Apprentice M&E engineer Review

My role is an apprentice M&E engineer. That means that I will gain skills in both mechanical and electrical engineering. Day to day I shadow my mentor, a commissioning engineer for JN Bentley. We go to site most days and consult on electrical information and gain site knowledge as best we can as it will help us when it comes to actually commissioning the site at the end of the job.

I have learned many new skills from my apprenticeship. I have learned about the dangers of doing work on a site that is still running and how to safely perform work on equipment there. I learned how to safely isolated equipment so it is safe and I have also learned how to do some paperwork which is required for a commissioning engineer to work.

I enjoy my programme quite a bit because it has allowed me to learn the basics of engineering and some skills and knowledge that will likely help me in my long term career. I have also met many other people who started out their jobs the same way I did when they started work and have given me helpful advice to further my career and how to make the most of it.

The programme I am on isn't particularly well organised. My mentor and I car share every day, head to site on the office and do the work he would do on a regular basis. The training has started 7-8 months late so having days in the office for training hasn't been something we have had to arrange. Now that it as started we have been given dates to meet the trainers and that is fairly well organised within the company as me and the other apprentices usually sort it between ourselves and the involved people about rooms etc.

I receive all the support I need from my employer. My mentor is incredibly supportive and the people I've met on site have also been very kind and supportive of me and my career. They all go above and beyond what I had been expecting when I started work and made it much easier transitioning from classroom work at school to the work environment. The people on site especially. They are all very kind, supportive and they don't talk down to me or treat me as any less important because I am just an apprentice.

My training provider has been very out of touch with us for 8 7-8 months of our apprenticeship. We received no training after the 2 week induction and the only stuff we learned was from our mentors. Recently a new training provider has been brought in who has, so far, given a much better impression and seem to be more organised and interested in training us as apprentices.

I have not received any qualifications from my training provider but from what I have seen so far, the qualifications will give me a better understanding of the field I work in and will give me the confidence, knowledge and the ability to do more as an engineer and to work safely while doing tasks more complex than I can now, as an apprentice.

There have been a few social events organised through work since I began, the most memorable being go karting. A lot of people showed up and it was good to socialise with everyone as people rather than seeing them just as their job roles. There was also a new starter lunch arranged by the company for everyone who started working for the company that year. It was good to talk to the other apprentices outside of a work environment and also the people who had graduated university and started work at the same time as me, or just transferred from another company.

Yes

The company is providing me with a qualification that will set me up with a career for hopefully my whole life. The skills I learn will be key to standing out from the crowd and working my way up the company ladder and progressing my career. I would recommend anyone who wants to be an engineer to try and get in working for JN Bentley if they could.

Be confident in yourself and don't be afraid to ask questions. The people here are supportive and funny. Its a work environment you'll be going into, so be sensible but the company and the people working for it will undoubtedly help you on your way. Its definitely worth trying to at least.