Engineer Apprentice Review

My typical day-to-day basis is going to a customer site and working on maintenance tasks which requires repairs or replacement Siemens parts. Within field service I work at various sites across UK and often travel a lot to different locations. Also working on university project when not on customer site.

Have learnt a lot during my time in the apprenticeship scheme. I have achieved qualifications in HNC and HND electical engineering, and currently working towards top-up degree to obtain a BEng Honours degree in Control and Automation at University of Salford. Have taken internal training courses for TIA Portal programming and other safe working practices.

I enjoy the work side of the programme a lot as I am often meeting new people and expanding my knowledge basis. The field service team are very friendly ad helpful if I have any problems or questions. The programme meets my expectations, however it is difficult at times to balance university studies with work and OneFile.

Programme is well structured with having 2 week blocks every couple of months and having various training to keep my knowledge and know-how up to date with current company guidelines. I have good support from new line manager and induction at the start of the programme to understand how it will be carried out.

I get most support from my line manager and checks up on me at a regular basis. However, lack support from HR Team and don't have a mentor assigned to me. Attitude towards supporting me is good from most people in the workplace. Placement managers are often happy to help where required.

Little support from training provider. Tend to go to work manager instead, but I have had support once from university lecturer for project due to an issue with parts not arriving on time and needing an extension. Tutor has a good attitude towards supporting pupils though, so if any support was needed I believe he would be happy to help.

Unfortunately within field service role, a lot is self-taught except for TIA Portal training so qualifications are not too relevant to my role. Maths units are helpful when trying to calculate certain problems, but other than this haven't put much theory into practice. However, qualifications have helped me know more about the engineering industry.

There is a team that used to run before COVID called Next UK which introduced social events for people in the young learner scheme, such as apprentices and graduates but this stopped during the pandemic. It has recently been started again and have organised various events, such as Meet and Greets with senior management and other team activities.

Yes

Siemens is a great place to work and value their employees well, with treating them well. Although pay isn't as competitive as some other places of work it makes up for it in the value and reputation of the company for taking care of workers internally. It is also a good stepping stone to future career paths.

Be yourself and make sure you are passionate about your work and what you can bring to the company. Siemens interviews are more interested in personal strengths rather than qualifications and is very useful if you have a large interest in engineering and hobbies related to it. Assessment days include team building exercises and informal interviews.