Mechatronics Engineering Apprentice Review

My role as a 4th year apprentice is to assist experienced technicians in the maintenance jobs. I'm on baggage engineering where I do the small things such as moving bags that have caused a conveyor to stop to replacing an inverter and programming it into the system. With such a variety of assets on the department it means that each day is different and has its own problems to solve making it enjoyable.

Each year of the apprenticeship I've continued to learn and develop new skills at an exponential rate. An example of this would be becoming more independent and deciding what I want to do each day preparing me for becoming a technician later this year. I've developed my fault finding skills further with my increased understanding of electrical and electronics which has been valuable to finding the reason of equipment breakdown.

I really enjoy this apprenticeship as it allows me to learn from experienced technicians which is knowledge you cant learn from a book. I get the theoretical knowledge needed from college and training I've done then the practical experience while on the job. Everyone is really supportive of the apprenticeship as most of them have been apprentices at the airport themselves. I've made friends everywhere I've been as people are friendly and want you to succeed making me feel at home. Its an amazing opportunity that I've got so I try to make the most of it.

My programme is well structured as the first year is five days a week at college and the other 3 years one day a week at college and the rest at work. The third year you go from Monday to Friday to a shift pattern which allows you to learn so much more and get a lot of days off. This means the work life balance is very good and gives a large amount of freedom for doing college work and leisure.

I receive a lot of support from my employer as this year I've done my NVQ which my apprentice manager helped with with by reading through my work and making sure it meets the requirements. He has meetings with us to give help to us on things and one-to-ones regularly to see how we're doing and provide help if needed. Whenever I have any issues I know I can contact my manager and he will help me.

I receive weekly support from my tutors on the subjects I take which means that any issues or questions I have, I can ask them and have them resolved promptly. At the start of the year we go through what we have to do and have deadlines throughout that we meet and means we start on target with the work we have to do. This means the work is spread well across the year and there is not as much of a rush towards the end as assignments are due.

I think the qualification I do is very relevant as currently I am doing a HNC with Electrical and Electronic Principles, Mechatronics and Project. This gives me a further knowledge of principles that I can apply to equipment at work which can help when there are issues and the understanding of how it works is needed to fix the problem. This makes me a very valuable member of the team and means I can be productive and feel useful.

I like to do a lot of STEM events at schools and online to promote the apprenticeship and engineering in general. These events are good for inspiring the next generation and promoting the apprenticeship which I enjoy and value so much in the hopes passionate people will join. I am good friends with the apprentices in my year and do activities outside of work with them and talk to them as they are in a similar situation as me.

Yes

I would 100% recommend the apprenticeship to a friend as I believe it is a far better way of starting a career in engineering compared to going to university. This apprenticeship pay very well and the technicians you learn from go out of their way to teach you and are all very friendly as they enjoy their job. Theres no negatives to this apprenticeship and in my opinion is the best apprenticeship there is hands down with the level of support you get in starting your career.

My best advice for applying for the apprenticeship is to try and stand out by showing how passionate about engineering you are. A good way to do this is to do some sort of engineering project at home which demonstrates a passion and helps you to stand out. As long as you are passionate, confident and driven then you will be in with a good chance.