Apprentice Review

I do PCB design as my final role that I have chosen as part of my apprenticeship. I am given a design that I must transfer into a PCB layout which I find enjoyable and rewarding to do as the designs are my own. My responsibilities are that I make sure the board can be manufactured and stick with the engineers desires.

So far academically at college I have not learned a great deal more in the past year but overall I have developed communication skills as well as problem solving skills from my role in PCB design.

I enjoy my programme a lot due to mainly the work I do but I also enjoy the flexibility of the work place. It exceeded my expectations of what it would have been like in some areas but in certain areas I expected more than what was there.

Fairly valued a lot of money is put into apprentices however, involvement with tasks seems to always be a select few all of the time and for certain events apprentices do not hear of them but see that others went to this event. This hampers greatly at your chances gaining recognition.

Programme overall is a great structure in terms of rotations around the business, how inductions are carried out, helping you to manage SVQ. The programme has flaws though, certain rotations are not well structured for apprentices and at times the apprentice can be left with no work, the college course I feel has been very poor in providing me necessary electrical knowledge for tasks within the workplace.

We receive support from our providers if necessary and they have never been known not to offer assistance or advise whenever an apprentice has needed hep with college or with their day job.

Again the same as the training provider the level of support given if you require it is very good.

The salary we receive is higher than a lot of other apprenticeships I looked at and is a good amount to help you cover living costs.

Yes there are several volunteering events offered that you can take part in. there is also benefits offered by the business that allow you free gym memberships, discounts within stores which all help provide opportunities outside of work

Yes

As I enjoy the apprenticeship and believe it is a good starting point for a career within an engineering company.

Sell yourself as much as possible list the most impressive things you have done within your application as it is a very competitive process. For the assessments and interviews just be yourself and try your best. also in any tests it is more important to get your answers correct rather than finishing.