Mechanical degree apprentice Review

Working in Customer Support in Leonardo involves providing the engineering functions required after a helicopter is delivered to a customer, this includes maintenance instructions, repair instructions, modifications, through life support, spares provisioning, user manual and much more. Day-to-day this means reviewing data in spreadsheets and providing reports in order to assist the customer in the running of their aircraft.

I have developed a number of skills including communication and project management. I would have to say that the scheme so far has not improved my engineering capabilities but has instead only improved my knowledge of the aircraft. I have not been able to engage in effective engineering practices and I fear that describing the apprenticeship as engineering is somewhat misrepresentative

There are some elements of the programme that can be very enjoyable, the apprentice community is quite strong and being able to study a subject of interest is good. However, the actual work that I have been given to undertake has not related to what I study and with no real option to move into a more heavily engineering part of the business this has really put a damper on my ability to enjoy the programme.

When considering organisation, this is something that I cannot see much of. When initially joining the scheme, it moved from a 4yr to a 5yr scheme, the degree was not yet defined and the assistance for relocation was poor to non-existent. Throughout the scheme, it has been much more down to us as individuals to sort out every detail with very little help from the training team.

At present, the support received is not wonderful. I do not have a mentor which was promised at the beginning of the scheme. My training manager works from home most of the time and so is not very accessible, it seems that only emails about certain topics will ever get a reply.

There is a lot of effort put in by certain individuals to provide support but sadly the training provider is understaffed and therefore it can be slow. This bares no reflection on the individuals other than that they are under a very heavy workload. When the support is received it is typically very good and helpful.

As previously stated, the qualifications that are being studied do not have any real bearing to the roles that I have been in to date. This is a fairly major problem with the scheme that really needs to be addressed. The problem is less with the qualification and more with the roles that are on offer in the customer support side of the business.

There are a good number of social activities that are run by a committee of apprentices. These have included many different types of events including manger versus trainee sports matches and meals and other activities. As of yet I have been unable to attend many due to other commitments however as an apprentice cohort we have been able to meet up socially.

No

There may be circumstances where I would recommend Leonardo to a friend but I certainly would not recommend the particular scheme that I am on. The company seems to do much better at providing the level 3 apprenticeships and even the graduate scheme. It appears to be the degree level scheme that they are not able to run effectively.

Make sure that you know exactly what you are getting yourself in for. Ask precisely what sort of work you will end up doing and make sure that that is something that you would be happy doing. Hold the company to account on what they sell to you in terms of the scheme.