Apprentice Engineer Review

Everyday is different, we travel out to different hospital sites and maintain and repair Lab equipment in pathology. This can be various types of machinery including Chemistry issues, haematology machines and immunoassay. We also cover problems with things such as tracks, loaders and some software issues. Everyday there will be something new to go to, or just planned maintenance.

I learn new things everyday, from alternative ways to carry out repairs or different chemistry facts. We are offered an extended driving course so we are confident with commuting to all the other sites so we are offered new opportunities to better ourselves all the time and isn’t just limited to engineering.

The programme is very different and interesting as everyday is different and you’re always learning different things and there is always a new challenge. Having such a variation of challenges is exciting and different as it helps you to progress and better yourself and extend your knowledge even further.

I think that there could be more structure to our programme however that is not always possible with the demands of the NHS but it can be difficult to know what you’re doing each day. However the learning qualifications gives you a clear outset of what’s coming up and what to expect next which is useful.

Support from employers is great, they are always there to resolve issues and offer support where they can. There is always someone to call anytime of day whether that be on the job support from TSE’s, help in any aspect from your line management and co workers are always available to offer support.

The training provider is always there whenever we need support or extra assistance, we check in regulary to monitor progress and discuss how we are getting on. They are always on hand to give positive feedback, they can offer areas you need to improve on and offer the support in order to do so.

I think the qualification gives us more theoretical knowledge and a better understanding of the job we are doing when we carry out the hands on work. This means we can be more knowledgable and also we may even learn something through our training provider before we carry it out on the job. This can be useful to already have some prior knowledge of work before carrying out a job or learning about it hands on.

For apprentices there is the opportunity to help recruit new apprentices and aid in the interviewing and informing on recruitment days. We have opportunities to volunteer for different events. We help out at the local colleges for encouraging females in engineering, and giving talks about what we do in our field.

Yes

There are so many oppportunities throughout the whole of Siemens, through jobs, training opportunities. There is always continuous support and they offer useful and interesting qualifications whilst training. I could reccomend Siemens not just from an engineering perspective as there are so many other aspects and job roles that go into the running of the company.

Make the most of every opportunity offered to you as there is so much out there on offer that are not just work related but the opportunity to travel to different places and gain so many life experiences, be prepared to work hard and you can get so much out of your job.