Core Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

The apprenticeship involves various placements across Leonardo Helicopters. The placements can range from design based to electronics to testing. I have used computer programs such as Catia and have been involved in important tasks throughout my placements. I also have some communication with people very high up in the business.

I have learnt many new skills, particularly communication skills and Catia. Leonardo is very a very good company for learning new skills. If there is a need for it or it is relevant for you to learn a new skill, the training team will support you and invest in good, up to date training.

I enjoy the programme a lot however it can be very time consuming. There is a lot of work to do during and outside of work hours with college HNC, HND and then the degree as well as a NVQ that runs alongside that should be completed based on the jobs we do in work.

The apprenticeship has a relatively good structure. It is difficult to plan for 5 years into the future however there are some organisational and planning aspects of the apprenticeship which are lacking. I would say that they have a basic framework but as an apprentice I would prefer it to be tailored more to an individual based off of the framework.

In general, I recieve a lot of support from the employees in my placements as well as other apprentices and the training managers. They are always happy to help however the training managers can sometimes provide support without actually helping with certain questions. Particularly based on the framework, they struggle to adjust and I think they need to talk to too many people to get an answer which often doesn't even arrive unless they are prompted further.

The training provider is very good and all of the teachers are incredibly helpful with any questions as well as providing good and engaging teaching material and lessons. The current training provider, yeovil college, are very good overall however the course also lacks some structure and can be very difficult to get complete answers for course structure based questions.

I believe I have learnt an awful lot of information surrounding helicopters and aerodynamics. Some of it is directly transferable to various placements such as transmissions however some parts are not transferable like turbine engines because here ate Leonardo, we do not do any sort of work with turbine engines.

There are some extra curricular activities however during my first 2 years with the company, they have not been running because of the COVID pandemic. Despite this, they have started to organize sports events and similar activities to get involved in however it is quite difficult to socialize with other apprentices because you are all in different placements.

Yes

I personally think that the degree apprenticceship route is much more beneficial when compared to University. This is not only because of the economic effect of earning money rather than entering possible lifetime debt but because of the experience you learn on the course. I believe I will be much more ready for a professional engineering role than an undergraduate.

I think you should look into the history of the company and become accustomed to what the company does. In particularly, what the yeovil site does. I would also ask lots of questions to make yourself stand out and always have a willingness to learn. The company likes proactive people that and will invest in you, if you are invested in them and their direction.