Maintenance Technician Review

Gaining knowledge and experience during my time on the shop floor can be challenging, especially for not a native speaker, but that challenge is an amazing experience, too. Finally I am able to learn skills I always wanted. Maintenance that are my tutors are, in 90% cases, 10/10! Patience, willing to share their knowledge (sometimes starting from the basic stuff), helpful, polite and nice. I want to wake up in the morning and go to school.

I learnt a lot. In the workshop I was able to, finally, learn how to weld. I can operate a lathe. I can build simple electrical circuit (before I was sure I will not enjoy that classes, because I was not very comfortable with working with electricity). I am more familiar with PLC (and I try to expand that knowledge at home). The best experience, for me, is shop floor. I am learning knowledge I can use every day there. I am able to fix simple faults and that is very satisfying.

During any placement I was warm welcomed in new places. I, most of the times, felt straight away member of a team. Work was not overwhelming (but many logbooks and assignments increased my time management skills). I was surprised (positive way) with peoples attitude and behaviour towards me (I was expecting not everyone to be ok with female colleague in this field). However workshop experience could be a bit better, because modern companies need more of a PLC than hand fitting.

I was very happy with support provided by BMW. Support from maintenance was exceptional. I think we could get a bit more from workshop placement. Hand-fitting is important skill, but now in industry there are skills more important and time spent on that we could use to increase our skills in PLC, fluid power, etc.

I am very happy with help I am getting from my employer. Recent changes are very positive. My training specialist is outstanding. Help I got was crucial for me. With that support I was able to achieve my learning goals. As a not native speaker I can struggle with things, but the attitude towards me is always positive and I do not feel excluded.

I ask a lot of questions and I get answers in most cases. Unfortunately there was a bit of problems with having a tutor for a hand-fitting. I think we do waste a lot of time in the workshop because of different levels of students. If you finish your task earlier then there is not much to do for you. I enjoyed subjects but I think tutors could be more supervised to deliver the best experience.

I think training needs a bit of an update to meet modern requirements. More PLC training instead of way longer hand fitting placement. I am able to use my knowledge from the training on a day-to-day basis in my role and I can put the theory into practice. I feel I got a quite good base for my role, but I can see we could learn more if the time of training would be better planned.

Mini offers a lot of activities we can choose from. Unfortunately now there are suspended due to lockdowns, but we are still encouraged to involve in on-line trainings. We have access to a gym. We are encouraged to be involved in voluntary initiatives. Once for a while there are events about Mini history (like old cars exposition).

Yes

I think this apprenticeship has an amazing potential and I have been enjoying it a lot. With the current changes I believe it will get much better. I think the program need a bit of an update to met modern factory requirements. BMW Group provides me with a lot of support and help. Training provider needs a bit more of supervision. In general I am very happy with the experience and I hope it will get better for next apprentice that are coming.

Start doing your paperwork as soon as you get the task. Keep your notes till the end of apprenticeship (or longer). Take part in activities, courses and social events provided by Mini. Do not worry too much, because it is a very friendly place now and BMW is supportive and good employer. Before the interview read about Mini, get familiar with the company. Make sure it is what you want to do, because it is a quite specific field. Even if you do not know much about being a maintenance, working with electricity, fluid power or machines, do not worry, you will get enough time and support to reach your goals.