Supportability Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

Engineering placements within different departments around the company. Shadowing and learning from experienced Engineers, to completing and managing projects ourselves.

Developed soft skills from University study; working in a corporate company and liaising with stakeholders/customers. Learnt practical engineering skills from hands on experience at work. Learnt fundamental engineering knowledge/principles at University.

I really enjoy my job; the opportunity of working within several teams/departments and learning about different job roles and areas of engineering. However, the extremely heavy workload of completing a part-time BEng University Degree (in a condensed 4 years, rather than the recommended 6 years) alongside working (almost) full-time is very strenuous and demotivating. Especially for someone with a neurodevelopmental disability and a learning difficulty. Due to this, my experience of the first 2 years in the apprenticeship were very enjoyable; until burnout kicks in. 3 year was then a struggle and final year is really not enjoyable at all. The unforgiving nature of the University aspect (apprentices are not given any additional accommodations above those given to full-time students, even though we work full-time in a demanding job / corporate company), as such, has depleted all of my passion for the subject.

The organisation/structure is great from a work perspective. However, the academic aspect (although mostly well structured) is not well organised. Also, as this is a 4 year programme, I would suggest the structure of the working week to be 3 days focused on the job role, 1 day at University and 1 day spent completing off-the-job training/University study in work hours, to make the workload more manageable. Instead, we suffer a working week of 4 days focused on the job role and 1 day at University which forces all of our University study to be completed in the evenings and weekends (this is very unsustainable for 4 years and leads to burnout). Also, I would suggest the University final year project to be moved to the summer in 3rd Year (May to September) and that we are able to dedicate our time to completing this to the best of our abilities without the added workload of completing other final year modules, assignments and exams, whilst working full-time and preparing for our EPA.

I feel that I am not well supported in terms of my neurodevelopmental disability and my learning difficulty. Otherwise, apprentices are well supported.

Support from the training provider (above the fundamental lectures, laboratories and tutorials) is usually very minimal. Or you have to put in considerable time/effort to advocate for yourself, to receive support.

The qualification helps to develop the soft skills needed in the working industry, as well as report writing etc. However, the taught content of the qualification should be diversified. In my experience, the (Mechanical Engineering) University course is mainly focused on design engineering, whereas my engineering job role is post design stage (development/manufacture, test, maintenance, through-life/in-service support and disposal) and therefore there is not much overlap between the content learnt at University and the requirements of my job role. Also, there is too much weighting/focus on control systems at University (3 modules - at Level 5/6). Unless specifically in a control systems engineering role; the majority of this information will not be useful. It is beneficial to learn the basics of such; but for most apprentices, it is unnecessary to learn about control systems in that much detail. Also the University course focuses more on the highly theoretical side of engineering; however, learning the theory briefly and then focussing on practical ways of implementation would benefit the apprentices a lot more in industry.

There are many, many extra-curricular activities to get involved in - we are spoilt for choice!

Yes

MBDA is an amazing company to work for. It has a big community feel, a very flexible working environment and great employee benefits. With lots of opportunities for career progression. I would definitely recommend MBDA to someone applying to a full-time permanent role. However, I am very reluctant with recommending a degree apprenticeship at MBDA / University of Hertfordshire, to those with neurodevelopmental disabilities and severe learning difficulties, as I do not think we get enough support on the programme, to enable the workload to be manageable for us, and as such the apprenticeship has been a rather negative experience for me and I anticipate this to be the same for others with similar deficits. Therefore, in this particular case I would recommend going to University full-time to study the relevant degree and then apply to a graduate scheme at MBDA, as this would be more attainable/achievable/accommodating.

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