Apprentice Engineer Technician Review

I am a third year apprentice working at Mini Plant Oxford. I spend 3 days a week at work as a powertrain validation apprentice which involves performing on analysis on pre-series vehicles to ensure they meet our company's and customers high standards. The remaining two days I study a Mechanical Engineering Degree through Oxford Brookes university.

Yes, through this apprenticeship my problem solving skills have greatly improved allowing me to find solutions easier whilst also exploring more creative solutions to issues. We have also had the opportunity to attend specific Electric Vehicle training to expand our skills in this area and remain safe whilst working in and around these high voltage systems.

In general I enjoy the program and have gained a lot of knowledge and skills from it. A frustration this year has been a bit of disorganisation of our university course due to last minute staff changes which has led to a bit of a time constraint near the end of the year. However, this is a fault of the University and not the employer.

Apprentices have a well structured placement program which expose them to all aspects of the business. Reviews are frequent and ensure that you are staying on track. Any issues raised are quickly dealt with by the apprentice training team. The 4th year looks like it is going to be a very full on year with dissertation, other uni work, end point assessment and work but I believe it will be manageable.

When additional training or support is required apprentices are provided with this without too much of an issue. If help is required with university work colleagues are generally helpful and the tutors that teach first year apprentices onsite are happy to help where possible. If more than this is required I believe that if you were to ask a solution would be found.

As the degree is provided by Oxford Brookes and not Birmingham Metropolitan any support generally falls to Oxford Brookes instead. Lecturers are happy to provide additional resources or spend the time to talk you through things that you don't understand and are always prompt at replying to emails which has been very useful. Communication from them has always been relevant and prompt

The degree knowledge has been useful in understanding a few issues and solving them. However the first year of the program is not directed toward the Engineer Technician role and the knowledge from this has not been useful other than to pass those qualifications. However, it was interesting to learn skills such as welding from a personal point of view.

There is opportunity for apprentices to get involved with things such as the plant race team, cowley road carnival and some other various offsite events. In the first year there is a week long teambuilding residential that everyone attends. Possibly it would be nice to have a yearly social event such as a meal but generally each intake year group organises some things to do between themselves.

Yes

Because I believe they are a good company to work for with a number of opportunities to progress once completing your apprenticeship. There is a good amount of "perks" for employees and being paid whilst not paying yourself to do a degree is a definite bonus. If you are considering it, I would say to apply!

Spend the time on your application to make sure it sells you well and spend some time looking at the past and future of the company, especially its current strategy. Find a reason why they should employee you over another person and don't worry about the interview, the hiring managers do a great job in making you feel relaxed and find a way to bring out the best in you.