Design engineer Review

In my first year it is full time college, so we are completing a level 2 in competence and a level 3 in knowledge for advanced manufacturing. During holidays we can go into the workplace to go shadow and do different tasks given to us. Also every other Friday we get to go into the workplace to spend time with our mentor to get more knowledge of the place and to receive extra training with the employers.

Beginning the apprentiship I started with very limited knowledge but instantly you are taught so many new things. You do courses on CAD and PLC which is something not many of us had experience with but through the teaching and tasks given meaning all were able to pick it up easily.

Everyone within the group are able to work together and can ask anyone any questions without feeling judged. The company also makes you feel like you can ask anything and are able to discuss anything with them personal or within work. We have also been given good lessons and in those lessons we are given tasks that we can enjoy.

It is very clear the timetable we have it was set out from the start the tones we needed to be there and that hours we have to complete. We have been given an overview of what we will be doing over the 4 year course, and we are told and shown how we are tracked and how we are progressing.

We have regular reviews with our mentor so we can talk we then about how we are doing and we meet with them every week or two weeks so we can talk to them face to face about anything. But we also have their phone number and we are able to text or ring them at anytime to tell them what’s going wrong.

We have completed tasks in the workplace organised by mentors that go towards completing our assessments within college. They also regularly check what are marks are in reviews and out of them they are also able to check them. Employees are always able to answer our questions and willing to spend time going through things with apprentices.

Without this training I would have had non of the skills to perform in the workplace. Everything we have learnt and that we are going to learn is vital for not just our role but any role within the engineering side of the company. We are also able to push ourselves to find what we’re are truly good at.

We are regularly able to go into local schools and colleges to be able to discuss the apprentiship to try and get others to apply. We also have the opportunity to take part in the apprentiship open evening where we got to show a presentation to parents and senior leadership team as well getting to give a tour of the factory.

Yes

It has been a very fun experience and I am getting so much knowledge and experience in such a short amount of time. There is so much to look forward too moving on into the future and we have received so many opportunities for the future. I would have to say it’s the best decision I have made.

Be a positive person and be honest with what skills you have, because they will always add to those skills moving forward. They don’t want the smartest or best person they want people that will work hard and commit their all to it. It is always worth applying to BAE Systems to matter the position.