Technical Electronics Apprentice Review

My apprenticeship on a day to day basis involves picking up jobs on site in the prototype department to complete and learn from. Any issues I have with a job I can speak to someone who will assist me in learning how to do it. There are many sections that we go through such as maintenance, prototype and NPI (New Product Introduction), these all relate with each other very well as it shows the process in which each product has to go through

Since starting the apprenticeship, I have learnt many new skills, more than I thought I would, such as electrical wiring, component installation on PCB’s, CAD, PLC’s just to name a few, I have also learnt new skills on machines I had never used before such as a lathe and a milling machine. I have also developed skills in metal working which I had some of before starting the apprenticeship but were very limited.

I am currently in my second year in to my apprenticeship and I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Along the way I have learnt new skills in both theory and practical areas as well as meeting new people along the way who I can learn a lot from. There hasn’t yet been a week gone by that I haven’t learnt at least one new thing that will help me through the rest of my apprenticeship and beyond.

I feel that the apprenticeship is very well structured, we go on to many different sections throughout the course learning many new skills a long the way. Every 6 weeks or so we have a meeting with our NVQ lead to ensure that we are happy with our progress so far and that we are submitting documents such as job reports and knowledge questions to demonstrate our learning. Once a month we have a meeting with our manager and ADL to check that we are happy with our current progress and that work is being completed along with a Q&A at the end should we have any questions. I feel that these meetings are beneficial as it gives us something new to work towards for the next one.

We receive a lot of support from our managers, NVQ lead And the training centre we have attended for almost 2 years now. If we have any questions we are free to email, call or set up a short meeting with any of these people as it is in both of our interests to ensure that as apprentices we are as prepared as possible for our final placements. The meetings we have with our managers on a regular basis also help with our progress and queries.

We have a meeting with our NVQ lead every 6 weeks. which are a great help in tracking our progress and setting new goals for the next meeting. In terms of our Btec work, I am happy with the level of support that we receive as we are free to contact our tutors at any time to discuss any issues or queries about work we may have been set and can always expect a good response from them.

I feel that the training we did during our first year of the apprenticeship was the most beneficial as we learnt many new skills as well as improved any existing skills we had. I have used all of the new skills I learnt last year which has helped more than I thought it would. To name a few, I have used the electronics module in almost everything I have done so far in company, the CAD module I used earlier and this year to help with rig locations and the electrical unit we did I have used with most of the electronics work I have done.

There are a number of extra circular activities at Rolls-Royce, primarily, there are ‘classes’ put on where you may learn about the products that the company makes that you might not have a day to day interaction with which helps in your overall understanding of what goes where and how it works. There are also external activities that you can take part in called ‘STEM’ activities, this can include mock interviews where you go to a school and interview year 11’s who are preparing to leave school or you could be invited to a careers event where you promote the company to people looking for potential jobs

Yes

I would recommend Rolls-Royce to a friend as taking part in an apprenticeship is in my opinion, a very good way to begin your career, getting experience in the workplace as well as building your CV, there is also a high chance of receiving a job at the end should you prove your worth to the company which is a high advantage over doing A-Levels or university instead. In my opinion it’s a great way to learn the theoretical and practical side to something new that you can use throughout your life.

When applying for an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce, it is very important to ensure that you are prepared for a huge learning curve, more so when leaving school as the curriculum is a lot less generalised than it is in schools, everything is more specific to the job. It is also very important to take every opportunity you get, whether it be doing STEM events or taking part in demonstrations within the company, it’s always good to learn something new that will help you with your job role.