Civil Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

I work as part of the steelwork design team so this includes producing design calculations for steel supporting structures including vessel support frames, pipe supports and the encast plates that connect these members to the walls. As part of this I also have to convey my design to the draughters to allow them to model the designs in BIM software. Once the drawings have been produced I have to review them to ensure that they match the designs that I have produced or if any changes need to be made to either the drawing or the design.

I have greatly developed my technical design skills when it comes to designing steel members in both carbon and stainless steel as well as starting to develop my skills with concrete design. Along with this I have also developed my soft skills that allow me to be a better engineer including organisation, time management and communication. These skills also allow me to work as part of a team both within the specific design package team but as part of the wider project team as well.

I really enjoy my programme as I am able to get hands on experience from the start to work alongside my university studies. The company has allowed me to develop my skills as well as getting project experience that increases my abilities beyond that of others at the same academic level as myself. I am enjoying the project that I am currently working on and I look forward to being able to work on a variety of projects in the future.

I believe that my programme is well organised and structured. To begin with it was a bit less organised as I was the first degree level apprentice that my department had gained so people weren't really sure what my role within the team would be and how the degree apprenticeship programme worked. However, my line manager and mentor is really supportive and she has ensured that any areas of the apprenticeship she didn't understand she looked into so she was able to support my development both within work as well as with my studies. I have regular meetings and catch ups with my line manager to review my objectives that we set in my annual reviews as well as preparing for my university reviews. If my workload becomes too great especially at times when my studies require additional time then the senior engineers are good at delegating tasks that I don't have time for to other members of the team and ensuring that I am not burning out.

From my line manager I receive a lot of support for both my technical skills, soft skills and studies. In my first year I felt that the early careers team were good at creating a community and training programme for the new apprentices to the company across the country, however this was lacking in my second and current year. I am glad to be joining a new development programme in the coming months though. The company also has multiple confidential services that are available to all staff members as well as their families that are easy to access and find information about on the work system.

I started having annual meetings with my personal tutor and line manager to review different aspects of my apprenticeship including university modules as well as progress towards my professional qualifications. These meetings have changed to twice a year (one for each semester) within the last year. If I required it there are additional support services that I can access through the university as well. I am enjoying my university course and enjoy the varied nature of the modules and content.

For the first couple of years of university, the modules that I was undertaking didn't relate as much to my project work as others due to the high amount of design work that I do in the office compared to other apprentices who have a predominantly BIM related role. Therefore a lot my learning was coming from my on the job experience and this then helped me to perform better in my design based modules that I completed more recently at university. Therefore, my experience has been reversed in a sense compared to the norm where their studies would help their project work.

Each office has a sports and social team that organise different sports that you can get involved with throughout the week as well as different social events outside of the working day throughout the year. There is also a strong network of Early Career Professionals (ECP) that put on various types of talks and events throughout the year including networking and professional qualification preparation. Also from the ECP as well as Early Career Team there are opportunities throughout the year to volunteer at STEM events and career events for schools to help promote engineering to the next generation.

Yes

Mott MacDonald is a global company that provides great opportunities to progress both within the field that you start in or within different sector that you might be interested in. The apprentice as well as graduate training programmes have been developed and redone since I started that provide a stronger structured scheme for developing skills in particular the soft skills that help you to become a better engineer than just the technical skills that you develop on the job.

When it comes to applying make sure that you research the company and the sector that you will be working in by taking a look at the sorts of projects that they work on. Look into what modules you will be studying for you training and why it is that course that you want to do. Think about the experience you have had in your life prior in either work, school / college or personal life and what skills you have developed that would make you good at the job as well as being able to handle the pressures of doing an apprenticeship, in particular a degree apprenticeship where you will have to do extra work outside of your set hours to gain understanding and practice for your exams.