Quality Inspector Apprentice Review

by AWE

Rating

4.8/10

1. Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:

I check components and documents and then attempt to clear them up to ensure that they are safe to use in production.

8/10

2. Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

I have learnt to use a lathe, mill, horizontal mill, surface grinder, off hand grinder in the machine shop and improved my CAD knowledge. I can now also use a CMM.

9/10

3. To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

I enjoy the program day to day and the placement management is very good. Unfortunately, the apprentice masters frustrate me so, in the big picture, it can be difficult.

4/10

4. How well organised/structured is your programme?

On paper, the structure is amazing, and for the first year and a half, it is brilliant. The second half is chaos and as much as the experienced professionals try to help us, they are not the ones ultimately responsible so it lags behind significantly.

4/10

5. How much support do you receive from your employer?

The professionals I am learning from are very supportive and have helped me through both work-related and personal problems, the apprentice masters vary in their approach where some are very helpful and others seem to not to care.

7/10

6. How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

On placement (second half), we have absolutely no support at all, so far, I have been waiting over 2 years for my assessor to mark my work (1.5 years worth) and I have been told it'll take another 8 months, at least.

1/10

7. How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

I feel the training helps in a very basic sense, I was given the same training as a machinist so when I was told to start working as a quality inspector, it took me months of hard work to get to a level where I could actually start learning.

4/10

8. Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

There are some networking events available but frankly, unless you are a minority, you are unlikely to be invited.

1/10

9a. Would you recommend AWE to a friend?

Yes

9b. Why?

The company is exceptional and I intend to stay working here for a long time. The first half of the apprentice is awesome but the second half is a joke - I'm just trying to move past it and then move on with my career.

10. What tips or advice would you give to others applying to AWE?

Tell people what you want long term, people are more than happy to help but if you don't care or just answer every question with "I dunno" - you won't get a second look.