Alessandro Calamita is an IT Apprentice at Resolve IT Solutions

The ‘hands on’ nature of Apprenticeships and the pressures of solving real problems had always appealed to eighteen year old, Alessandro Calamita, who had his sights set upon an IT Apprenticeship since school. Although he enjoyed IT lessons, Alessandro craved the responsibility that would come with being in a real working environment. For Resolve IT Solutions, this was exactly the sort of young person that could bring something to their business.

Initially, Alessandro was unsuccessful in finding an IT Apprenticeship and worked as an Apprentice at a car garage instead.  Although he developed valuable communication and customer service skills in this role, Alessandro continued to scour the internet for Apprenticeship opportunities within IT. Eventually he came across a position at Resolve IT Solutions in Sheffield.

The company had been approached by e-Skills, the sector skills council for Business and Information Technology, about a new Microsoft Partner Apprenticeship scheme geared towards small businesses.  Resolve was encouraged to shape the role of the Apprenticeship to suit the company and its values. Jez Seaton, Team Leader at Resolve, played a key role in developing the Apprenticeship position and the recruitment process.

Alessandro combines his work at Resolve with weekly sessions at QA training in Leeds. At the beginning of his Apprenticeship, he spent a large proportion of his time at QA doing technical training, Business and Sales and practical assignments. After becoming CompTIA A+ qualified, Alessandro gradually increased the amount of time he spent at Resolve.

From day one, Alessandro found himself ‘thrown in at the deep end’ – which is exactly what he wanted. He explains:

“On my first day I was given a task and told to run with it. I was surprised at the amount of responsibility that I was given straight away but, you learn to use your initiative and become a good problem solver, as you are dealing with real people, with real problems.”

Alessandro’s ambition is to become a Network Administrator, ideally in a permanent position at Resolve. He says:

“Resolve has given me the opportunity to start at the bottom and work my way up. I had to persevere as I experienced a few problems trying to get this position, but it was worth it because it’s opened doors for me.”

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