Level 3 Maintenance Technician Apprentice Review

As a year 3 apprentice my day to day role sees me shadowing the maintenance team in my assigned work area. I learn reactive and planned maintenance tasks to prepare me for my final role. One day a week I have a college day to complete my optional Level 5 foundation degree course.

Everyone within my work area has been really supportive. I have learnt a huge range of skills from mechanical engineering and hand fitting to how electrical and mechanical systems work. This will be really beneficial for my final role as it ensure I will be able to support the company in dealing with any issues.

I really enjoying working with the BMW Group. As previously stated, everyone within the company has been really supportive and hence I have achieved a lot throughout the 3 years I have been working here. However, sometimes there is a lack of planning and support from BMET (the training provide) which does take away from the overall enjoyment somewhat.

I believe that the 4 year programme is structured really well, We receive a years basic training, followed by two years on day shifts in the different areas of the factory, the third year being in the area you will finish the apprenticeship in. Then in the fourth year you go onto shift to support the maintenance team where I will finish my apprenticeship. Once a week we have a college day to complete BTEC / Foundation degree. I have given a 7 as the organisation of the training provider is overall poor compared to the BMW training programme.

I cannot fault the support that I have been given by my employer. No matter what issues I have faced someone has always been there for me to get the support that I require. The managers ensure that we can speak to them at anytime and therefore any issues are resolved quickly and fairly.

I am not impressed with the training provider, it does somewhat let this apprenticeship down. The teachers do provide a good level of support, however forward planning, Preparation of learning materials and software and overall class planning is poor. There has been staffing issues a lot of the time which is also frustrating.

In some ways the qualification does help. For example, exposing us to how certain equipment works such as PLC's has been beneficial. However, if the qualification was more relevant to the company (especially in the first year, such as working on equipment we use in th factory) it would be greatly beneficial to us all.

There are 3 main extra-curricular actives to get involved with. These are the charity champions (a team that organises charity events for the house charity CALM), an apprentice led newsletter and a sharepoint team (a team that builds and maintains a sharepoint site for apprentice for things such as holiday bookings). We are actively pushed to get involved with these.

Yes

I do really enjoy this apprenticeship. As I said BMET does let this apprenticeship down as the training they provide is not to the standard that I would expect. However , BMW Group is an amazing company to work for. There are some many great opportunities you can get involved in and the final role is something really worth working towards.

My main tip would be make yourself stand out. Lots of people apply for this role and therefore you need to ensure that your CV or references stands out from the other applicants. Also ensure that you do some of the practice exams before the assessment centres to ensure you are prepared.