Engineer Apprentice Review

As an engineer apprentice I find that an apprenticeship is one of the best ways to learn as it is practical on an every day basis. We have the responsibilities and benefits of a real job so it helps us learn to fit into a wrok environment.

I have learnt loads of skills I never had before, mainly because i didnt do anything to do with engineering during school so everything is new to be. I learnt practical skills from working on machinery to wiring up a lighting circuit.

College in the first year was good fun becuase you met lots of new people your own age and leanrt about different companies and what other companies did. Work is also very interesting as you are doing something different everyday. You still have to work hard and do not get as many breaks as other students might get.

My organisation makes the apprentices feel valued. As there has not been many apprentices coming up in past years from GSK they need more to learn the trade and understand the equipment.

Our programme is very structured and organised. In the first year we went to college to learn the basics. In the second, third and fourth year we have a very detailed programme taking us into the different parts of the factory, meeting different people and learning different parts of machinery. On tuesdays we go to college for our theory side of things and on friday we have a log book day where we write up the jobs we have done and catch up with our work.

We have different people we can go to for different things which is good. We also have to think on our own initative whcih helps us learn more in the workplace.

We recieve alot of support from our employer, this includes everything from allowance - helping us out getting to college and back - to giving us individual mentors which we can speak to if needs be.

The salary is competative and meets our costs easily - we did get the allowance which helped out a great deal in our first year and we had to travel to Kingston which was quite far for alot of people.

There are not many company events/activities to get involved in outside of work - it is mainly inside work hours to get you involved.

Yes

it is well structured, organised and provides a very friendly enviroment to work in.

Do your research into the company to help your prepare and so you understand what you are getting into.