When I started my apprenticeship, I was excited.
I knew there would be learning, assessments, workplace development and eventually a qualification at the end of it.
What I didn't know was how much I would learn between those things.
Looking back now, after completing my Customer Service Specialist Level 3 apprenticeship, there are things I understand differently.
Not because someone explained them to me in a classroom.
I understand them because I lived them.
Some I learned through good experiences.
Some through mistakes.
Some through feedback.
And a few I probably learned the hard way. 😄
So, if I could go back and have a conversation with the version of myself who was just starting the apprenticeship, this is some of the advice I would give him.
And if you're currently doing an apprenticeship yourself, perhaps something here will help you too.
1. Don't focus so much on finishing that you forget to learn.
When you start an apprenticeship, the finish line can become the big target.
Complete the work.
Pass the assessments.
Get the certificate.
Move on.
There's nothing wrong with wanting those things. I certainly did.
But looking back, I wish I'd understood earlier that the qualification is only part of what you're there to gain.
Some of the most valuable learning happens in ordinary moments.
A difficult conversation.
A problem you have to think through.
Feedback from somebody more experienced.
A situation you handle better than you would have six months earlier.
Those things may never appear on a certificate, but they're evidence that you're developing.
If I were starting again, I would spend less time asking:
“How quickly can I complete this?”
and more time asking:
“What can I take from this that will still be useful after the apprenticeship is finished?”
2. Keep a record of your experiences from day one.
Oh, I wish someone had really drilled this one into me. 😄
During your apprenticeship, you'll probably have plenty of useful workplace experiences.
The problem is remembering them months later.
Something happens on a Tuesday afternoon. You deal with it, learn from it and move on.
Six months later, you're asked:
“Can you give me an example of when you demonstrated this particular skill?”
And suddenly your mind goes completely blank.
You know you've done it.
You just can't remember the perfect example.
My advice?
Keep a simple learning journal.
Nothing complicated.
When something significant happens, appropriately record:
What happened?
What was my responsibility?
What did I do?
Why did I do it that way?
What happened afterwards?
What did I learn?
Always respect confidentiality and your workplace requirements. You don't need names or sensitive details.
You're recording your learning, not somebody else's information.
Those little notes can become incredibly useful later.
3. Learn the difference between “we” and “I”.
This was a big lesson for me.
At work, teamwork matters.
Naturally, we say:
“We dealt with the situation.”
“We found a solution.”
“We decided to...”
But your apprenticeship is assessing your knowledge, skills and behaviours.
At some point, somebody needs to understand what you actually contributed.
What did you notice?
What did you decide?
What action did you take?
Why did you choose that approach?
What did you learn?
That doesn't mean taking credit for the team's work.
It means taking ownership of your own.
I wish I'd become comfortable with that distinction much earlier.
And interestingly, it's something I've carried beyond the apprenticeship.
Being able to explain your contribution isn't boasting.
It's accountability.
4. Ask questions before you desperately need the answers.
There were probably times when I spent longer trying to figure something out myself than it would have taken simply to ask the right person.
Maybe that's familiar to somebody reading this. 😄
You don't receive extra marks for struggling quietly.
If you don't understand something, ask.
If an assessment requirement isn't clear, seek clarification.
If you're unsure whether an example is appropriate, discuss it.
Speak to your coach.
Speak to the appropriate people supporting your development.
Learn from colleagues.
Talk to other apprentices.
Use professional communities.
You still need to do your own work, of course.
But independence and isolation are not the same thing.
One of the things I understand much better now is that knowing when to ask for support is itself a professional skill.
5. Don't wait until the end to prepare for the end.
Your final assessment can feel miles away when you first start.
Then suddenly it isn't. 😄
If I were starting again, I would become familiar with the assessment expectations much earlier.
Not because I would want to spend the whole apprenticeship worrying about the final assessment.
Quite the opposite.
Understanding what you're eventually expected to demonstrate allows you to recognise useful experiences while they're actually happening.
I'd also practise explaining examples using something like:
Situation — What was happening?
Task — What was I responsible for?
Action — What did I personally do, and why?
Result — What happened?
And one more that I think deserves equal importance:
Reflection — What did I learn?
That last question became increasingly important to me.
Because sometimes the evidence of your development isn't simply that you successfully dealt with something.
It's that you can explain what the experience taught you.
6. Feedback isn't the same thing as failure.
This is probably the advice I would most want the earlier version of myself to hear.
Towards the end of my apprenticeship, part of my final assessment didn't go the way I'd hoped.
I hadn't demonstrated one required area clearly enough.
That meant I had to return to part of the assessment.
Was I disappointed?
Absolutely.
I had worked hard. Naturally, I wanted to get everything across the line the first time.
But after the disappointment came a decision.
I could keep thinking about the result I wished I'd received.
