Civil Functions Aersopace Engineer Review

I am a civil operations aerospace engineer apprentice. On a day to day basis I will be based in different sections within the company, working in different areas and learning new skills. One week I am working at the company and the next week I will be at the University of Derby working towards my degree side of this apprenticeship. Once all practical work is completed, I have to complete the written work to back up this practical work.

I have developed my written skills as a result of the many reports and technical instructions that I have been required to write. This has also enabled me to improve my researching capabilities as I am required to find sources and then I am required to properly reference them using Harvard referencing. My practical skills have also been improved, as I have not worked in a workshop before and I have not used the tools before.

I am really enjoying my programme as I really like the week release from university for this first year. The combination of practical and theory enables me to further my knowledge much better than if I was just studying at university. Rolls Royce is a great place to work and everyone there is very friendly. The instructors are really knowledgeable and they provide help with any practical or written work. The structure of the course is good also.

The structure of the course is very good. This first year we are on a week release from Uni, which means we complete practical work and technical instructions for one week and then we will complete theory work for the university degree the week after. This allows me to apply my theory work that I learn at uni to my practical work at Rolls Royce. Although all teaching is online currently, it is still allowing me to learn as much as I could.

Rolls Royce provides lots of support for my practical and theory side. When completing any technical instructions, instructors provide lots of feedback and support for my answers if they are wrong. Rolls Royce also provides lots of contacts, the main being our ADL. This is our main point of contact if we have any issues in the workplace, we can contact our ADL and they will manage to help deal with these problems that we face.

Our training provider University of Derby provides a good amount of support when working towards my qualifications. Given that all teaching is now online, the support they give is inline with what I expected. The lecturers are always very prompt when responding to any queries I send over email. Derby college also provides some points of contact that we can contact is we have any problems with the course and these too are always very quick to respond.

My qualification definitely benefits my learning in the workplace as I can apply this learning to my practical side of my learning. It also enables me to give more detailed answers in my technical instructions when I need to write them up after my practical assessments have been completed. Although they may not always be completely relevant to what I am doing, the base knowledge is always very useful no matter what I need to apply it to.

Given the current circumstances, there are not many extra curricular activities to get involved with at the moment. However, if restrictions begin to get lifted in the near future, I hope that this will change and I can begin to look to join some extra curricular activities myself. There are some extra courses that have been offered to me to complete and I will look to do these in my spare time when it is available.

Yes

The opportunity to work and learn at the same time is very valuable as it enables you to apply all learning to the real workplace and gain very valuable work experience. This gives you an edge over other degree students as they do not have the same level of experience as I will have at the end of these four years. Moreover, Rolls Royce will help to specify what sort of job role i can move into.

I would ensure that all of your A-Levels or BTEC qualifications are relevant to the engineering course if that is what you are applying for. The subjects you can study will help your engineering course in the future if you go on to complete an engineering degree. Ensure that you make a good impression at the interviews by researching the company before you go. Answering questions smartly will make a good impression. Dress very smartly.