Undergraduate Engineering Apprentice Review

During the four years of the apprenticeship, I carry out 3 - 6 month placements in a variety of areas within the business. This enables the opportunity to build my nework and experience to progress through my career. On the day-to-day I work with experienced collegues in the design office to deliver a product of high quality, safety, to specification.

During Univeristy, I have learnt the Fundamentals of Aerodynamics and engineering knowledge alongside learning new skills at work. I've learnt how to write reports, form calculations and also use new software to carry out essential analyses during the design phase of a project. Learning how the business opperates is important, especially early on in a career and learning on and off the job allows me to develop a lot of skills all at once.

The programme is great! Of course the work load is heavy at times, especially around exam season and coursework deadline dates. Although, I've made great friends with people on my course and other in the years above and below, the social aspect is good! I love that in every placement during the scheme, I work on a different project, in a different team and learning a heap of new skills.

The programme is organised really well. Our line managers are great at listening to our quiries and concerns during monthly one-to-one meetings and alway make an effort to help. Structure of the educational side is good, although there is sometimes a slip in communication with the Uni and apprentices with regards to term dates and lecture feedback. However, this is rare and the positive and constructive feedback is taken on board.

The relationship between apprentices and the employer is good. They always appreciate that we are studying while working and are there to work with us and make sure that we're on track. We have monthly one-to-ones and apprentice group meetings with our HR managers to catch up, as well as having monthly one-to-ones with our department managers. The structure of the apprenticeship is pretty well known in the business and collegues are aware that you are working and studying side by side.

Support from the training provider is good. They're able to help with queries and reply to emails within a couple of days - which I think is pretty good. Although, they are not always aware that we are working while studying and so may expect a completion date which isn't always achievable. But this is where we communicate to make appropriate adjustments and they are usually considerate of our feedback.

The qualification allows us to implement the fundamentals into real life scenarios in the workplace. It works the other way too. My report writing has imporved from what I have learnt at work which helps in courseowork for university when it comes to referencing, being clear and concise. It's helped a lot!

There are plenty of volunteering opportunities to get involved with at work. The volunteer opportunities are desgined to encourage school children and adults to get involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) activities. Opportunites arise all the time and even though it can be difficult to find time to volunteer, we are encouraged to do a minimum of 2 per year.

Yes

The company is great to work for! There is an ethusiastic culture and employes people from all over the world. There are social opportunities which are organised regularly by Early Careers. As well as working towards a degree, you have access to all the employee benefits which is great to have.

My advice would be to get experience of working with people. Before working at Airbus, I worked in a busy restaurant which really improved my confidence and paid off during my interview and application. Showing a good work ethic and positive attitude to learning something new is what Airbus are looking for. The company likes to employ Apprentices and provide them with the skills and tools they need to develop. Work experience is any industry is great and I feel that working in a restaurant and showing the interpersonal skills paid off immensly. Working for a sustained period of time during A-level's, GCSE's or collage shows that you can already work alongside studying - like an apprentisehip.