Advanced practical apprentice Review

I am mainly based in the production test facility at Rolls-Royce, this is where the gas turbine engines which will power aircrafts such as the Trent XWB are manufactured, these are widely used in the aerospace market for long and short haul flights. My job is to fit different types of parts and components onto the engines, I also shadow qualified fitters when they are completing a job in order to gain more knowledge and experience.

I have learnt a whole set of new skills while completing my apprenticeship, these include soldering, electrical work, maintaining mechanical devices, dressing aircraft engines. I have also developed on existing skills such as using tools as before my apprenticeship I only had access to basic tooling, where as now I am able to use digital tooling and have access to many different variants and sizes of tooling.

I enjoy my apprenticeship more as time goes by as I am able to meet new people who help me gain knowledge and experience on the job. At times there has been a high amount of work load that has been stressful but I have now learnt how to manage this better during the apprenticeship.

The programme is fairly organised and structured, in the first year of my apprenticeship, our whole year was planned out, from lessons to workshop activites so this was very structured, however in my 2nd and 3rd year I have found the apprenticeship to be less structured as there too many apprentices for the amount of work there is. Derby college in the first year of my apprenticeship was not overly organised, for example there was no consequences if deadlines were missed and work wasn't done to a high standard, however this has been turned around, especially from working at home, deadlines are strict and I am able to find all the work that I need for my assignment from my tutors now.

I receive a good amount of support from my employer, if I need to ask a question to my manager or have a query I am able to message him and recive a reply within 1 day. I struggled with an exam that was required for my apprenticeship so my manager got me a mentor from an apprentice in the year above who had already passed the exam to help me revise and this really helped me pass the exam.

I receive a satisfactory amount of support from the training provider (Derby college) when working towards my qualification. I would say that the amount have support has improve but it could still do with further improvement, for example some of the tutors at derby college will give re works for assignments but not give much detail on what needs improving etc and will take a long time getting back to me if I ask for further assistance. However this is not all tutors, some are very helpful and will go out of their way to help you.

I feel like my qualification helps me preform better in my role because I gain knowledge on my job, for example there was a unit called applications of mechanical systems, a lot of this unit crossed over with what I do on a day to day basis at work and therefore I was able to gain more knowledge and understanding.

Yes, there is extra curricular activities to get involved in at work, Rolls-Royce has a number of sports teams. I also receive many emails from people at work informing me of events and activities that would be suitable for me to attend. There is also a lot of voluntary activities that apprentices are able to participate in for example the open evening, where apprentices will show people who are potentially interested in doing this course around the learning development centre.

Yes

If my friend was interested in practical work and also wanted to get a qualification then I would recommend Rolls-Royce, a lot of knowledge and experience can be gained while completing this apprenticeship all while earning a good wage. A lot of people are happy to help apprentices and are friendly.

The advise I would give others apply for Rolls-Royce is to revise for the interview a lot as it is the hardest interview I have ever attended. The apprenticeship offers great opportunities, such as team building trips to help you know about yourself and trust your colleagues more, on the job training which is really helpful and fun as you are able to get involved and if you are successful with the application make sure that you keep on top of your workload as there is a lot to do.