Precision Machinist Review

As an apprentice precision machinist we practice and learn new skills using various types of machinery. We've had to attend college one day a week and complete NVQ work to complete our qualification. So depending on what's going on that day and where you're based depending whether you'll be doing practical machining work or written work. As of covid, work has been very counterproductive with barely anyone being able to use machines and get on to finish their apprenticeship.

Yes. As i came straight from GCSE's I'd never seen or used machinery before and being trained to use them has been difficult (with my dyslexia), however most of my instructors have tried to be as helpful as they can, to allow me to understand things to then develop new skills.

I enjoy machining and being able to be creative with what i make. Learning about new technology and the history behind everything has been very interesting.

The first year was relatively thought out, with college and work. However when its come to our second and third years, slightly because of covid, the organisation and communication has plummeted drastically. I have now been in my apprenticeship for 7 months more than the initial 3 years. Baring in mine if things were organised better and i was given work to do while we were in lockdown for a year, me and the other apprentices would be finished by now.

My employer, especially with covid, has not supported any of us! We now have nearly 4 to 5 years worth of backlogged apprentices and no where for them to go and learn. The company seems to only care about being payed for being in apprentices and don't care about how severely affected we are with so many apprentices and not enough facilities or mentors to accommodate!

As i suffer from dyslexia and anxiety, i struggle severely with my processing, understanding of things and remembering things. Because of this I've experience many anxiety attacks and emotional moments. I've has a few line managers and mentors in the past year or so and barley any of them support me if I've been struggling. Even the college and my external written work assessor were or have been horrible at helping. I've been close to raising a grievance with our union because of the lack of help and support I've received from the apprenticeship and company. The lack of support I've received, along with the amount of comments I've received from individuals regarding my dyslexia, anxiety attacks and emotional spells are staggering and have all severely affected my well being and mental state!

My qualification teaches me the bare minimum to allow me to operate machinery safely and with understanding. However with todays newer technology, when we go out into the business we have to be taught from scratch to use the new machinery vs the over 50 year old machinery that we're initially trained on.

Not really. We have sort of an apprentice council, which sometimes organises trips and events for us to do or go on. However they don't happen often. There are some events held throughout the company however they're not exclusive to apprentices (marathons, football matches, etc.).

Yes

Overall you get to learn skills, not just in machining, and see things that are very interesting that no where else would have (nuclear history at the museum, etc.), which can be a good starting point in ones career. Also, I'm not going to lie but the pay in very good for an apprenticeship.

The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work. Be yourself, be honest and try your very best.