Maintenance Engineer Review

My apprenticeships consists of 4 years of training at the BMW MINI plant in Oxford; in this time I spend one year in the Mini-cademy doing a BTEC course on Monday followed by practical work (in a workshop) from Tuesday to Friday; some of the activities include welding, machining, PLCs etc. The other three years of my apprenticeship I go on placement around the plant, where I will be within my end-of-apprenticeship job environment and learn all the vital skills needed for me to be a successful maintenance engineer.

Before my apprenticeship I had a small understanding of many aspects of this field of work but in only nine months of training at the BMW group, I have already substantually increased in my knowledge of the car industry, the working world, engineering theory and practical techniques etc. I have also become more confident (as the company make me occasionally do talks or take people around on tours etc.), and more independant. I will be doing BTEC qualification with the second year consisting of an NVQ and then a degree if the previous qualifications are passed. I also have the opportunity to do extra training (e.g. first aid, health ans safety etc.)

I am very much a person who enjoys more practical activities rather than academic training as I can get hands-on and physically do the activities which the BMW group really cater to; I still like the fact that on mondays I am in a classroom doing some theory but love how for most of the week I'm in a workshop doing all the activities that I'll be using in my day-to-day job. The company is very helpfu;, supporting and has good communication and facilities and therefore beats my expectations of the average company appreniceship hence making me enjoy every single say I'm here, even if it is very hard work.

I feel that the BMW group really do value their apprentices and see the potential in every single one of them; myself included. The management team i the Mini-cademy is very supportive, friendly (but stobborn in the right areas) and has good communication with it's apprentices. They allow us to take part in BMW events (especially to do with recruitment) and that really makes me feel like the company want to show us off to the public which shows proudness from the BMW group which is motivating to me. Compared to what I've heard in other apprenticeships where apprentices feel like a 'dog's body' at BMW that really isn't the case; you are treated as any other employee would be.

Overall the apprenticeship is very well organized. The academic side is well structured and the lessons are taught to a high enough standard that I am able to understand the topics. There is also enough time for us to complete assignments without stress. The training in the workshop is split into sections of Hand Fitting, Mechanical and Electrical and all cosist of 13-14 weeks of training and assessments which are of high quality and cosist of enough time. One critism would be that there have been hiccups in some of the structure (some students being taught the wrong topics or some students not having anything to do in the workshop for a couple of weeks) but after looking at the positives they heavily outweigh the negatives with the programme structure.

We receive lots of support and help from our training provider; good quality lessons, after hours support (if needed), recommendations and advice etc. This makes the BTEC qualification much less stressful (as you know you have people that will help you if you struggle at any point) and also more enjoyable as the teaching staff are interested and are willing to teach with passion.

We receive some support from our employer; they help more with work queries and other problems (e.g. home problems) but don't contribute to the BTEC theory work, but with the trainer provider being so supportive in this field that isn't neccassry for them to be aswell. The employer also motivates you to work hard, set standards for you (the same as any employee) and therefore expect you to meet them. So therefore the support in their certain areas is very good.

10/10. The salary at BMW is (for my standards) out of this world for an appreticeship especially. I find it more than enough to cover my costs of the month, food, travelling, rent etc. and for a 17 year old the costs of the month aren't enough to leave me with no disposal income so this motivates me to work hard. Also we recieve a payrise every 6 months with a very decent percentage increase (only if you are up to standard and up-to-date with the workload, which is fair enough). We also have fringe benefits of the company car scheme, car discounts for family and friends and also receive little extras like a Halfords' Trade Card, HP and Apple discounts etc.

I would say that the BMW group have a decent amount of opportunities outside of work (e.g the race team, charity work, sponsored events, apprentice football team), but I found that these aren't very publicised and therefore you don't recieve an opportunity to join them or even apply as you basiclly just don't know how. But the amount of outside of work opportunities is defintely a possitive and show they want to give back to their apprentices and employees.

Yes

Because, in my opinion, a BMW apprenticeship is an honor to be a part of and also the fact that I feel that the appreticeship is one of the best across the entire country; this is because you are treated well, have high quality training with a fair good structure, recieve good supoort, recieve a great salary and fringe benefits (company car, discounts, trade cards etc).

One tip I would give to anyone wanting to apply or having applied, BMW is the place you want to be if you love a hands-on approach with a lower amount of academic classroom work than school, a good management and HR team, friendly employees, great fringe benefits, a high salary, making new friends and connections, moving up the company and recieving extra training and opportunites. Overall the BMW Group offers a very high quality apprencticeship that someone who be crazy to pass up if they had the oppotunity to join.