Technical Apprentice Review

The first year of the apprenticeship takes place at college, five days a week. In the following years, college is attended on a day release basis and most working hours are spent at the plant experiencing various departments and learning about their roles. Time spent at the workplace is always unique and 'soaking up' information is critical.

I've developed my engineering knowledge considerably and the apprenticeship has given me a good insight into the world of engineering and manufacturing, something my family has always had a connection to. I feel that the qualifications I can achieve will provide me with a lot of opportunities in my working life.

When working on site, the programme always has something new to offer. While I would like to make it clear that your experience will be subjective, each department has something valuable to teach. It's a great way to make connections in the workplace with people you wouldn't otherwise know and in the more interesting placements, putting in effort yields results and you can quickly get hands on.

The structure within the workplace is at least 9/10ths of the way there. Sometimes responses are slow when a placement is being found but due to college arrangements there are some unexpected weeks where a department isn't available. At college, I was thoroughly disappointed and there is a lot to be improved. It's understood that apprentices will not all have access to their own transport at the start of the apprenticeship, and yet this is the time period in which the place of work or training is the least consistent. Personally, both me and my family have found this difficult, as the public transport connections are minimal between the college buildings and the workplace so I have nothing to rely on in case of a personal emergency.

All apprentices can contact their mentor at any time and I think this is brilliant. Really helpful, and you can quickly find the answers you need to keep moving forwards in the workplace. At college, again I feel there's a lack of organisation and the teaching staff don't have all the answers.

The lecturers have a concerning lack of knowledge and although they have experience of the engineering field, this provides nothing more than a segue to real world examples when they teach the various subjects. The induction day at the college was poorly delivered and provided me with no stepping stone. When I speak to others and tell them I'm struggling with work, the response is "it's not the same as secondary school" but then no additional support has been provided to help me with that transition. I'm one of the few members of my cohort that hasn't attended sixth form or any further education prior to this, so it's incredibly demotivating and sometimes makes it seem as if I'm not skilled enough for this apprenticeship. Overall, this is by far my largest complaint and when I return to the workplace I have no issues with support, as mentioned previously.

Although not all aspects of the qualification are relevant it is essential to have a basic understanding of them. It helps you understand how the different areas of engineering work together and how important it is to have an open mind to each scenario, as there are often alternative solutions.

No extra-curricular activities other than those set up unofficially by employees or the EEEC programme, where employees use work hours to help out with community projects in the surrounding area.

Yes

If you're interested in engineering, it's one of the best apprenticeships available. The wide range of job roles and sites across the globe provide so many opportunities while the college course gives you time to learn the ins and outs of the industry and decide where you want to take yourself.

Be personable in the interview - reeling off facts or knowledge from a sheet won't engage the interviewers and you need to show them that you have an engineering mindset. Problem solving is a big part of this so make sure you're always thinking of different solutions to any challenge and don't be afraid to think for yourself - being wrong is how we learn, and if you can show them that you understand where you've made a mistake it'll go a long way.