Apprentice Broadcast Engineer Review

As an Apprentice Broadcast Engineer your time is divided up into 3month blocks alternating between attending University and going on Placement at departments both within and outside of the BBC. When at University you are working fast to complete a full degree in a short time, and when on placement you are working alongside engineers learning from them while working on projects and responding to faults.

While at University we work towards a BEng Degree in Broadcast Engineering. We cover a wide variety of different topic areas including programming, video and audio systems, CISCO netoworking and electronics. We also reinforce what we learn at University and gain practical skills while on our Placements both within and outside of the BBC.

Overall I do enjoy the programme. It is an intense course and completing a full university degree while taking part in placements is challenging at times particularly when deadlines for placement projects and University assignments are all due. However you gain great experience working at such a globally well known broadcaster. Other apprentices on the scheme are also all like minded people who are great to work with.

It depends who you speak to. Some placements really welcome you in and get you involved and make you feel like you are helping and making a difference. Some others not so much. Overall though the BBC does value its apprenticeship schemes as they provide the next generation to fill the many roles that keep the BBC working.

The scheme is very well organised, from the very start it was very clear how it was to be run. However there is still a lot of flexibility in the scheme in terms of what placements you are on so that these can be tailored to what area you are interested in which is brilliant.

University do have the support network there, however we are often in University lectures from 9 till 6 each day which makes attending any extra support sessions very tricky. The sessions are also tailored more towards the main stream courses with many staff having never heard of our scheme at all.

The BBC are great at supporting you throughout your placements irrelevant of if they are BBC or non BBC placements. The scheme organisers always try to help wherever they can. Where they can support academic studies they do (for example providing extra private study weeks) however much of this is out of their control.

I can happily live off of my salary. Now that I have settled into my base. There is very little support in helping you to move to your base if this is not where you originally live. Being based near to the University also means you lose out abit. While everyone else gets put up in a hotel and has the travel and meals covered, you have to pay out of your own salary for travel and food and accommodation during the Uni periods

Outside of work opportunities are limited. If you are based with a shift team your often don’t see the same people regularly as as an apprentice you only do 9-5. Some departments are better at advertising social events though others keep these quiet. And with apprentices being based all over the courty it is not easy to meet up with them when not at University.

Yes

You get to work for a world leading broadcaster that many people wish to work for. You get a full degree paid for and a huge amount of experience and contacts right from the start of your career. It provides the perfect start to a career in the broadcast engineering industry

Find out as much as you can about the scheme and speak to apprentices who are currently on the course to see if it is what you are after. If possible get some experience in the industry to see if it is what you want to go into. And just be enthusiastic about the course.