Maintenance Technician Apprentice Review

We have to continually carry out routine maintenance on various items of plant, as part of preventative maintenance to increase reliability. It also involves monitoring plant conditions and fixing any defects that occur. These are graded based on the importance of the item of plant so they can be prioritised. It’s a hands on role with constant learning opportunities.

Throughout the role we have developed our hand skills, this was begun at the very start of the apprenticeship in bench fitting and has continued throughout. The apprenticeship has also given me various opportunities to improve my leadership skills, and even lead to us achieving a leadership qualification known as the ILM. We were given the opportunities to take lead on projects and also when going on trips taking on a lead role. These trips also helped us gain independence as well as the residential part of the apprenticeship doing this as it meant we all had to move out of home to complete the first 2 years.

I have enjoyed all aspects of the apprenticeship, even though I did find moving away from home difficult I appreciated the chance to gain independence. The role is varied and provides lots of learning opportunities particularly when a defect occurs on the plant. I enjoy going to work and take a lot of pride in my work. Through the apprenticeship I have also made amazing friends who live all over the country along with learning about role related topics and picked up some very valuable life skills.

The programme is 4 years long with 2 years in residential accommodation, allowing you to learn life skills away from home and learn the basics at college. You then return back to your site you applied for and to put into practise what you have learnt and continue to learn and develop your skills on site. I feel this is a good combination for gaining all the necessary skills required and build up confidence in your field.

We are supported throughout the apprenticeship, and given plenty of opportunities to excel in various areas such as leadership. Each station has a designated apprentice coordinator who while in your residential period keeps in touch with you on a regular basis. When you come back to your site they continue to be your line of support along with your team leader. The company are currently supporting me in carrying out further studies as I have just begun my HNC.

EDF give us plenty of time to work towards qualifications and our apprentice coordinator regularly checks up on our progress. If we are falling behind then support is put in place to ensure we are able to meet our qualifications. By sending us to college for 2 years it gives us plenty of time to work towards the academic side to our qualifications with the practical side being completed on return to site.

Our NVQ is discipline specific so it focuses on the 5 key areas we work with most in our work ensuring we fully understand how to complete jobs within those areas. Also the two years at college not only allow us to gain our BTEC level 3 we also learn all about our discipline to complete a company specific qualification manual. This means we receive qualifications that are transferable between companies as well as job specific training.

During our first 2 years of the apprenticeship that are part of the residential period we go on various trips. These trips gave us chance to learn various life skills. We also had a football team made available for us to join, as well as a personal trainer available for all apprentices. Since being back on site this isn’t as readily available but as a lot of us are living from home we are able to join clubs we originally were involved in.

Yes

They provide various opportunities throughout the apprenticeship, including the chance to gain independence. With a good salary and the chance to gain qualifications at the same time I believe an apprenticeship is the best way to start any career. I would definitely recommend EDF as they support all apprentices and have supported me in the beginning of my hopefully lifelong career within the engineering industry.

Wherever possible it is good to have work experience in the industry you wish to go into, although this is not a must, it helps you to be certain that the career path is for you and also shows commitment to the company you are applying to. I advice looking into the company you are applying for, this will help both in your application and later the interview. Finally if your thinking about applying don’t think for too long and go and apply you won’t regret it!