Assistant Technician Review

My role on a day to day basis is to create engineering drawings, for small infrastructure improvements up to large multi million pound highway schemes, through all stages of development, within the UK and internationally. I create highways alignments, cross sections, corridors and use Autocad and Civil3D to complete this work

Since being on this apprenticeship i have learnt a great amount. I had no knowledge of engineering principles before starting, and i am now about to sit my ICE EngTech review, just a few years later. I am proficient in using industry software such as autocad and civil 3d, as well as gaining 4 qualifications on the way to gaining my degree

I enjoy my apprenticeship a lot. It is, in my opinion, a much better route that full-time university because I can go straight for chartership once i finish my degree due to gaining relevant experience for the past 4 years. This means i can get chartered 8 years after starting this apprenticeship, whereas a full-time uni student spends 2 years in alevel, 3 years on the degree, then will need a minimum of 5/6 years experience in order to be able to get chartered

My apprenticeship is very well structured. I know what is expected of me and when it is expected by. I get a lot of support from colleagues within work to help with the academic side, and the academic side goes along nicely with what i do in work. the welsh apprenticeship framework is great

I recieve immense amounts of support from my employer. my managers encourage me to implement what i have learnt into my daily tasks and encourage me to attend trraining sessions which grows my engineering knowledge. I also get study days where i am granted the day of and the day before my exam to study

I receive a lot of support from university. They always explain what i am learning in an industry sense to allow me to see where i would actually use the things they are teaching in daily work. the tutors help us in any way they can and are always supportive when we have questions or queries

My qualification and daily working go very well together. I am able to use what i learn in work to apply to my university assignments, and what i learn in uni to better my work. I can definitely put the theory i learn in university into my daily work practice

There are many extra curricular activities within my company. We have a sport and social team who organise regular social events for all people in the office to attend, and individual teams also arrange social events for smaller groups to go out and socialise or do some team bonding activities

Yes

The company has great benefits, for example pension, bonuses, competitions, promotion opportunities, private healthcare and cycle to work scheme. I also think the people within arcadis are great, diversity, mental health and inclusion are the top priorities for the managers which makes every employee feel welcome and happy to be there.

I would advise people to be themselves because everybody is very genuine and get along really well with others. Be ambitious because Arcadis want people to progress and get better each day. The experience and opportunities here are second to none and managers are happy to organise any experience you are looking for