Maintenance Engineer Technician Apprentice Review

I am a Maintenance Engineer technician, Level 3, apprentice, at BMW Group's Plant Oxford. Upon completion of the 4 year course I will be maintaining the car constructing robots. Currently I am in year 1. This means that I am located in the MINI training school, where my week consists of btec learning on a Monday and then practical work for remainder of the week. Our practical work is on rotation so every 4-5 weeks our practical topic will change. I am currently doing Mechanical

I have learnt an abundance of new skills and knowledge from this apprenticeship so far. The school that I transitioned from had no engineering courses or lessons, so coming to BMW has been a big learning experience. Btec-wise I have most definitely brushed up on a lot of topics, that had been put aside. Practical-wise I have learnt and used machinery that I have never seen or used prior, and developed and learned skills that I did not have before.

I thoroughly enjoy the program, and believe that it has been well though out and created to highly benefit apprentices. The layout of the course has helped us to build up the basic skills which will be further developed and utilized in later topics and years. Each topic can be seen to interlink to one another and thus aids for a greater understanding.

As stated previously, I have found that the way the topics are presented to us has been really useful, having the more basic ones initially for them to then integrate and be utilized for later topics. In regard to the whole 4 years, I feel that the first year is great for all learning and then having the opportunity to find our feet out in the plant in our second year will be highly beneficial for the following years.

We receive continued support from our employers, managers and tutors, not only in an academic or working regard, but also for personal implications. We are provided with the support and guidance that we require to comfortably complete this apprenticeship, with many managers to go to if we are concerned or are in need of support or help.

We are given thorough support from our training provider; our tutors are excellent at being available 24/7 in regard to learning problems/ or queries, which through lockdown and online learning was particularly beneficial. We are given frequent reviews and opportunities to talk about our learning and how the presentation of our learning could be improved.

The knowledge, skills and information we learn on a Monday, with our training provider, most definitely betters our learning and knowledge when it comes to our day-to-day role and our practical learning. The added knowledge can aid us in finding resolutions to problems a lot easier and can be extremely helpful with calculations and problem solving. A lot of our theory work has been put into practice in regard to our practical work and have found that it has been highly beneficial.

I believe there are a number of different extra-curricular activities to get involved in, however these have been heavily influenced by the current affairs, of coronavirus which has impacted their continuation. Hopefully in the coming weeks and months once restrictions have lifted we will be able to experience and enjoy the extra-curricular activities a lot more than we do currently.

Yes

I would recommend BMW Group to a friend due to the experiences and knowledge I have attained so far. It is an outstanding company to work, and I am grateful to be working for them. They take care of their employees and have provided myself and others with a plethora of skills, knowledge and insights that I may not have had from other companies.

I would say be as open and honest as you can in your covering letter and CV, make sure you add every piece of work experience or personal experiences you have had, even if it doesn't seem relevant. In your interview- relax!! The interviewers aren't there to make you feel really small or nervous, they want you to do well and they understand it can be a nervous process!