Higher Engineering Apprentice Review

As a year 2 apprentice I am on site four days a week at work with a day release to college, where I study for my foundation degree. Day to day varies depending on what rotation and department you are in. Currenlty I am working in the Legacy department, supporting the products we make. This forces you to deal with many different stakeholders, such as customers and suppliers on civil and military engineering activities in a project engineering role.

Yes. I would describe the course as a training programme rather than a Higher Apprenticeship, due to the framework that is in place for us to gain much more out of the apprenticeship. I have developed a huge amount and learnt a lot myself personally and in an engineering enviroment.The course is there to stretch you and make you become a more well rounded engineer. As well as the Foundation Degree in Aerospace Computer Systems, I will complete my DofE Gold Award, a ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management) Level 2 in Team Leading, accredation by the IET (Institute of Engineers & Technicians), and four years on the job training working on site, with plenty of internal training courses along the way. After successful completion of the first three years you are eligible to go and complete a full degree with the University of West England, as well as the level 6 apprenticeship that will allow you to be an Incorporated Engineer with the IET.

I thoroughly enjoy the course, as it is so much more than a straight up degree. There are times when it can be tough and every day is different, but I am developing and learing a huge amount every day. Volunteering is a large aspect of the course, I regularly go out to schools and help inspire the next generation of engineers through various schemes and careers fairs which is very rewarding.

I feel valued by the company, they reward hard work and integrity is a key trait the whole company supports and stands behind.

The framework makes the programme very well structured, giving you the neccessary training and support to become a well rounded engineer. You are assigned a buddy in the year above, a mentor the year above that and a graduate to act as you academic mentor. As well as a senior mentor in the business. This is designed to give you the support you need as you move through the apprenticeship, you then start being assigned a buddy and mentor to look after as you progress through the course.

We receive quarterly reviews from our training provider to assess our progress and make sure we are gaining the most out of the course. The cohort regularly discuss any issues with other years as well as our course leader, and the head of engineering.

The different years of the cohort are there to support and guide us when we need. Our manager meets with us regularly to review our progress and help us identify and work on our individual weaknesses. The course gives us a huge amount of support as and when we need it, but we are taught to seek out problems and use our network to resolve them most of the time.

The salary helps cover rental costs and basic living costs. Personally it was not a huge driver for choosing the course, but it is definitely a nice thing not to have to worry about income and tuition fees.

Yes, there are huge amount of volunteering and sporting activites avaliable outside of work, as the site is so large it makes up a big amount of the local population. I personally play 5 a side football once a week with colleagues.

Yes

Being able to work for a world renonwed company and be involved directly in aviaition projects that have impacts all over the world. I feel apprentices put a huge amount of drive and energy into the company, and the amount of knowledge and experience we gain in such a short space of time is invaluable.

You need to have a large personal drive, lots of ambition, and be open to developing yourself personally and professionally. My best advice is to do as much work experience you can in various areas, this will help with your development and make interviews much easier. I would like to have been told about Higher Engineering Apprenticeships whilst I was school, as I think they are a fantastic alternative to university, and schools should be doing more to promote these to at least give pupils the choice in the further education.