Maintenance Engineer Review

I work in an automotive production environment where I am part of a maintenance team to produce the body shell of the mini. This includes performing reactive maintenance, preventative maintenance, condition monitoring and any other tasks and improvements that are required to keep the area running as efficiently as possible

I have learned welding, hand fitting, mechanical operations, electrical installations, PLC programming and other more specific skills such as being able to move the production robots, how to carry out weld gun and gripper changes. There are many training courses and packages that are available and I try to carry out as many as possible

I do enjoy it. I am also doing a HNC within the programme and this gives me an oppertunity to learn even more. I enjoy now staying in one area and working alongside the same team each day as I feel I have now intergrated and am a part of the team

I believe it is a well structured programme where we go on different areas and work environements to get a broader scope and more experience. The first year was all in a workshop which is useful to learn the basic skills and now that I am working I feel I am making use of these skills

As I work on site, support is always forthcoming from my employer with any issues I have come up against. We have periodic reviews where any concerns can be voiced and the company does try to act on that. This is the same with the college as well. They are both very supportive

My training provider for the apprenticeship is also based on site so therefore I recieve all necessary support from them. They are contactable whenever they are required. When at Swindon College for the HNC the lecturers there are also very supportive and can always be contacted with any problems that I may have

I believe some parts of it are very useful such as the fluid power theory, PLC programming, engineering materials and electrical systems, however there are always going to be parts that you will only ever pick up when on the shop floor and now that I am pon the shop floor I feel I am learning more useful skills

There are but with my studies I find there is never anything that I would want to give up my own time for. Certain activities are good like the mountain challenge however I find with all of my studies I do not have time to go and do these things

Yes

Pays well and the qualifications can take you anywhere in the world. There is also an incentive with the work scheme cars where BMWs are available on a leese scheme which as a young person can be very inticing. Overall there are great career prospects at BMW and it can be a great stepping stone in your career

Be open and honest with the employer over your goals and ambitions and see if they can help you get there. Be wary that as a maintenance associate you would be required to work shifts to ensure you get paid the better money and if thats not something you think you could do then you should really think hard before applying