Engineering Degree Apprentice Software Review

My role is a software engineer, I work on any range of things such as internal systems for improvement of our own ways of working, I also work on customer facing items, this is where the learning really comes across from theory to practice, working on customer facing products helps to consolidate any training provided. Also involved on a day to day basis is the daily meeting to allow the team to get a good understanding of how everyone is getting on and whether or not anyone is experiencing any difficulties

I have learnt alot of new skills, these are from the experienced people I am working alongside and from the university, you'd think you'd only learn technical skills but I have also learnt a lot of interpersonal skills as well, I am much more able to communicate with any team I am in now than I was at the start of my apprenticeship. I have also had opportunity's to develop existing skills that I bough with me into the company

I thoroughly enjoy the programme, there is the off days like there is anywhere if something didn't go to plan or there has been errors, but these all show up as good learning experiences and looking back on them I am able to reflect and see how beneficial having to odd rough day can be. As a whole it's a rewarding programme both physically and mentally

The programme is still relatively knew so there is constant organisational changes, however these are all communicated to us well and we are able to let people know when we think things aren't working as they intended. Any time this happens it is dealt with and we usually have a response quickly. There has been the odd occasion where a structure change has occurred without us being informed leading to a slight determent in reviews, however these are all sorted after we bring up the fact it didn't go down well

The support I receive from my employer is completely dependant on the situation I am in, there is the support there for any number of incidents if I need it, each site has a dedicated coach to help us through any problems and if we need more support there is a whole team employed purely to run the apprenticeship program so the level of support you can get is unbeatable, you just sometimes have to ask to let people know you are struggling

The support from the training provider was initially awful, however we took this up with the company and they have expressed their concerns about the support form the provider, it has since improved drastically and there is now policies in place to ensure we get the high level of support what anyone should need, this is a significant improvement and things just keep getting better.

I feel that the qualification I am getting from my training provider is helping me advance my work to a level you could expect from someone with much more experience than me, this is due to the constant consolidation of my training and being able to put it all into practice and advance my understanding.

There is a few extra curricular activities you can get yourselves involved in, these are mainly outreach events which help us demonstrate what we do as a company to younger people in schools to try and encourage more people into the engineering world. The only thing with these events is that they are heavily monitored as to who can take part, if you are behind in your learning they restrict you form taking part as the time needs to be spent elsewhere.

Yes

I would recommend BAE Systems to a friend because of the amazing head start into a career that is usually a competitive field for graduates, it is also an amazing rate of pay for an apprentice, at degree level age you are seemingly trying to start life on your own and this is an amazing opportunity to learn and have that freedom.

I would say if you are looking at applying to the apprenticeship find out where BAE are attending careers events or apprenticeship events and talk to the people there, most of the time they will have either been an apprentice or worked alongside one, they also state the the apprentices are some of the most competent co workers after graduation, also spend a bit of time looking into BAE systems online and the social media presence. This will help you decide if this is the type of work you wish to get involved in, contact the company and ask if anyone is willing to talk to you about their experience and just go from there.