apprentice technicain Review

My role and day to day activities can vary depending on my department. For example in my last department I was helping to build and test lasers. My current activities consist of creating circuit diagrams, designing, building and installing test equipment. In each department I also keep my SVQ and college work up to date.

During my first year of my apprenticeship I attended Edinburgh college full time to complete a SVQ2 in performing engineering operations. During this time I learned to construct electrical circuits, create and read wiring diagrams, test electrical circuits, use machinery such as lathes and mills and read mechanical drawings. I have built on these skills during my time in my departments

The level of enjoyment I get from my work can also vary with the department I am in. departments with more hands on practical work are departments I tend to enjoy more. However the management team can be frustrating as I feel we should be listened to more, given more responsibilities and our workload be more appreciated

How valued I feel can also vary with the department I am in. during my time in departments where I have been involved with the real work of the department and not simply apprentice tasks I feel very valued as I am helping the department to meet their deadlines and complete contracts

Some aspects of the programme are very well structured. For example some department have a training programme which is filled out during the apprentices time in the department. The programme gives a good insight into the departments role in the company. However the college is very unorganised as no cover is provided for lecturers being absent, our college cards to use the college laptops have never worked and the harder, tighter for time college courses have been scheduled to run together. This means some sumesters are very easy with lots of downtime and others are very hard and pushed for time.

During college time when our lecturers are free they are willing to give extra support to anyone who needs it. One lecturer in particular has stated they are willing to stay behind after class to give help to anyone who needs it. The apprentice management team have also stated that if anyone requires any additional support they are to contact them

I have asked the apprentice management team on one occasion for support. On this occasion this was due to my SVQ assessor. He could hardly find time to meet with me and was taking a while to mark my logs. I reported this to the team and received very little help. I had to keep pushing my assessor to meet with me myself. Eventually the team stepped in when they noticed how little of my work was marked. I feel they need to listen more when issues are raised and act quicker

For an apprenticeship the wages at Leonardo are very good. In the first year of the apprenticeship the wage barely covered my costs as I had to get a car to travel to work and since I live around 40miles away and am a young driver running cost and insurance meant I had to manage my money carefully.

There are quite a few volunteering events outside of work. These consist mainly of fundraising for charities but can also be days/nights out. Working at Leonardo also entitles me to go to Edinburgh council run gyms for free. However since I do not live in Edinburgh this is no use to me.

Yes

apprenticeships are a great way to gain a qualification as well as getting paid to work. Leonardo offers a good wage for an apprenticeship, a stable job and a very interesting field of work. Each day is different and with the variety of different departments on offer there is a job that everyone could find interesting

I would tell others to read up about the company as during interviews the company likes to hear what the person already knows about the company and their field of work. I would also tell them to practise competency based interviews as this was a completely new type of interview for me