Control Technician Degree Apprentice Review

The job role for a 2nd year apprentice mainly involves working different placements for a couple of months in the Plant and shadowing the wide range of knowledgeable and experienced associates to learn from their skills and then having a day release at college to work towards a degree in Btec Electrical Engineering (Instrumentation and Controls). An example of the different departments are the assembly lines where as an apprentice, the maintenance technicians are shadowed on breakdowns or planned maintenance activities.

The first year of the apprenticeship is purely at college building up skills, knowledge and qualifications in preparation to be on Plant. Being on site builds on this additionally as it puts the knowledge learnt in first year into context. An example being Siemens PLC's where at college, the basics of it are learnt as an introduction. Spending time with the Controls department on site builds on this massively and I found it helped the PLC's unit as part of my Foundation Degree. My understanding of modern manufacturing technologies and Industry 4.0 has improved having experienced systems firsthand.

To a very large extent I enjoy the programme. It helps to have a strong interest in manufacturing, computer science or engineering and to have hobbies outside of work time which relate to the apprenticeship to get the most out of the time. The main focus is to learn as much as possible.

It is all very well organised and structured from BMW's point of view. We go to work daily with a placement plan to follow which is either primarily in Assembly or Machining. The placements are planned years in advanced for most of the apprenticeship and any issues with anything to do with the plan can be resolved easily.

Plenty of support is provided in Assembly at least. We are all assigned a technical support mentor in Assembly where if we have any technical questions or issues, they can be asked and answered in depth and with detail. Additionally in Assembly, weekly training sessions occur where we are educated on the technologies and process which are used in the plant such as ABB robots or PLC's.

There is sufficient support to complete the qualifications from the training providers most of the time. The levels of support are not consistent but generally speaking emails and queries are answered to promptly and even out of hours. The tutors at the college do provide good notes and worked examples however which have enough detail in to understand most of the time.

The qualifications are mostly relevant to my role on a day to day basis but a lot of the units are part of understanding basics. Theory has been put into practice mostly from the content which has been learnt in the first year of my apprenticeship. From being at Plant experiencing a modern manufacturing environment and comparing information with apprentices from other prestigious companies, I can confirm that all the things learnt are relevant.

Currently I cannot answer this as due to Covid19, with exception to a charity run for Alzheimer's, there has been no events.

Yes

I am currently enjoying my apprenticeship and don't have any criticisms about it currently on BMW's end. It is a fantastic apprenticeship for people who are genuinely passionate about engineering and don't just want the apprenticeship for the fact that it is BMW. There are plenty of experienced and knowledgeable people working here to learn from which is a big plus.

Show that you are actually passionate about engineering and it helps to have a lot of practical background whether it be working on cars or bikes or building steam trains in your spare time. A good tip would be to just relax, at the assessment centre as everybody is very nice and polite from the receptionist to the interviewers. Think of the interview as an informal conversation to help relax too as you have to remember that the interviewers are not there just to catch you out, they want to know more about you and why you are the most suitable candidate.