Noise and vibration engineering higher apprentice Review

In my role as a higher apprentice, I complete placements in different engineering departments to gain experience that will be useful to me in my exit role. The day to day tasks in each placement can vary greatly depending on the placement, but these could involve testing and commissioning activities, engineering design, calculation, and documentation, or project management style activities.

I have achieved a HNC in manufacturing and computer aided engineering, and started studying for a BEng in mechanical engineering. By the end of my scheme I will also achieve a level 4 NVQ in engineering manufacture. I have developed numerous engineering skills in various placements, along with personal developments from working in a professional environment.

Each placement can be completely different which different levels of enjoyment, some placements can contain repetitive or menial tasks that I don't learn much from and others are very engaging and enjoyable. Initially the apprenticeship did not meet my expectation with my fist few placements being fairly average with lots of free time but this has improved with subsequent placements.

The induction was well organized and thorough. At the beginning of the scheme the organization seemed poor with placement allocation but this has improved. There are many ways to get support but sometimes it is hard to make contact with these people through email. Again the organization is placement dependent with some placements being highly organized with good workloads and other poor.

I receive regular progress reviews where I can ask for support if needed. There aren't any regular meetings with my apprentice managers and these seem to be quite random. There are multiple managers and mentors that I could contact for support on various issues and they are usually easy to contact and happy to help.

My training providers run the qualifications like HNC and BEng so I receive direct support from them through teaching, they also hold meetings where we can raise concerns however these aren't anonymous so it can be difficult to raise issues. Some of the tutors can be reluctant to give support but some can be great, the qualifications are difficult but can also be rewarding.

A lot of the content does not relate to the day to day roles of the apprenticeship but some things do like CAD skills and other topics may come in use in the future. I cant think of many times that I have put the theory I have learnt in college into practice.

This aspect of the apprenticeship is poor with few social and sports event for apprentices, often the different functions do not mix so smaller functions like engineering have less opportunity to socialize. The location isn't great with poor links to other however it does have okay links to the lake district. When I'm not working I do exercise and college work.

Yes

The competitive salary. The opportunity to get qualifications paid for. Get some valuable work experience and experience of a professional and manufacturing environment all of which are good for your cv. Its very likely that a job will be offered to you at completion of the apprenticeship. Benefits of working for a large company like company shares and pension schemes.

Look into the qualifications you will actually get from the apprenticeship because sometimes its can take a while compared to other routes like university. Apply for a job and location that you can see yourself living and working at for a long term e.g. 5-10 years. Be enthusiastic ready for the challenge.