Project Manager Degree Apprentice Review

Within my job role, we are at work for 4 days per week, and study at university for 1 day per week during academic term time. In my role I am working with project managers to learn how to manage our own projects and gain experience in the project management competencies. My day to day role includes visiting suppliers, managing schedules and budgets for small projects and communicating with stakeholders. Each year I will move placement to another area of the business within Portsmouth to gain experience on other projects that BAE work on.

Since joining in September 2019, I have developed a variety of new skills. I am now confident to contact external suppliers, approach people within the business to ensure a job on a project is done, and to ensure I manage my own time well to fit in the uni work with the day-to-day role. As the apprenticeship progresses I am gaining more knowledge within the Project Management area.

I am really enjoying the programme. The apprenticeship enables us to earn whilst we learn - gaining a degree whilst also working is perfect to put the theory into practice. I am enjoying the placement that I am working on as it gets us apprentices to stretch our skills and push us to continually improve in our role. Support is excellent from the early careers managers to monitor our progression.

The programme is well organised and structured in a way that gives us ample time for our study, as well as progressing well in our day job. There are clear lines of communication which is in place to ensure us apprentices are doing well at work and making the most of the apprenticeship.

We receive excellent support from our placement managers and early careers managers in order for us to get the most from our apprenticeship. As part of the review process, we regularly go through our objectives and goals with our placement managers, and regular reviews with the early careers team ensures that we stay on track and get support if required.

The lecturers at the University of Portsmouth are approachable and able to help with queries. The uni part of the apprenticeship started in January 2020 so it gives you 4 months to settle into life at BAE Systems. During studying so far, I have been able to ask lecturers questions that will aid my development.

By having a mixture of learning the Project Management theory through a degree, and then utilising it in your job role, it enables us to really see what we have learned put into practice. By studying for this degree, it helps us to perform better and give us a better understanding into Project Management.

As part of the apprenticeship, we are encouraged to take part in "Stretch" assignments. These are tasks that lie outside of your usual job role that are designed to get us apprentices to further our skills. Some stretch assignments include taking part in careers events to improve our communication skills, or planning a project within the APM challenge to showcase our PM skills. These extra-curricular activities are a great way to network with other people in the business

Yes

I would recommend BAE Systems because it is an excellent way of earning a degree whilst also gaining the relevant work experience and earning a good wage which increases each year during the apprenticeship. For anyone interested in Project Management, I feel that its best to get a mixture of the theory and practice, which is just what BAE offer.

I would advise any potential applicants to expect to work hard but that you are very much rewarded for it. The apprenticeship is 4-5 years long which enables you to gain a very good understanding and work within project management. It is always useful to read up on some basic PM knowledge when applying to find our what a project manager does, and what you will learn.