Network Engineer Apprentice Review

My role at my BAE Network Engineer apprenticeship is to create patches for network issues, assisting jobs, troubleshooting issues that are reported to the SNI team. A network engineer will also carry out testing on the network systems as well as some hardware work such as cabling and powering devices.

I have been on my BAE network engineer apprenticeship since 2021 and throughout my apprenticeship I have learnt many new skills from when I'm in office working in the labs as well as learning new skills from my degree course at Cranfield. Skills such as network fundamentals, network configurations and networking testing and troubleshooting.

At my BAE networking apprenticeship for the first year I was on the SNI team as my first placement which was a great placement there was a high work load with a small but good team that I got along with very well. The placement after SNI was hardware this placement had a very low work load so I was quite bored when in this placement as I was just sat at my desk I got a couple jobs here and there but I would have liked a higher work load. The university side of the apprenticeship I think is pretty awful the course module grades are usually based of reflections not actually grading you on how well you know about the modules. For example in business and society 75% of the grade was from a 1 hour exercise we did that the very end of the course which was recorded but we weren't allowed to see the recording and had to base it off memory.

The programme is structured quite well I have regular catch ups with my university skills coach which is good for making sure I don't miss out on anything and that I can keep my portfolio up to date. However we use to have a skills coach/apprenticeship from BAE which meant communicate from university to BAE was clean but since she's left the company the communication between the university and BAE has dimed a bit and sorting things such as placements and things inside of BAE have become slightly harder.

In the BAE apprenticeship roll you have multiple levels of management but my functional manager has always supported me and been there for me he will come meet in you in person every now and then just to check up on you which is great. In all my placements I've had SNI, hardware and NMS (which i just started this week) I have all had great support from my placement managers.

From my university I have a decent amount of support from the skill coach Harriet she's great for keeping things up to date such as he e portfolio and to have 1 in 1s to talk about how I'm finding university and if I'm struggling with the current modules or if there's anything I need help with.

I do believe the university course does help to an extent it gets me more familiar with terms with software as we had a software module and I work with software and programmes in my day to day life at work. The networking module we did recently helped me further improve my networking skills such as now being able to use network simulation programmes.

In summer last year I went on the JSS2 project which covered 4 months of my SNI placement where i would move around Portsmouth and Collingwood sites gaining further networking knowledge and practical hands on experience. I also some networking event such as firstly Thursday which is where employees from SI go to the pub after work on the first Thursday of the month.

Yes

I have gained lots of hands on and practical experience as well as a high level of networking knowledge it has also improved my communication skills and made me a more confident person and worker. I have met new friends along the way too and all the sites I've been to have been supportive and I always felt comfortable at BAE.

Make sure you take advantages of all the benefits BAE offer such as the ESP (employee incentive programme) as well as a bunch of other discounts and offers that working at BAE provides. For example the cycle to work scheme or discounted gym memberships. BAE also lets u meet new very clever people that u can learn off and further improve your knowledge and skills so make sure u network with other employees.