Maintanance technician Review

The job role i am working towards will be a maintance technitian. As an apprentice i am taught how to eventually perform in this role. In the first year i work in the QEC, i work towards a BTEC qualification on a monday. Im then in the apprentice workshop learning skills such as hand fitting, milling, turning, welding, electrical, electronic, pnuematics, hydrualics, PLC, mechanical and more.

I have learnt lots of new skills inside my BTEC leasons learning the theory behind opperations as well as in the workshop. I have had the oppertunity to use and work with machinery and equipment that i had never previously had access to in collage or secondary school. This allowed me to develop my existing skills as well as develop ones that i had no previous access to.

I enjoy my course. The teaching quality is high and everything is taught as it should be. I enjoy the subject and how the subject is taught. There are great perks to the role such as pay rises and a car scheme, the prospect of the future is well looked after. The company rewards hard work but sometimes doesnt show it first hand. The management is strict but fair. The only negatives is that some of the equipment is outdated but there is plenty of budget.

The apprenticeship as a whole is well organised/ structured. some of the details are not planned as well, if a person is ahead they are usually given pointless tasks to slow them down to the level of the group. so at times it feels unchallenging and like your being held back. Big changes are not always implimneted and take lots of time. Ideas and listened to but are hardly ever used as the structure is so set.

Support is provided from BMW when asked for. They have their own office upstairs away from the workshop. If help or support is needed i have to go up and ask for it. If i do ever ask for help it is always provided to their best ability although my employer is not always easy to find.

Most of the time is spent with the training providers BMETs tutors. They will teach both the BTEC course and the workshop. This means that almost all of my worries or queeries are taken to them as they are the most accesable sourse of help. They provide all thye support needed and if there is somthig they cannot help i can still find help with my employer BMW.

The training provided is always relivent to the role. The course covers a lot of the theory neccissary to understand the underlieing principles involved in the role, such as electronics and mechanics. The course is very maths orientated and usually backs up what is done in the workshop. Sometimes i do find that the same content is being taught in the workshop time as in the BTEC time but this doesnt happen often.

There are a number of activities. some are organised by the company and others by the apprentices. BMW is very big on charity work so there are always lots of charity events or football games etc going on. They also encorage Apprentices so do extra-curricular activites but dont organise them themselves except if it is for a charity purpose.

Yes

I would recomend this company because although they do have their faults thats the same with any company. They are always looking to imporve and remove these faults and put a large budget into their Apprentices. The group offers great benefits such as pay, a car scheme and a job for life afterwoulds.

At BMW your attitude means a lot. If you are recognised as being the person who works hard, asks for extra work, takes on projects, runs the work experience they do recognise this. It is not neccisarily said to your face but it is noticed and will be rewarded when your looking for a job at the end of the apprenticeship. You need to show that you have a passion, drive and determination for the brand and towards self development, engineering knoledge is improtant but not neccisary because they can teach you that, but BMW recognises that its the attitude that matters to success of a peron and you need the correct one if you are looking to apply.