Apprentice Electrician Review

Tedious, repetitive electrical installation work (Cable management systems, metalwork, wiring, etc.) Lots of rail-specific equipment like rectifiers, HV switchgear, etc. but not a big range outside of this

Yes; Made me more confident with hands-on tasks and power tools, but very little academically; Feel like my mind is rotting. I feel like I should have a LOT more to show for myself having dedicated nearly 5 years of my life to this. Friends of mine have finished uni and started making careers for themselves in this time and I still don't even have a level 3. Embarrassing quite frankly.

Not very much; Range of work is limited, and only really suitable for people who are happy with stagnation and repetition. The apprenticeship aspect of it (assessment, evidencing work, meeting with advisor, etc.) is utterly soul-destroying. I am woefully behind due to an inadequate range of work provided by my employer (to the extent that I don't even think apprentices should have been taken on to this division of Balfour Beatty due to the type of work we undertake)

Extremely poorly; No one in the company fully understands how the scheme is delivered, and the JTL support officers have not been on-the-ball at all. Requests to do different work often fall on deaf ears and the apprentice progress is often allowed to fall far behind.

Employers are happy to pay for courses, resources (books, etc.) but they do not understand how the apprenticeship is delivered, or how it is earned (through the use of a portfolio, and witnessed/documented evidence of work done)

Assigned an advisor who is often on holiday, and not on the ball; Forced to use "SmartAssessor" which is an awful, proprietary, buggy, unintuitive hellscape of a website to log portfolio work which I get the impression no one will ever be looking at. Feels totally pointless other than just satisfying the minimum number of "Off-the-job" hours.

I actually think I am undeserving of the qualification I've spent 4+ years working towards now as the experiences provided to me on site have been inadequate and I don't have the real-world competence necessary to work independently in my role; I'll be qualifying (eventually) but not to a level which I am happy about, and certainly won't be finishing feeling like the 4+ years have been well-spent.

Some social activities, but nothing young apprentices would actually be interested in. There is a team-building event which takes place in the lake district but this is a team-working and volunteering task which takes place over many months with a thin veneer of fun in the form of a 2/3 day visit the lake district. This is wholly incompatible with the rigid timetabling of college and other required absences from work. Participation is mandatory and yet all of the team calls were scheduled right in the middle of my college day. I was then shunned from the group for lack of participation and didn't get to attend the lake district which was a real kick in the teeth. This is despite my repeated outcries to the organiser, who didn't seem interested in offering a solution (different team/day/etc.) so I still haven't been.

No

God no; Poor delivery, awful incompetent training organisation, low morale workforce, etc.

Don't