Maintenance Technician Review

On Mondays I come to Swindon Plant to do paperwork that is required of my training course or I head down to the shop floor to do some work with the maintenance technicians that are doing what I will be doing by the end of the apprenticeship. For Oxford Plant I go and do my training qualification that is a Lvl2 NVQ where it is mainly workshop activities such as welding, turning, fluid power, business studies, PLCs, milling, electrical and electronics.

I've learnt loads of new skills that are mainly practical and have used these to produce, pneumatic circuits, components on a lathe that make an actuator and other small pieces that are smaller version of the real systems that are in both of the plants. The work done has been useful to develop soft skills as well.

I enjoy my program a a lot and its exciting to see how it will develop in the next few years. I am constantly learning new things like processes, methods of doing things through my work and being around like minded people. there have been issues with training provider that have been fixed but overall it has been a good start to the 4 years.

I haven't been exposed a lot to the main program of my apprenticeship from my employer as it has been mainly training provider at a different plant to my place of work. To be honest it has been a bit poor in some areas and other it has been good.

From my employer I feel that I receive a lot of support and feel supported even when I am not at my place of work, my manager is always contactable by phone and has been supporting myself and other apprentices constantly if we have had any issues that we felt that we couldn't fix ourselves.

The support that is given through my training provider varies as sometimes it doesn't feel like we get enough support but others I felt supported. There have been issues with teaching as some of the tutors employed after good ones have left have not been good or supportive in the rotations that we have done.

We haven't had enough training in the main role that we are working towards as the first year of our apprenticeship has been going to the training provider for 4/5 days of the week. But on the Monday it relates to the small jobs I do on a Monday.

There are a few options that apprentices are able to do and also have a chance to run such as the Charity Champions team that I am a part of, the newsletter team which sends out monthly newsletters to all of the associates within the plants of BMW Group. there is also a conservation team that I am a part of where we are refurbishing a bench for the pond area within Swindon Plant.

Yes

It is a great opportunity to earn valuable skills and if done well, secure a well-paying and rewarding job by the end of the apprenticeship. there are lots of opportunities for soft skills and practical skills to be developed on which can help outside of work too with any hands on projects.

This is a rewarding role and to be able to succeed you'll need tp go in with an open mind and be ready to work hard, the work is challenging but fun and rewarding. Be sociable towards others as this will improve your network within the plants as there will be chances to see other apprentices and share experiences.