Or I could look carefully at the feedback and work with the result I actually had.
So I went back.
I looked again at my examples.
I thought more carefully about what made the situations complex, what my personal contribution had been, why I had taken particular approaches and how I could communicate that more clearly.
I prepared differently.
I returned.
And I passed.
If I could go back to the beginning of my apprenticeship, I would tell myself:
Don't be afraid of feedback.
Some of it will confirm what you're doing well.
Some of it will show you where you need to improve.
Both can help you.
A disappointing result can hurt without becoming your identity.
7. Stop expecting yourself to know everything.
This is another one I've become much more comfortable with.
You are an apprentice.
You are there to learn.
Yet sometimes we put pressure on ourselves to appear as though we already know everything.
That doesn't make much sense when you think about it.
There will be people who know more than you.
Good.
Learn from them.
There will be things you don't understand.
Good.
Ask.
There will be skills you're not particularly confident in yet.
Good.
Practise.
Not knowing isn't the problem. Refusing to learn can be.
I wish I'd appreciated that distinction earlier.
8. Don't compare your middle with somebody else's finish line.
Another apprentice may progress faster.
Someone may seem more confident.
Someone might submit something before you.
Someone may receive their result while you're still working towards yours.
Celebrate them.
But don't turn their success into evidence that you're failing.
You don't know everything happening behind somebody else's journey, just as they don't know everything happening behind yours.
Different people start with different experience, confidence, responsibilities and circumstances.
Learn from others, absolutely.
But measure your development against yourself too.
Ask:
“Am I better than I was when I started?”
Sometimes that question tells you far more than comparing yourself with anybody else.
9. Your apprenticeship has to fit inside a real life.
This one matters.
While you're completing an apprenticeship, life doesn't politely stand aside and say:
“No problem, I'll come back when you've finished.” 😄
Work continues.
Family continues.
Responsibilities continue.
Unexpected things happen.
There will be weeks when you're tired.
There may be moments when everything seems to need your attention at once.
I learned that looking at everything together could make the workload feel enormous.
Breaking it down helped.
One task.
One conversation.
One piece of evidence.
One deadline.
One improvement.
Then the next.
You don't always need to see the whole staircase.
Sometimes you just need to know what you're doing next.
10. Enjoy it a little more.
Yes, really.
I think when we're chasing an important goal, we can become so focused on getting there that we forget to appreciate where we are.
There will come a point when the apprenticeship is finished.
No more evidence gathering.
No more apprenticeship meetings.
No more preparing for the final assessment.
The thing that once felt like it was taking forever suddenly becomes something you talk about in the past tense.
So celebrate the smaller wins too.
The assignment you finally understood.
The positive feedback.
The difficult situation you handled well.
The moment you realised something that used to make you nervous now feels normal.
The first time you thought:
“Actually... I'm getting better at this.”
Those moments matter.
11. And when you finish, don't stop being an apprentice.
This is the advice I couldn't have understood properly at the beginning.
I completed my apprenticeship.
But I don't want to graduate from curiosity.
I don't want to stop asking questions.
I don't want to become uncomfortable saying, “I don't know.”
I don't want to stop reflecting.
And I definitely don't want to stop learning from people who know things I don't.
Perhaps the best thing an apprenticeship can give you isn't simply a qualification.
Perhaps it's an apprentice mindset that stays with you afterwards.
Curious.
Humble.
Reflective.
Resilient.
Willing to improve.
And willing to help someone else.
If I could speak to myself on day one...
I'd probably say:
Don't worry about knowing everything.
You won't.
Don't expect everything to go perfectly.
It won't.
Don't panic when you receive difficult feedback.
Use it.
Don't carry everything yourself.
Ask.
Don't rush through the experience just to reach the certificate.
Learn.
And when something doesn't go according to plan, don't immediately assume the journey has gone wrong.
Sometimes the difficult part becomes the part that teaches you the most.
Most importantly, I'd tell myself:
You're going to get there. But the person who gets there won't be exactly the same person who started.
And maybe that's the whole point.
Today, I'm proud to have completed my Customer Service Specialist Level 3 apprenticeship.
But I'm equally grateful for the things that didn't come printed on the certificate:
The lessons.
The resilience.
The people who supported me.
The feedback that made me think again.
The confidence that grew gradually.
And the desire I now have to help other apprentices travelling their own road.
So if you're at the beginning of yours, I hope something here makes that road a little easier.
And if you're already somewhere in the middle:
Keep going.
One day, you'll be the person looking back.
And you might be surprised by just how far you've travelled.
What advice do you wish somebody had given you when you started your apprenticeship?
I'd genuinely love to hear it.
— Dami.
DEE3CONCEPTS — Always Ready to Serve
Building knowledge. Creating opportunities. Supporting growth.
