Mechnaincal Engineering Higher Apprentice Review

This varies on which placement I am on, these are usually between 3 and 6 months. The typical tasks I have completed in my placements have been assisting noise and vibration testing activities on submarines, project management activities including managing bids and contracts for external business work, completion of a corrosion project including lab work and data analysis, solidworks modelling and engineering document management.

I have learnt basic noise and vibration engineering techniques, improved excel skills and project management skills including presenting to stakeholders. Learnt basic corrosion testing techniques and lab skills including excel data analysis (graphing). Solidworks CAD skills including complex parts and assemblies and my ability to interpret technical drawings and documents have improved.

The enjoyment from the programme has varied widely between placements, initially my first placement was a bit slow with not much work so I spent a lot of time completing college work which isn't ideal. My second placement was project management which again was not ideal because I had applied for an engineering role, I found this work quite dry. The materials technology (corrosion) placement was very interesting and enjoyable but with limited amounts of work. Solidworks modelling gave me a really good work package and placement which I enjoyed a lot.

The programme seems to have a good base structure however this isn't always executed well, leaving people in placement that aren't useful and sometimes not enjoyable. Sometimes people do not know where they are going on placement sand I can be hard to contact the early careers team.

We get support through meetings with the early careers team updating us on important information and allowing us to give our feedback. In the past it has been difficult sometimes to contact and get a response from the early careers team but this is now improving. Placements have mostly always been supportive.

We get the tutoring from college on our higher level qualification, I have never requested much support from furness college so cannot comment on this. The support for out NVQ qualification in work had been okay however sometimes the qualification can be unclear as well as explanation of certain aspects.

The mechanical engineering HNC give me the basis of engineering principles however I haven't really used this knowledge with the workplace yet, I imagine some of the topics covered at degree level and past topics covered will become useful in the future. The NVQ qualification seems rather pointless with not much use in the workplace.

There is a system of "Stretch" activities that allow apprentices to get involved in extracurricular enrichment activities that can be beneficial for career development. The are occasional organised social events for apprentices such as a Christmas night out and sports clubs but these can be limited with not much variety.

Yes

Because I feel it is a good opportunity over university options or apprenticeships at smaller companies, it allows you to get extensive work experience in industry gaining on the job knowledge specific to the role you will be hopefully moving into at the end of the scheme. The funded qualification and competitive salaries give a massive advantage to apprentices over uni students.

Be prepared to learn and get involved with as much work base activities as you can to gain as much experience as possible. Placements are a great opportunity to gain a vast amount of knowledge and build networks over wide area of the business so make use of them. Be prepared to complete simple and mundane tasks but don't get trapped by this and shout up if you aren't happy or want to move to a different area.