Engineering Technician Apprentice Review

I am a third year Engineering Technician Apprentice (Eng. Tech). As a third year I spend three days a week on a placement in a department at MINI Plant Oxford, and two days at Abingdon & Witney College studying for my foundation degree. This is the same structure as a second year Eng. Tech Apprentice. Placements in departments last around three months. During which I am expected to either take on an engineering based project to work on individually or join an existing project. However, this is not guarantied as the quality of work given by departments can vary between engineering projects and simple data entry tasks. The foundation degree is in Mechanical Engineering and lasts two years. It is an Oxford Brookes run course despite being on an external campus (Abingdon & Witney College). In the fourth year of the apprenticeship, Eng. Techs complete a “top up” course at Brooke’s Wheatley Campus to get a BSc in Mechanical Engineering. Currently this is structured as two days a week at work and three at University due to the increased workload.

In my first year I learnt new skills such as electrical circuit design, electronics, MMA welding, PLC programming, further mathematics, and hydraulics. I also had the chance to further develop engineering skills I had learned in college. While I enjoyed learning these skills I have not used most of them at work or at university. The second and third year of the apprenticeship has developed my confidence and communication skills in a work environment. I spent these years networking in each of the plants technologies, learning their functions and connections to the business. This will be key to understanding my role after my apprenticeship.

So far I have found my third and second year to be far more enjoyable than my first year, which felt comparable to college/sixth form. I now feel like I am preparing for a role in a work environment and being treated like a professional rather than a student. I am given far more responsibility over my time and my learning compared to the first year. However my enjoyment of the program depends on the quality of my placement. I have found that some placements offer far more engaging projects than others, and some have offered no project at all. Most of my enjoyment comes from working in a dynamic work environment, and learning about the functions that go into it.

In the first year of the apprenticeship apprentices stay in the training school workshop. Here we completed workshop qualifications and a Level 3 BTEC Award (equivalent to one A Level). The purpose of this year is to give apprentices a basic knowledge of most engineering areas and practices. However, coming into the course from a level 3 engineering background I personally found this year repetitive, and unnecessary. I have not used most of the workshop skills I learnt since finishing the first year. The structure of the second and third year is very effective. It provides opportunities to develop skills, network, and learn how the plant operates. Apprentices spend three days a week at the plant and two days and college. While at work we are expected to gather evidence of project work, although initially this was not clear. The fourth year is structured as two days a week at work and three days at university. This is due to the workload of the top up year at Oxford Brookes. During this year we are also expected to become fully trained in our final job roles. The organisation of the program has varied in each year of the apprenticeship. The first year was well organised as it had a set structure. The second and third year have not been so good. My placement plan has not been followed since the second year, since it has had to be adapted multiple times. This is due to my original placement plan being recycled from a previous year.

I am supported by the training school, the department responsible for apprentices. I have one to ones with my manager every three months, which gives me the opportunity to bring up any issues I am facing. I also have an Eng. Tech meeting every three weeks, where we are given updates on the plant and the apprenticeship. The level of support has increased since the start of the apprenticeship. However, I feel like the level of support is sometimes insufficient for me to meet what is expected of me. This is largely due to not being provided with equipment such as a work phone or laptop. I have found that departments are reluctant to give me project work since they have no way of contacting me quickly if I am away from my desk. We are expected to borrow laptops from the department we are on placement in. As we cannot save work locally to our own laptop we are limited to 500MB of network storage or to use memory sticks, which can be a security risk. A lot of apprentices have turned to the department they will work for after the apprenticeships for phones and laptops.

I would regard my current training provider as Abingdon & Whitney College as they provide the tutoring for the Oxford Brookes foundation degree. During the first year at the college, I received more than enough support from my tutors to achieve a good grade in each module. Being a higher education course you are expected to do outside reading as well to get the most out of the course. The second year of the foundation degree has been less organised due to a tutor leaving. However the college has been actively trying to reduce the impact this is having on the timetable. The college now has a new building for higher education courses, which has all the facilities the course requires. My only criticism would be that as it is not run on a Brooke’s campus we miss out on a lot of the benefits of being a Brookes student, such as a larger library, sports facilities, and social groups.

The mechanical engineering foundation degree has little to do with the work I am given on placements or my final job role. However I have learned skills in both work and university that apply to each other. This means that I learnt engineering and manufacturing techniques at work that are not covered at university such as 5S and Kaizen.

There are currently extremely limited opportunities outside of work for apprentices. Apprentices can volunteer to attend career events at schools to advertise the apprenticeship, but I do not consider this a social opportunity or a professional networking event. There are however company events that apprentices can take part in, these consist of events such as Mountain Challenge, a competitive mountaineering event over a weekend. One of the only opportunities run by apprentices is the Cowley Carnival project, which involves building a carnival float to represent the MINI Plant Oxford at Cowley Carnival. There is also an onsite MINI Challenge race team that has apprentice members, although it is a very limited opportunity and not restricted just for apprentices. Most apprentices arrange their own social activities outside of work because of the limited opportunities.

Yes

In my opinion apprenticeships are the best way to not only get industry experience, but also higher qualifications. BMW Group offers a great apprenticeship for anyone interested in getting into engineering. It is also a good way to get into the company as most people I have met on site started as an apprentice.

I would recommend you get an engineering based hobby or volunteer at motor sport team for example. This shows you have an interest in engineering. Know which apprenticeship you want to apply for and make sure you apply for the right one. When recruiting they are looking for enthusiasm and good learning behavior, not just knowledge.