Technical Apprentice Review

I'm a technical apprentice which means I spend 6-7 placements around the business in technical roles. These roles can vary greatly depending on where you go so every apprentice will have a differing experience, but during my time I have worked on Typhoon, Hawk and F-35 in varying capacities. Day to day activities will vary according to the role but often include engineering activities as well as attending meetings and compiling reports.

I have greatly improved my communication skills as I have to communicate with a variety of different people every day as part of my role. I've also gained skills thanks to my further education and the engineering activities I have been able to carry out.

I enjoy a lot of the work I do in the programme, however I feel the further education side of things could be structured much better which would improve my satisfaction with it. Being an apprentice often means being given 'apprentice work' which are tasks that nobody wants to do so they are given an apprentice, but I do enjoy meaningful work when it's given to me.

A lot of emphasis and investment is put in to apprenticeships at BAE and it's clear that we are valued a lot and seen as the future. However in some areas it is clear apprentices are just used as free labour by some line managers (this is a minority though). Lots of opportunities are also afforded to apprentices and I feel like we receive a good amount of support.

The induction was fairly useful although not very concise. The on the job training we get from departments is often very good and people are willing to share their knowledge. However I get the feeling that the apprenticeship programme could be run a lot better and some examples of decision making at higher levels can be a bit questionable. We receive good support from our assessors however I feel like the whole NVQ process and system was never really explained properly and I'm encountering issues now I'm coming to the end of my apprenticeship due to misunderstanding and misinformation a few years ago. The college and FE providers could also improve, they do ask for information on how they can improve, but nothing is ever done about it. Problems that existed at college 2 years ago are the same now if not worse. The college provider is not very well thought of by apprentices and some members of staff have commented on them as well.

The NVQ training provider would be the apprentice programme here at BAE, and the support from them is more or less good however like I mentioned earlier I feel the NVQ process could be explained better so we can manage it more effectively. The FE provider I feel don't support us very well, and although they ask for our opinion on things it often gets rejected without any real consultation and I have very little confidence in the FE provider. There is so little consistency between tutors on how work is processed and graded and I have little confidence that my work will actually be assessed properly at times.

The managers within the business where we have our placements are often very supportive and very helpful in providing what they need to so we can complete the placements. Often the workload is good and a good value is seen in apprentices and we often feel like valued members of the team.

Salary at BAE is very good, from the beginning I have been able to support myself whilst living alone and renting a property as I am not from the area originally. I make no complaints at all as we are also afforded a travel allowance. However there are often delays when processing our pay increases.

There are a good number of opportunities afforded to apprentices however I feel that some opportunities are offered to specific apprentices rather than being communicated to the wider apprentice population and I feel we do miss out sometimes.

Yes

The work here is very interesting and I'm sure when I come in to a full time role it will be very fulfilling and in a very interesting area which is military air. The apprenticeship is more or less good but could definitely be improved, however earning while learning is definitely something I'd recommend.

Have a good idea for a project you can use to present to the interviewers, I talked about a car I had been working on which lead to good conversation between us. Once you're in ask lots of questions about the NVQ process and what your work will actually contribute to, and don't be afraid to call them out when you feel something could be done better.