Apprentice Technician Review

I am a first year Apprentice Technician. For the first 5 months of my apprenticeship I completed a full time PEO at a local college, to prepare me for working at the company. I then spent a month training with older apprentices on basic skills, including excel, our business software, AutoCAD and much more. Since then, I have completed my first rotational placement that lasted 7 weeks. I have 6 of these throughout my first year and have just begun my second. These are to provide with an understanding of how the company runs in a variety of departments. So far I have been responsible for obtaining quotes from providers to order equipment/parts for various machines and requests. I have then had to install these items and run regular checks on them.

Having only had a small amount of experience in a workshop during GCSE's three years ago, the PEO was great for learning new skills and developing old ones. Along with this, my BTEC course has already been applicable to my work as I have been working with a number of electronics that I have never experienced before.

I am enjoying every aspect of my apprenticeship. The PEO was brilliant for bonding with my year group, which provides us with a larger network whilst in the company. Being at college and receiving training has also aided our relationships with apprentices in other year groups. Aside from apprentices, every employee I have met so far has always been willing to help and great to talk to. This is definitely the main reason I have enjoyed my time so far.

At only a couple months in, we were invited to the annual apprentice awards evening. Although we had not been there long enough to be recognised ourselves, it really opened my eyes to how much the company wants us to succeed. Along with this, the majority of staff here are ex-apprentices from 5, 10 or 30 years ago. This also shows the commitment and value we have.

During my apprenticeship I have only experienced one hold up and this was due to the college I have been attending. Other than this, the quality and structure of the training I have received has been great. Every fortnight I meet with a third year apprentice to mentor me, and my apprentice manager to check on how we are.

Of the seven tutors I've had, four of them have been and still are great with their approach and support. The others however, have let us down through poor teaching, late marking and lack of care. The organisation as a whole has a great support system, however it is let down by the few tutors that aren't so great.

Given that I regularly receive communication from my mentor, managers and HR, I feel incredibly supported. Not only by my management team but also from colleagues. Everyone's there to help and genuinely wants you to succeed.

My salary exceeds my expectations. I am very comfortable given I am a first year apprentice and on more than double the apprentice minimum wage.

Our company is very involved in keeping everyone connected through forums, events, charities and more. Examples of this include; our football team, comprised entirely of employees; Foreign language tutorials; Global interactive days.

Yes

It's obvious they want you to succeed and acknowledge the more they invest in you, the more you'll invest in them.

To show your relaxed side, the great thing about Teladyne e2v is the casual work environment that encourages hard work.