Engineering Technician Apprentice Review

I am an Engineering Technician and I spend my time completing projects for various departments in the buisness. Every 3 months I will change departments, allowing me to learn every side of the buisness, and also meet new people that I will be working with in the future. One day of the week is dedicated to going to university to study a Mechanical Engineering Degree with Oxford Brookes.

I am 3 years into my apprenticeship and still haven't had the opportunity to gain any qualifications, however I will be completing my Foundation Degree this summer. I have learnt a great deal in this degree, and although a lot cannot be linked to my day-to-day work, my working knowledge of cars and car designing has improved greatly. The biggest skill I can take away from this is being able to present to a large group of people. I have completed projects and presented my findings/solutions to high level managers and I now enjoy doing this.

I enjoy the work that I do, and meeting the people within the business. I don't enjoy the unorganised structure of the apprenticeship however... There have been times when no one really knows what is going which has been concerning in the past. The company perks are good and the apprenticeship pay is excellent, however I would enjoy it more if there was more structure.

Being an apprentice it is hard to get recognised for the work that you complete, however recently I have found myself getting appraisal from managers that I do not even work for. This is a great feeling and lets me know that the work that I do is useful. There are some departments that still lack in this area, and do not engage with me at all, but I try to steer away from these places if I can.

The structure is not the best. We have had issues with education arrangements and managers coming and leaving. This makes it hard to know where to go for information when it is needed. The placement plan, which shows which departments I am supposed to visit, was not not adequate and did not relate to my final job role so I have changed my placements and now the plan is out of date. They should discuss the placement plan with me and my host manager to see what is best.

Our training provider is Oxford Brookes for our Degree and they have been really good so far. The tutors always reply to emails and are happy to help whenever I need it. My training provider for the apprenticeship is Birmingham Metropolitan College. They have always notified me about any changes and have done their best with supporting us though the apprenticeship.

The training school have always supported me with any issues that I have with the apprenticeship. We have recently gained a new manager who doesn't communicate with me as much but hopefully once they have learned their new role/job then they can begin working on this. We also have a new Technician Manager who is very understanding and is happy to help us out.

The salary is very good as long as you stay on track with your apprenticeship work and education. Every 6 months there is an opportunity for a rise in pay, as long as you are on track with work and there have been no behavioural issues. I am happy to say I have not missed a pay rise yet and this puts me in a good position as an apprenticeship.

There are many careers events that you can get involved in, however I have tried to get involved in the past and never been asked to do it personally. It always seems like the same people doing the events. I have gone to a Technical College to present our apprenticeship and its benefits to GCSE students looking at further education.

Yes

Although the structure is not very good and the workload is far too much (Full time job, University and Logbooks), I would much rather do this over full time university. I am going to end up with the same university qualification, and I will not have a debt on my name. The experience of working with new people is very fun and it is easy to build a network of people that you can approach in the future. You miss out on the fun of going out every weekday however you get to earn money, improve your skills and drive a new BMW..

The interview is a long process, just be yourself and make sure you are certain this is what you want to do. The apprenticeship is quite intense and BMW expect a lot from you in the long run. Apply to multiple places and just be prepared for team building activities in the interview. Ensure you have a portfolio of a project to bring to the interview, I just brought my A Level Product Design Project, and you know everything about it.