Apprentice C&I maintenance technician Review

I am an apprentice maintenance technician currently based at babcock engineering academy for 2 years. As this is a training environment my daily tasks really consists of learning modules to do with my future job, and completing tests on them, while sometimes incorporating some practical elements. I interact with my fellow 110 apprentices, but also network rail apprentices who also train here. We have the opportunity to join a student forum and weekly we rotate the responsibility of class leader within our class, who reads out the daily safety message, any other messages and takes the register. There are various clubs to join ran by the navy of HMS Sultan, but everyday mostly consists of note taking and studying for tests.

Yes I have gained a lot of qualifications since i have been on my apprenteship, many which not only set me up for the job i am training for, but also for any other jobs in my field that i amy choose to venture into. I have developed a lot of practical skills, but mostly learned new ones!!

I enjoy my company culture more than anything, I know that the company that i work for are one of the best available and I look forward to completing my 2 years back on my power station, as i know that the safety culture employed by my company is one of the best in the country. On the other hand, the novelty of moving away from home has now worn off after a year and a half, it is not a heathy environment to be in to live and work with he same people, meaning it's hard to let work go after you get home, there are many aspects of the attitude here that i do not agree with. Overall, I enjoy my apprenteship very much, but I have to keep telling myself that still being where i am will be worth it when i leave. In conclusion, this part of my apprenteship did not fully meet my expectations but that would not discourage me from recommending it to other people, as it is a very good scheme to be on and will be worthwhile.

I feel valued to my company to the extent that i can be as an apprentice, I know that they would not be at a loss without me there, but I am constantly reminded that I earned my place on the scheme, and that we are the "big bosses" of tomorrow. I do not feel I receive much personal recognition, but that is the way that i prefer it to be.

My programme is very well structured, we know the main structure of the year before we even start, but a lot of the 1st year could be condensed so that we do not have to spend a lot of time away from home. We have planned trips home before the academic year begins and we have regular meetings every 12 weeks to see how we are getting on.

I know my training provider will answer a question if I ask it, but a lot of the time the answer is 'just because'. My training provider is an outside company, but unfortunately I do not feel like they want to listen to our comments or make our experience as good as it could be.

Immense support from my company, I know that if i needed anything that was in their power to help me with, that they would. I also have a support contact from my home station, just outside glasgow, that i can put comments to that will be passed down to the team in portsmouth.

Since i have my accommodation and food payed for, my wage more than meets my needs, although i still manage to spend it all! The only downside is that we are banned from having a car down here, which makes travel quite expensive.

Due to where we stay there is not much to do that isn't quite far away, or inaccessible since we do not have cars. there are a couple of clubs on HMS sultan that are available to us though.

Yes

Although my time down in portsmouth has been very difficult the past 2 years and i have not enjoyed it as much as i had hoped, this would not discourage me from the scheme as it is an excellent place to be in.

Have some interest and experience in the field of engineering, and know how a nuclear power plant works! Just stay calm and be yourself, no one in this field gets anywhere from lying.