Plater Review

My role is to support the royal navy's ship maintenance and upkeep. We do a variety of different jobs including fabrication and metal hot work involving grinders and welding. the constructive trade I am learning is different and challenging every day. we work all around Portsmouth dockyard on a range of different ships including Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

I worked in the marine industry before starting my apprenticeship and had a few skills before hand. By enrolling onto this apprenticeship I've been able to develop a range of new skills and techniques that help me with my job role. There is something new to learn every single day.

Before starting this apprenticeship I found myself looking to constantly better myself and develop skills I knew I wanted to have. Since starting this role I have found that I enjoy the variety of work from day to day and the skills that I am learning I will have with me for life.

The year I started my apprenticeship I believed that the structure of the day to day work was well organised however there was days where instructors were absent or missing and these days seemed unplanned and unmanaged. by the second year the group I was in seemed to be placed around the dockyard at random with no planning or thought about the apprentice's individual needs or aspirations and that also was a bit unorganised.

The support I receive from my employer is great. If I am unsure of anything or I am confused about anything concerning my work, my employers will donate a lot of their time to take my concerns into their consideration. if I ever need support I can contact them in confidentiality.

The first year of my apprenticeship I received a lot of support from my training providers mainly because I was in the training centre every day. From the second year onwards the support started regularly in month intervals and suddenly stopped due to under staffing. there was a long period of no contact or support for around 8 months

The paperwork and qualifications that I have been provided from my trainers do help to an extent. I do think that it helps me perform better in my job role however a portion of the qualifications paper work does seem irrelevant to my job role and seems those parts would be needed for a higher qualification and a job role that involved less hands on work.

As far as I am aware that are not many extra curricular activity's for me to get involved with at my work regarding enhancing my work or knowledge of my job role. there is always a social side to the job role I am in however and regular social events are attended.

Yes

I would recommend BAE systems to a friend because it gives that person a great opportunity to thrive and do well in a career that you can achieve high in. The great thing about this job is that you will get out what you put in, so I would recommend that anyone who wanted to learn and earn on the job throw themselves into the work with 100% attitude of succeeding.

I would have to say that you have to work hard everyday and that you have to listen to everyone's way of doing things especially the older generation. The people here are well experienced and have many things to teach if you are willing to put the time in to learn.