Customer Service Engineer Review

My role is to perform maintenance operations on different Siemens Healthineers Medical equipment. As an apprentice I spend time with and shadow engineers in order to gain knowledge and better my understanding. I am expected to help the engineer I am out with where possible, however it is seen as more important to learn and develop. I am currently in my first year and completing my qualifications at college four days a week, currently working towards my BTEC. While I am at college full time, there are still plenty of opportunities to go out on site and experience the work environment.

Being currently in my first year, I am on a full time college course where I am learning about a wide range of engineering subjects. At college, my course includes many different engineering lessons, including welding, electrical instillation, CAD 2D and 3D design, engineering maintenance and lathes to name a few. I feel like my course gives me a good overview and knowledge of general engineering techniques. When going out on site, I feel like I improve my specific knowledge and get a different perspective which helps with my college work.

So far I have been really enjoying my apprenticeship, although in the first year most of your time is spent at college gaining qualifications, there are good opportunities to go out on site with qualified engineers and gain more knowledge. There are also opportunities to take part in events such as team forums which are valuable experiences.

So far I have found my apprenticeship to be well structured, with plenty of support there when needed. I have a clear knowledge of how i am going to progress through my apprenticeship and what is needed to do so. I also have a clear roadmap of what will happen as i progress in my apprenticeship through each year and what that will look like for me.

So far I have felt like there is plenty of support from my employer in all aspects of my apprenticeship. Any problems or issues I have either with college, work for my training provider or wanting to go out on site are all taken seriously and support is and has been offered to me in different ways. The engineers themselves are always happy to answer questions and offer to help with coursework and my manager always offers as much support as possible. I don't feel like much more could be done to give me more support if needed.

I receive good support from my training provider while working towards my qualifications. Being at college full time, there is less of a hands on approach from my training provider however if I have any issues within college or any concerns about a part of my course I can get help from my training provider easily. My training provider also helps me to complete my off the job working hours and ensures I am on track with meeting my qualifications.

I feel like what I have learned at college so far has given me a good base of knowledge for me to work from. While it may seem that some of the subjects I study are not necessarily directly related to my job role, they give me a good general knowledge which can be applied to the working environment and will help me in future.

Throughout the year there are a few different extracuricular activities. There are events such as the apprentice forum, where all of the apprentices meet and discuss together any problems they are facing, different changes in the business and have some sort of learning experience, as well as the apprentice graduation which happens yearly and celebrates the apprentices who are graduating to be qualified engineers. There have been opportunities to go for meals out with the engineering teams and different social events too.

Yes

I feel like Siemens Healthineers have given me a great opportunity to learn about a subject which i am really interested in, with great support and also pay me a wage to do so. Throughout the apprenticeship so far it has felt like a real value is placed on apprentices and they are seen as an important part of the team for the future.

I would say its important just to be yourself and show what you can do. Acting professionally helps, dressing appropriately for interviews and being on time with responses and professional with emails will stand you in good stead throughout the interviews. Keeping an open mind and being willing to learn will help throughout your experience too.