apprentice mechanic Review

Assisting the skilled team of workers to service, repair and rebuild a range of military armoured vehicles to a set standard. Day to day activities vary wildly, depending on the section that you are currently assigned to, the mentor that you work alongside, and the military platform that you are working on.

Skills that I have learnt in this apprenticeship vary but are all based around a mechanical and engineering principle. This includes such things as working with hydraulics, electronics and many aspects of mechanical principles. did not have a vast knowledge of any of these principles before starting this apprenticeship, so i have not expanded on any previous knowledge.

I mostly enjoy the work that I do onsite, but there is a lot of downtime where I do not have anything to do. the apprenticeship course that I am undertaking does not transfer very wel top the work that I perform onsite, so this can sometimes be a bit frustrating.

Parts of my programme were very well structured, with a three week induction period at the start and a week induction period for the college site that we attend in block visits. The actual placement of apprentices in the workplace is less well organised, with no consideration put in place as to where an apprentice will need to work to complete the required college work in the workplace.

While the training team within my workplace feels that they are supporting us as apprentices, we have raised a few important issues about our training and qualifications with regards to the ability to carry these out within the workplace. Personally, I feel that we are not being taken very seriously with our concerns, or properly listened to when voicing them. Despite offering workarounds or solutions to these issues, we are told that we don't do this, we just bring problems. it can get a bit frustrating.

I feel that with the issues that come with the qualification being in a different sector to our employment, that the college lecturers support us pretty well while working towards this qualification. The majority of what I have learnt about my qualification has come directly from the college, or from additional resources that they have provided myself with, or recommended that I investigate.

To be perfectly honest, there is not a huge amount of crossover between my qualification and my workplace duties, other than a basic underpinning knowledge of engineering principles. This is the only thing from my qualification that helps me to perform better in my role at work, with the majority of it coming from actually carrying out tasks in the workplace.

no.

Yes

I would recommend Babcock as an employer for an apprenticeship because the work is very interesting at times, the qualification gained, while not necessarily relevant to the work is a good one nonetheless, the hours are good, there is a decent holiday package, and the pay for an apprenticeship is excellent from day one.

By all means apply for the apprenticeship. It is a good job at the end of the training, a four day working week, decent wages, a good team of employees and the work can be very interesting and challenging. The current college courses that run are undertaken at a pretty good college too.