Operation Apprentice Review

I have only been with the company for seven months and as such don't have much experience as most of this has been spent training. So far my day to day role has consisted of soldering advanced level circuit boards and assembling cables.

I have developed my skills in soldering and gained skills in cabling.

I enjoy my program reasonably well. I have not yet stared any of my placements but from what I hear from people who have been through them they serve very well to give you training, an appreciation for what people do, as well as being enjoyable.

I feel very valued by MBDA. They clearly invest a lot in their apprentices, they don't just use us as cheap labour like some other companies do and we get paid above minimum wage. There are also lots of benefits like the Launchpad system, which enables us to spend money pre-tax on gift vouchers and other useful items, as well as easily alter our pension scheme, purchase company shares, etc etc.

The program itself is well structured and gives you a good taste of what life is like working at the company. By the time you've finished you've experienced almost every job MBDA has to offer. While on the job I've experienced good overall organisation, however there was an initial incident regarding how many years one should spend in college. The only complaint I would have is that apprentices who joined after finishing college were made to do an extra year of compulsory day release college studies (3) than what they were told they would be doing (2) which at first was quite frustrating, however the other great aspects of the job did make up for this initial annoyance.'

A lot of support, it is in their best interest to train you to the best of their ability, which they consistently do.

I've not yet been in a situation where I needed supporting, and therefor cannot comment.

My salary starts off at £12'000 and increases, depending on a combination of reports based on your performance at work and college, by up to £5'000 the first year and up to £4'000 the two years after that. I think that is a very reasonable salary and the wage increases are also more than reasonable, although I have yet to experience the system used for evaluating how much of a pay rise you should receive.

In my short item here I have already been to a careers event which was a great experience, they hold numerous events and everyone gets a good chance to go, this includes airshows and for those more advanced in the program, industrial visits to navy yards etc.

Yes

I've enjoyed myself so far and I can see myself spanding the rest of my career with the company.

Make sure you get across your enthusiasm for engineering, even (or especially so) if you don't do what would seem to be obvious engineering subjects at school/college. If you do any extra curricular activities related to engineering make sure to get them on your first application document.