Apprentice Review

I work with engineering teams maintaining the UK army, navy and Royal Air Force, ensuring that it meets the minimum requirements whilst ensuring that my team and I are providing a cost effective solution. When I am not on placements with my teams, I am working towards my degree and professional registration.

Throughout my apprenticeship I have learnt many skills such as machining and welding to understand engineering manufacture. I have also learnt many more soft skills such as interacting with stakeholders in a professional manor and working on my presenting skills. This has enabled me to confidentially present in front of approximately 100 people.

The term engineer covers a large spectrum of jobs and whilst you may not be working with the tools, working with Defence Equipment and Support allows you to get a higher level understanding of the programmes as a whole which has given me much greater job satisfaction throughout my placements

Whilst my apprenticeship initially had some issues, the structure of the apprenticeship schemes has vastly improved as the uptake of apprentices has increased. There are times where interactions between the university may have been run smoother, however this is likely a fault on both sides and does appear to have improved.

The level of support in this apprenticeship is one of the best bonus’ to working here. There are a great team of apprentice managers that will go out of their way to provide you with the tools and support necessary to accomplish your goals. This is also applicable to 99% of the placement supervisors.

Whilst there is minimal support for the educational content itself, the apprentice management team do a good job at sorting out issues with the university or college when they should arrive. This level of support appears to be much better than what you would gain from going to university full time.

The degree provides you with a good foundation for placements and gives you a basic understanding of engineering concepts, however the learning on the job and the more specific training courses that you get to attend as a part of DE&S, contribute much more to the day to day job and will be applicable in most futures roles both within DE&S and external engineering companies.

There are lots of defence activities (although I do not personally attend any and hence I may not be the best to give feedback). There are also many professional networking events all over the country including defence apprentice competitions. There is also no limit on the extra work you can pick up, giving you much more exposure and helping build competencies for professional registration.

Yes

You get very diverse training that covers many area’s of defence and engineering which will be applicable to future roles. You also get some very interesting and rare opportunities to get hands on with some of the equipment which you wouldn’t get if you were not part of the defence forces.

Should you be a successful applicant, take every opportunity that you get and make the most of the 5 years. There is a large degree of flexibility to see many parts of the business whilst on the apprenticeship, and I would recommend getting a good understanding of the business as a whole before specialising in a preferred area.