Cost Consultancy Apprentice Review

On a daily basis I assist other members of my team with various tasks such as completing measures to contribute towards cost plans, forming contracts, attending valuations, internal and external training, Mace's apprenticeship programme, I have worked on various different projects in public and private sectors with involvement in residential, bluelight and hotels and leisure.

I have learned how to use BIM Measure to complete measures, how to create a cost plan, how to determine rates and I have also formed a JCT contract for a client. I have been to site visits to take part in valuations and take pictures for progress reports to report back to the client directly.

I enjoy my programme because everything works hand in hand with university. If I learn a bit about something at university then it's likely that I will develop these skills further and the same vice versa. I am able to build on my experience in the industry which in my opinion is a lot better than studying full time.

My programme is structured well although it could be improved by being monitored more closely. People in the office sometimes tend to struggle to have the time to explain tasks to me because they are busy themselves. I think that if this could be avoided I could have made a lot more progress in the time I have been here.

My employer supports me in many ways by funding my education and funding my travel to and from work which really helps when you are only on a low wage. The only improvement I think that could be made is if I was allowed time to complete assignments or study as I sometimes find it difficult to balance work and uni life when work is really busy.

My training provider is supportive and offers different ways of teaching e.g. workshops / lectures / seminars / one to one sessions so that we are able to get the help we need. We also have draft submission points to help us evaluate our assignments before we submit which is very helpful.

I feel that my qualification helps me perform better in my role because it gives me an overview of the industry as a whole and allows me to have a clearer understanding of why I'm completing the tasks I do in work and why. It also gives me the opportunity to see things from a project manager point of view.

At Mace we have a volunteering day that we have to use once a year, we hold quarterly comms to bring the North and Scotland offices together and also get involved in things like the Yorkshire Three Peaks which I will be doing later on in the year. Mace also have a business development group which issue out events regularly that people may like to go to.

Yes

Mace support me in my degree apprenticeship in many ways. They offer financial support and also have a internal apprentice training scheme which helps to expand my knowledge further and allows me to be put with other apprentices and trainees and share experiences and knowledge with them. Mace are also very supporting as a business and is majority full of great people who are always willing to help.

I would recommend people to take the route that I have gone down and to complete a degree apprenticeship but I would suggest that they must be keen to get involved and ask for work. You need to be approaching other members of the team and constantly be asking if they have any work and you need to not feel bad if there isn't anything available for you to do and take it upon yourself to find something or use your initiative to think of something, although this can be difficult when you are new to the industry with so little experience and knowledge.