How would a typical training day look like during the 8 month placements?

Hi Diana, thank you for your question. During your placements, you will have the opportunity to learn in many different ways, including on-the-job learning with a buddy in your team who can support if you're getting stuck, as well as more formal training opportunities. We have access to a wide range of training platforms (such as Pluralsight and Percipio) and most of these are online, offering different formats, such as video, hands-on-labs, written articles, etc. These are also coming with some accessibility tools, so you can add closed captions, change the speed, etc, and the majority of them are also self-paced, so you can do them at the pace most suitable for you. There are also some full-day trainings, organised by the Emerging Talent team and they always make sure to make these inclusive to everyone attending.

Since my degree is not related to data (currently completing a data analysis course with Netcom to get some basics) would the graduate scheme, prior to placement, be introductionary training or are we immediately send to the specific departments/groups to do training with them?Also, would the team buddy be someone who is a peer on the same cohort, further ahead on the graduate scheme or someone who has already completed it?

My degree also wasn't in Technology, and I know some other graduates from our cohort who are coming from a non-techy background. There is a bootcamp at the beginning to ensure that everyone is at the same level before they are starting in their feature teams, so you'll have the opportunity to learn some of the most commonly used technologies. You'd also usually get multiple buddies, one from your team who can help with day-to-day work related questions and a fellow graduate from a previous cohort who will be able to support with decisions about next placements, etc.

Oh that's brilliant to know! I was slighltly worried due to the coding part of the application but it's great that they run non-tech up to speed at the start. What was the intenstity/hours/layout like of the bootcamp - was it simialr to univeristy courses or more of an apprenticeship? How did socialising with your cohort and team members look like within the work place during the scheme (and outside of it, if that's something you have an opinion on)?

The bootcamp was full-time for us, which I think was a good thing because we got to focus on it fully without any disruptions. It was running for 6 weeks which I thought was about the right length to feel comfortable joining a feature team. Where I'm based, in Manchester, we often meet with the other graduates and became good friends with quite a few of them :) There are also some socials on a feature team and wider lab level as well and a lot of things are happening in the office too, so it is definitely a very friendly working environment :)

I agree, 6 weeks fulltime makes sense! Lovely to know that Lloyds has a welcoming environment, I've read some other discusions about the supportive and friendly feel to the company and I'm glad it extends across different departments too! A nice balance of work and social time! As my last question, is there any advice you could give at this point in time that would have been useful for you to know when you were applying for your scheme?