Engineering Degree Apprentice (Aerospace) Review

This role involves the office-based support of the entire engineering side of the business. After a year in college full-time, a series of 6 month placements are started - ranging anywhere from design to used material value stream. This is all done whilst completing a degree in aerospace engineering and a level 4 NVQ. Initially in each placement, more "trainee based" roles are given - but responsibilities increase throughout. Apprentices are involved with interactions with both internal and external customers but are usually supported whilst doing this.

In terms of learning, apprentices are expected to cover a wide variety of topics and learning styles. After college, a series of training course are given to each apprentice to develop them into the business. Each year, a week-long residential course is provided to learn vital team-building skills. The most useful skills have been learnt through working within the business - not through training. These cover a wide range of skills as placements cover so much of the business overall.

Although actual work within the placements is truly enjoyable, too much is expected from apprentices at this level in general. There is so little flexibility in the requirements/expectations that 5-day working weeks of up to 84 hours have been completed - simply to meet deadlines. This has led to many mental health problems within the group - often not being recognised by the company. Although it was expected that this program would be tough, this level of workload was not expected. Much of this workload is due to the disorganisation of the apprentice/training side of the company (higher level managers - direct managers have been great!) causing undue stress to apprentices that are not treated well on a human level - more like machines.

The structure and organisation of this program has been appalling! From day one, nobody was told what was going on - the college that provides the first year had no idea that they were providers for the degree program until the coach turned up on the first day. Apprentices are largely kept in the dark about decisions and plans for their program - often being told that they have to organise for the next years intake due to the extremely low numbers of support staff. Degree apprentices are not given the equipment required to complete their job - being given laptops only capable of word processing but expected to complete high intensity design work and computational analysis (this is because the apprentice budget is not available - often being used to train full time employees by making them "apprentices" during their training).

Support from direct managers has been inconsistent due to the extreme increase in intake for this year. Now that more support staff have been employed, direct managers have been great! Apprentice Development Leaders often go out of their way to attempt to make the program more manageable for the apprentices. Support from higher up in the company has been largely limiting to apprentices - with the most common excuse of "cashflow problems". Apprentice requests are often ignored because of their lack of experience in the company.

The training provider, when organised, usually supplies an acceptable level of support. As expected with any university, the level of training and support often depends on the lecturer. One issue that has been raised on multiple occasions is the confusing between who supplies what. The training is covered by a three-way contact (including two training providers). There seems to be little to no communication between all three parties - often leading to duplicate work or work not being completed.

As of now, the degree has had minimal impact on the placements covered. The degree appears to be far more design/manufacturing based - but, obviously, most roles in the business do not cover this. In a way, this separation between the degree and work is a benefit as, when not in a design placement, it means that the knowledge gained is greater than just covering one part individually.

Apprentices are encouraged to get involved with as many social activities as possible. On this site, there is an apprentice association (which many apprentices are involved with - I am on the organising committee myself). This committee organises regular socials and sports clubs that are available to anyone who joins the association and are usually heavily discounted.

No

I would recommend the company to a friend if they were to join as a direct entrant or as a graduate. Joining as an apprentice, I would definitely not recommend. This is because of the harsh way in which apprentices are treated - they really are seen as "bottom of the ladder" by higher up in the company. From this experience, it feels like the degree apprentices are employed purely to give the company access to the money provided from the apprenticeship levy. The amount of work expected is too high - largely because of the small time allocated to the degree and NVQ. A full-time degree course is completed in a single 12-hour day of lectures and any other work must be completed when at home. Staying on site at university until 3:30am before returning to work at 7am (3.5 hours after) is simply unacceptable - but has been the norm for some degree apprentices.

Apply after completing your degree - either on another apprenticeship scheme or directly through a university. The graduate programs are known for being top-class and have far more reasonable expectations. The degree apprenticeship scheme, in its current form, should only be applied for provided having an extremely good work ethic and high amount of resilience.