Multi Skilled Engineer Apprentice Review

My role as as multi skilled apprentice within a food manufacturer means that i will undertake reactive breakdown tasks as well as pro active maintenance duties across site. This could vary from replacing a bolt on a machine to undergoing a full strip down and rebuild of a machine on one of the production lines, of course sticking to time limits as we need to ensure production is back up and running asap.

I had always had an interest in 'tinkering' whether that be with bikes or cars meaning i had some mechanical knowledge before undertaking this apprenticeship. However being primarily electrical this was new to me, even basic tasks such as testing for power on a circuit i had not done before. however i am now at a level where i have designed and built a panel of my own in order to test others.

I feel my apprenticeship is good as mentioned it always for many new skills to be developed. There is a lot of team work involved which is good to form friendships with colleagues. The academic side being college is also good as it really pushes your ability in subjects such as maths and science.

It has always been clear what was and is expected, for example the first year we completed a level 3 and then moved on to level 4 so it was always known what was next. In regards to work we use reviews in order to track progress and see what may be required next training wise. I do feel like this could be better in regards to organising out of work training.

I feel i receive a decent amount of support when needed. I have mentors within the manufacturing centre that provide most of my training although these may not be the people i turn to if i encounter a personal problem. this would then need to go to somewhere such as HR who can normally find a resolution to the problem. Sometimes it can be difficult to get hold of people if we go through a busy week but this is understandable.

College has always been fair with me. If something wasn't understood they would try and help to overcome the issue. We also have regular visits from an NVQ provider who is always at hand face to face or via email to answer any questions. With the current Corona virus situation, college has moved to online which has proved to be more difficult however it is appreciated that we are still getting some form of teaching towards our qualification.

When comparing the qualification to working life. yes, some of it is useful even if it just gives you an understanding about something before you come across it. However due to the mass amount of different jobs it is going to be difficult to cover everything and allow for reliability between college and the job. Sometimes my colleagues will discuss something they learnt back when they were at college that i will not have a understanding of. however this is to be expected as mentioned.

At work there isn't a lot that i am aware of that we can take part in, due to working shifts we are not always available. However throughout my apprenticeship i have tried to get involved in outings such as job fairs and apprentice fairs to share my story to others that may be considering it.

Yes

I will always recommend an apprenticeship. After i finished college i thought the route of University was for me, i got accepted to where i wanted to go and went off. However after a couple of months study i felt that i wasn't on the right path. I'm unsure if this was due to the fact that i had worked prior to going to uni so i had a taste for the on the job learning while getting paid. however i do feel that even though i have not been to university once i have completed my apprenticeship i will be no worse off than someone who chose to go to university in regards to qualification and experience.

When applying for an apprenticeship just be sure to do your research on the company, what they do, who they are. Also try to impress with any prior knowledge you may have, step forward and speak up about things you have done in the past or hobbies that may entail some sort of tool work.