Laboratory technician Review

The day-to-day experience can vary widely depending on the placement that you are in at the time. Overall, you will be doing analysis on a variety of samples varying from basic routine analysis to large projects. I had a wide arrangement of opportunities to get involved in different projects, exercises and tasks. As an apprentice lab tech, you will get trained up in a variety of methods and responsibilities which means that your daily tasks and responsibilities are constantly changing keeping things fresh and exciting.

The apprenticeship has firstly given me a level 3 applied science qualification. In doing this, i have developed many of the skills needed to be an effective scientist, including mathematics and report writing. I was also put on a range of different training courses to aid my time in the apprenticeship. These have included first aid training, chemical handling and fire/electrical safety. There are also a range of exciting external courses that were available. Some of these training courses are compulsory but it will be up to the apprentice to put themselves out there and do as much training as possible and do what will aid them the most in their placement. Finally, I found that most of the key learning was done on the job. Mentors in the placements are able to train you in a variety of key lab skills as well as further development. All the mentors are very knowledgeable in their field and beyond, and have the best attitude to training/teaching.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my apprenticeship and feel that it has developed me greatly as a person. The opportunity to work with a range of people in a range of teams means that you are able to try lots of different things that you would not be able to try anywhere else and make some great life-long connections. I found that there where some placements that where definitely more enjoyable than others but that is all part of the learning process and means that you are identifying the areas of interest.

The apprenticeship is broken down into three placements. In these placements you will go through and collect evidence which fills out a placement plan. This evidence consists of training and examples of the tasks you have been completing. These are well structured and help you prepare yourself for outturn but also make the most of your time in the placement. The training is also well structured with a good online system that will highlight any outstanding training. The structure of the Level 3 BTEC was good, however this course definitely does not suit everyone. I felt that the modules in the course were very pushed for time and that we were only being taught to pass the modules not to help with our understanding. I do feel that the course also did not link that closely to what i was doing as part of the apprenticeship but was teaching more generic topics in all three of the sciences. The teachers are supportive but due to the nature of the qualification they can give very little help and feedback when you are struggling The one improvement that i would like to have seen is being told about the lay out and structure of the end point assessment at a much earlier stage. This would have helped me prepare myself better and would have meant that it would not have been as stressful at the end of the apprenticeship. I would also like to have seen the apprentices have a bit more of a say in their next placements (much like the structure of the graduate scheme). It is understandable that this would be more work but i do think that this would allow the apprentice to tailor the time that they have for themselves as well as develop their independence.

The mentors, line managers and other key roles are all super supportive. The line manager went through a pastoral with me every month and made sure that everything was going smoothly. They made it clear that if I had any issues, work issues or issues at home, they were there to support me in any way possible. This support was really good to have during the apprentice and I felt comfortable knowing that I had help if needed. The team in the placements can really vary but overall I got a really good feeling from all of them. My first placement did a really good job at easing any nerves or worries about joining a new company and also made it clear that they where there to support me.

Support was always available with in my placements. If i had any issues with work for my qualification, my mentors in my placement would try their best to help me. If they were unable to help with that specific task they would make sure that they found someone that could help me. I had some issues with a specific physics task and highlighted this issue to my manager. My manager was then able to set up a physics support group where i could ask any questions i had to a group of physics graduates.

I do not feel that the qualification in the apprenticeship helped me much during my day-to-day tasks. This was because the course was very generic and covered all three sciences but also because the work I was doing in my placements was fairly specific to the area of science I was in. I think it would have been more beneficial for the course to have been focused on the area of science that the apprenticeship was for (either physics or chemistry). I was also not a fan of the learning style and layout of the BTEC course as i felt that we were only being taught to pass and our development was not considered as much as it should have been. There were some areas that I felt that the qualification did help me. These were my report writing skills and mathematics. These skills were developed in a chemistry module and are skills that I have had to use on multiple occasions during my placements.

During my time in the apprenticeship, the COVID pandemic hit, causing the majority of extra curricular activities to be put on hold. At the start of the apprenticeship there was variety of social events and some extra-curricular activities. There was also networking events hosted on site such as apprenticeship/career fairs. I would liked to have see more extra curricular activities available such as sports teams and events.

Yes

The apprenticeship at AWE has developed me greatly as a person and has given me some great experiences that I could not have had anywhere else. It has shown me that chemistry is the area that I want to study further and has helped me develop my science understanding to a much better level than what I came in with.

My advice for the application and interview process would be to really try and sell yourself and be as confident as you can. As part of the application process you will be asked to do some team activity with the other candidates, in which they will be looking for how well you work as a team. It is very important you try and work well with your team and take a big role. Within your apprenticeship, it is really key that you take every opportunity you can. It would be very easy to sit back and do the bare minimum but it will help you greatly in the long run if you put yourself out there and get a good reputation.