Working at SnapDragon as their first apprentice has been an immensely rewarding experience. Since joining in September, I have met so many interesting people and learnt a huge variety of new skills.  I am currently on a gap year between school and university. I had originally planned to take a year out because I was young in my year at school and I wanted to travel and gain some life experience before I left home. While the coronavirus pandemic may have prevented my travelling, my time at SnapDragon has definitely taught me some valuable life lessons.

I was thrilled to be offered my apprenticeship at SnapDragon because I knew it was an innovative tech-based company but, as I was to find out, there was a lot I did not know about brand protection and intellectual property. Discovering why these rights are so important to businesses today has been fascinating. Although I had heard of concepts like trademarks and copyright before, I have learnt a lot more about their practical application and use. For example, by registering the name or slogan of a business for only £100, you can then protect that brand from infringers for a decade – minimum! Or, even more simply, using automatic copyright on images and original words is a great way to protect businesses even if they are yet to register any intellectual property. All major e-commerce platforms have protocols in place for removing infringing listings based on intellectual property rights. Working alongside the superb brand protection specialists at SnapDragon has allowed me to learn from the best in order to navigate these sites and complete takedowns for our clients. Being able to defend companies against the unfair infringement of their ideas by using these straight-forward and cost-effective tools has been one of the things that has made proud to work here.

My apprenticeship has also been my first experience of a professional workplace. Although I have not been able to have much time in the office, learning to work alongside people I have never met in person before has helped me to appreciate the importance of good communication and teamwork. In addition, I have also had to be responsible for some of our client projects. At first it was slightly daunting, especially when we were working to tight deadlines or when I was made the main point of contact for a client, but I am proud of being able to work under pressure and continue to deliver results. I am sure that the skills I have gained will be hugely beneficial even when I leave. The ability to manage my time wisely and work to key targets will be really helpful. Furthermore, my time here has aided me in thinking about what I might like to do as a career after university.

My main highlight of my time at SnapDragon so far has been my work on BogusBuster. Not only has this improved my skill at spotting scams when I am shopping, it has been great to know that I have helped lots of different people stay safe online. It has also been interesting to learn more about the role of marketing on social media in order to create interest in the new BogusBuster site. Increasing brand awareness and driving traffic to the website via campaigns on Twitter and Facebook was a different way of using social media that I had not considered before.

I have had an amazing time so far at SnapDragon, and I cannot wait to see what the next few months of my apprenticeship bring!