Engineering Technician Review

I'm an Engineering Technician Apprentice, who at the moment is in a placement in the Liaison Department in Govan, this placement involves me shadowing, working alongside and learning from the engineers in the department as the responded to issues raised in the Build phase, I also go to college one day a week at Anniesland doing a HNC in Mechanical Engineering with the intention to progress onto a HND next year.

During the first year of my programme I went to College full time in order to complete a HNC in Engineering Systems and by the end of my placement I will have added a HNC & HND in Mechanical engineering to this, while also receiving the opportunity to go to University to do a degree if I work and show I am worth sending.

So far my program has been enjoyable all the placement have been in I have been welcomed as part of the team there and everyone has made an effort to aid me when I have asked for help, the culture in BAE towards apprentices is fantastic with most people more than happy to help and teach you things that they have gained through there years of experience.

At BAE Systems I do feel valued as I can see the effort that has went into my apprenticeship and the effort that continues to be put in by the Early Careers team into supporting my development as an engineer, also during my time here my status as an apprentice has never blocked my path in carrying out or helping with a task.

The programme that I am on has so far has progressed smoothly and I have moved into my placements without any major problems. When I stated it took a bot of time to receive access to everything I needed but it was resolved with relative speed and did not cause me any issues.

So far my training provider would be Anniesland college where I done my HNC, so far the college has been good, most of the lecturers have been very good, providing me with a good foundation to build my Engineering Career on. However the communication between the apprentices and the college can be poor as we were not informed that we were doing a second HNC until this year.

I receive a good amount of support from my employer, my Training Officer and the early careers team provide us with support and help us with any issues that we are unable to solve ourselves, away from this there is a great support network of other apprentices who many have encountered and dealt with problems similar to what you are doing and may be able to provide you with assistance.

The salary that I am paid as an apprentice is fantastic and is easily able to cover any expenses that I have had and alongside the level of tanning was a very attractive part o the apprenticeship.

At the moment most of my experience ahs been within work.

Yes

I would recommend an apprenticeship at BAE Systems because of the support and opportunity that is offered to apprentices, while offering a highly competitive salary.

When going for interviews, do some research on the company as that bit of effort showed goes a long way.