April Apprentice of the Month - Michael Dinh
We are happy to announce that the 100th winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Michael @ X4 Group!
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Anton - Michael has made incredible progress in his L3 Information Communication Technician apprenticeship after only successfully joining the programme in January.
We received fantastic feedback from Michael’s line manager, as well as the other brilliant nominees in the exciting line-up for the 100th winner, which you can read below!
Michael’s Skills Coach:
From day one Michael has been showing a willingness to learn by taking on project work that is very complex and even out of his comfort zone. When Michael sent me his first project proposal, it was clear that he wanted to dive into areas that involved more than just the technical support he provides at the workplace such as coding and writing new scripts from scratch which was an idea he brought to his line manager as a workaround to their problem on monitoring printer toner levels for the whole of the business.
Michael has and still demonstrates excellent professionalism in the workplace and in his coaching sessions with me. He is always punctual for every coaching and group live session arranged, takes notes when learning new concepts, asks questions, and completes his journals, and learning modules in Litmos and Pluralsight training within the timescale set out.
Michael is always the very first to ask me to unlock new chapters of his learning on the Cisco networking academy and he demonstrates this by breaking down how he will add the knowledge he has learned within the project works.
His line manager praises Michael for the outstanding work he does at the workplace and in our last discussion together, he said that Michael goes above and beyond his job role by providing the very best assistance to everyone and is highly pleased with Michael’s performance.
Michael’s Line Manager
Energy:
From day one Michael has shown great determination in absorbing knowledge. Michael at times seeks out work and new challenges. Users and colleagues feed off his energy and enthusiastically discuss solutions and ideas.
Michael has joined us during a very busy period when we are looking at expanding and implementing new solutions. I worked out, via our ticketing management system, that since joining the team over 2,000 calls were logged with a fair chunk going over to Michael. Not only have I been impressed with the way Michael goes about it, but I have also continuously received positive feedback from our user base.
Enthusiasm:
Michael has displayed great enthusiasm in many areas of IT life. Keen to gather knowledge, and information and promote solutions. Michael is currently looking at a Printer Tonner Warning project.
To achieve this he is looking at some project management principles, A, B, C, D, E, which is the adopted method in-house, liaising with team members who have a greater project management experience. “A” Aim of the project was expertly delivered and Michael is now on the “B” Build stage and looking at “C” Communicate.
Michael has been delivering these with remarkable enthusiasm and understanding for someone who so recently started an IT career in the workplace. Michael displays great Enthusiasm in helping our customer base so much so many have now a preference to be helped by Michael.
Willingness To Learn:
At X4 we have in place a learning program through CBT Nuggets. Michael has been assigned some training on it but what I am impressed with is that he has also looked outside the training assignment.
Equally, Michael reaches out to team members, online tutorials, and 3rd party service providers to X4 to find a solution and deliver fixes. Michael is working on documentation to share with the team, not only is Michael learning but sharing as well.
Ability To Take Feedback:
Team members currently have a weekly meeting, team, monthly One2Ones, and quarterly appraisals. During this time concerns are discussed, two-way conversation and feedback passed along. Michael is always very open and positive about receiving feedback, sharing his experiences, and discussing previous incidents. Michael takes well to suggestions and open discussions.
Propensity To Take Action:
Michael has on numerous take charge of many incidents and looked to resolve incidents within the shortest period of time.
At X4 we use Remote Sessions “Virtual Computers” to carry out all office tasks. This is serviced by a 3rd party company. There was a problem with one of the host servers and Michael quickly gathered vital information to isolate the issue, stop further users from trying to log on to the host server by the time 3rd party service company got involved there was very little for them to do other than restarting the host server. But Michaels's course of action was on the back of gathering knowledge not training provided seeing this is managed by a 3rd party service management company.
Michael has set himself some high standards and has been matching my expectations every step of the way. I look forward to finding out what more Michael can achieve in the next few months.
Our runner-up for this month is LDN’s very own Level 3 Business Administrator Apprentice Peter McShane! Peter was nominated by his LDN Skills Coach, Steve, with feedback provided by Head of Talent, Alexandra.
Peter’s Skills Coach:
Peter continues to consistently produce a very high standard of coursework to date and has taken on the feedback from last month very positively and proactively, allowing him to complete all of his SMART targets for the month, even including his BKSB tasks.
Moreover, Peter has selflessly supported his peers in his Live Session, showing how he encompasses the ethics of LDN and the fundamentals of collaborative working.
As a result of all of his hard work both in his job role and on the course itself, I have nominated Peter for Apprentice of the Month. Peter is leading by example with my learners, demonstrating positively how to balance the demands of his job role and his Apprenticeship coursework, which he has done to excellent effect.
He has even taken into consideration his absence due to annual leave and completed all that was expected of him and more, and fully deserves this award.
Peter’s line manager:
Peter has demonstrated great levels of energy from when he first engaged with us and applied for the Talent Scout role. He is always on time, and always has a positive attitude with a smile!
This has continued to date; he has been consistent throughout and lifts the spirit of the team. He integrated really well with the team and the wider organisation from the get-go, he is certainly a respected member of the team.
Overall, he is a great apprentice!
Here’s what was said about the other nominees:
Tobias Douthwaite @ Ambition Institute:
Toby has recently been working on a Zoom project which, when completed, will have a huge impact on the workload of the Events team. Toby has been rigorous in his testing of the new Zoom processes and has worked well with his colleague, Emily, to raise questions and find solutions, so that the new process is at its most effective when eventually presented to the wider team.
Onder Rasit @ Madison Logic:
Onder has become a key member of the Account Management team at Madison Logic. Given Onder’s fantastic interpersonal skills, he settled into the team with ease. He is always willing to go that extra mile to help wherever he can. His eagerness and dedication to his role are commendable and we are so lucky to have him join the Madison Logic family.
Batoul Yousef @ Nebula Consulting:
Batoul is a keen learner showing passion across all the work she does and has already taken up joining a specialised team within Nebula to learn more about a subject that interests her.
Larissa Saxe @ Yappy:
We couldn't ask for Lara to provide us with a higher work ethic — everyone in the business truly appreciates her willingness to learn new skills, systems or processes... all with a smile!
Jazmyn Jarvis @ Adam Matthew Digital:
Jazmyn is a really engaged member of our project teams and the wider Production team; She attends team meetings and always contributes, providing interesting updates on how she’s been getting on with work. She’s always willing to share research she’s done on a topic, person, or specific area, benefiting the whole team.
Hannah Boyle @ Pearson:
Hannah has brought fresh energy to our team and is always keen and willing to take on whatever we ask her to, often at short notice. She has shown an ability to juggle two busy projects as well as her apprenticeship work and does it all with a smile! She has very quickly become a valued and popular member of the team both in terms of work and socially and is well-liked.
Janet Okuyemi @ Polsource:
Janet’s been positively impressive on all projects she’s been working on, she is highly motivated and committed to delivering the highest quality of work. Since she’s joined the company she’s been constantly recognised by peers, managers, and clients, and her 'Because we noticed' award and promotion speak for themselves.
Kate Mosely @ Greengage:
Kate brings a positive, can-do attitude to work, be it WFH or in the office. She approaches her work in a coordinated manner and has a strong level of attention to detail. She has embedded herself into the Greengage team very well in a short space of time.