time role. During her A-Levels, Beth took part in what was called ‘corporate work experience week.’ She loved her time with the technology team so much, she came back again to do some more in-person work experience with the internet apps team.  

After finishing her A-Levels, Beth applied for a place on a three-month summer placement scheme and came back for a third time, although now she was doing a paid role. 

“After the summer placement, I came out thinking ‘this is where I want to be’, so it was really useful.” Beth then enrolled on a course at Plymouth University but after completing her first year, she saw an advert for a degree apprenticeship in technology solutions at the Met Office and felt compelled to apply.  

“There was a lot of big decision making to be done, but I knew that I had worked at the Met Office before, and I really wanted to work there again. Plus, there was the opportunity to get a degree, but not have to pay for it like at university, which was a huge benefit in itself.” 

Beth was offered the degree apprenticeship and decided to take it. “It was a no-brainer for me. I wasn’t continuing with student loans – I was getting paid to work and do my degree instead. Plus, by doing the apprenticeship, I was getting actual work experience as well which at the end of it, would make me more employable, so it just made sense.” 

Beth spent four years working four days a week and studying for one, across a variety of teams including cyber security, networking and software engineering.  

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew that I liked working in tech, but I had no idea which bit I wanted to be in and the way I eventually figured that out was by having the opportunity to rotate across different teams during my apprenticeship.” 

Beth was supported by her manager, a mentor in her team, a dedicated person at university and her peers. “We were always looked after and there was never a stigma about us learning and training. People always went out of their way to help me understand things and to encourage me to ask questions. I felt very supported.” 

After completing a work-based dissertation, Beth graduated with a degree in Digital and Technology Solutions from the University of Exeter in 2021. She then gained a full-time job in as a Foundation Dev Ops Engineer. Beth has since been promoted to Dev Ops Engineer, and her role includes working on development tasks, such as writing and maintaining programming scripts and designing software components, along with operational support tasks such as triaging and resolving incidents, and helping users with issues.  

Beth said that looking back, she still benefits hugely from doing the apprenticeship, especially because of the huge professional network and breadth of knowledge it enabled her to build over time.  

“I love my role because every day is different. I like how varied it is and the fact that every day there are different customers to talk to, different problems to solve, and different solutions to work on.  

“It's the culture and the people here that make it for me. Even though people come and go, it’s the atmosphere. The running theme through all of this is that as an organisation, the Met Office is just a great place to work.” 

Find out more about technology with the Met Office and apply for a role.