A trainee from South Wales is making his mark in the technology industry as Circle IT’s first apprentice.

Simon Felvus, aged 17, from Cwmbran started his apprenticeship with the IT service support provider in September and is working towards his NVQ level 3 in IT at Coleg y Cymoedd.

He will split his time between studying at college and working on the company’s service desk at the Cardiff Gate office, which provides IT support and managed services to more than a hundred organisations throughout the UK.

Circle IT has secured its position as of one of Wales’ high-growth companies after recording an impressive 19% increase in turnover from 2012, at £4.3m.

The Cardiff Gate based company has invested heavily in the development of its staff, to reach several key business milestones over the last 12 months, employing 18 new members of staff and launching its first apprenticeship scheme.

The IT provider has also recently celebrated the opening of its first office outside of Wales in Milton Keynes, which will house a team of technical and sales staff. Circle IT has demonstrated impressive growth in the education sector, and now provides consultancy and IT support services to 20 colleges across Wales and England.

Simon said: “When I first left education I originally started working at my family’s drainage company, but I soon realised that this wasn’t the career I wanted pursue. When the opportunity to undertake an apprenticeship with Circle IT arose, I immediately knew that this was the path I want to take. It is a fantastic entry into work for me.

“I don’t feel like a regular apprentice, I already feel like I’m part of the team at Circle IT. Right from the beginning I have been given the same level of responsibility as the rest of the employees on the service desk – I’ve even been given the same opportunity for out of hours work if I ever want it.”

Circle IT’s managing director Roger Harry said: “Simon has really impressed us with his initiative and problem solving on the service desk, and he has become a valuable member of the team. This apprenticeship is one of the ways we are looking to build on the internal development of the company and create a more skilled workforce – giving opportunities to local people at both our Cardiff Gate and Milton Keynes office. As a company, our focus is to up-skill the workforce from within and use this development to support our business growth.”

Founded in 2001 by Roger Harry and Alun Emanuel, Circle IT is the largest IT Support and Systems Integrator of its kind in Wales and currently provides IT support and managed services to more than a hundred organisations throughout the UK. It is Wales’s only Microsoft Gold, VMware Enterprise, Dell Premier and Citrix Silver partner and specialises in delivering enterprise infrastructure solutions and services to SMEs throughout the UK.

The company operates across the public and private sectors, providing a range of IT services including server virtualisation, advanced storage solutions, data backup and disaster recovery and full or partial managed IT support services.