Wakefield tech expert reflects on 'dream career' after learning to code for major company

Computer whizz Andy Marshall, 39, from Walton, is a senior developer at one of the UK’s biggest Health tech companies, EMIS.

His career has now come full circle as he develops programs for the computer systems used by GPs to make appointments and record patient information.

He praised the training programme delivered through his apprenticeship at EMIS for helping him carve a career in tech development, after he discovered an aptitude for coding while working in the office at Northern General Hospital in Sheffield.

Andy, who is a dad of one and a former student of Crofton Academy in Wakefield, said: “The apprenticeship at EMIS was the best thing I did.

“I’d been to university, but it wasn’t right for me, so I ended up leaving midway and doing bits of temping work.

"It was when I was doing an admin job at a hospital in Sheffield I realised the way they were doing things could have been a lot better – it was all paper based and quite time consuming.

"I had enough of the basics to build a simple piece of software to streamline all the information and they really liked it – to my knowledge they are still using it now! I’d got a spark of something and really enjoyed it, so the apprenticeship came at the perfect time.”

Andy joined EMIS age 28 as part of its Software Engineering Apprenticeship Scheme 12 years ago.

As an apprentice Andy was responsible for technical testing and support development, before moving into project development where he built new features for EMIS software.

Now he is the technical lead for a project that will allow GPs to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies.

He added: “When it comes to software development, I don’t think you can get better training than being an apprentice.

" Had I stayed at uni I think there would have been big gaps in my knowledge – I think that there can be a massive disparity between what you learn at University and what you do in the real world, even today.

“Apprenticeships are great because you are earning money and constantly learning from the people around you.

“There are other apprentices who you can get to know and bounce ideas off, but then there are these seasoned web developers who have been there and done it – it’s the best of both worlds.”

Andy, who lives in Walton with partner Freya and their son Cole, spends his day writing code.

“I love writing code, but it’s not just about that, it’s about creating software which is going to be used successfully,” he said.

"Here at EMIS we have the added benefit of knowing that what we are working towards is going to be used by thousands of doctors to the benefit of millions of patients.

"Particularly at the moment, when there are a lot of pressures on the NHS. It’s both challenging and satisfying.”