Apprentice Technician Review

My role is an apprentice technician. The first 5 months are spent doing full time college where we complete a mechanical and electrical PEO (performing engineering operations). This involved producing a variety of circuits and metal products. Meanwhile every Wednesday we take out BTEC lessons, where we study units such as; Mechanics, Magnetism, Generators motors & transformers, Properties of circuits, Engineering design, Health and safety, Further maths, and a Materials unit. I am now in the placements stage of the apprenticeship so my day to day task vary greatly, I have undertaken work such as ; producing specific work instructions, research and sourcing components, producing floor plans and contents folders, producing equipment in the workshop using metals and plastics, designing new components for existing products and a wide array of other hands on and research/ academic tasks. Responsibilities of mine vary on what work I am doing at the time and who I am working with. In my current placement, I am split between different areas of one department, shadowing experienced technicians as they perform their daily tasks. As apprentices we are also responsible for organising primary school events that are meant to encourage younger people into a world of engineering.

Since starting at Teledyne e2v I have completed a PEO at college as well as several other BTEC L3 units including; magnetism, generators motors & transformers, functions of AC and DC circuits, and health and safety. When at work, we have been put through training in; Spreadsheets, CAD design, Electronics, ESD training, Health and safety awareness, and continuous development training where we focused on how to keep on improving practices and processes around a workplace and how to seek out further development through training and extra qualifications. Through my 1st placement, I was given a project into power electronics, focusing on rectification and component function within these circuits, this gave me great insight into the topic and motivated me to find out more. Off the back of this I requested extra research tasks which I was given to do at my own leisure, I found these extremely beneficial to my technical knowledge of the subject.

The company as a whole is one that I am happy to work for. The general attitude is very positive and the work that Is done is very interesting and of real world importance. The teams within the company are well bonded, and enjoy working together from what I have seen. The culture of the company is relatively laid back but focus on work is not lost by this, rather it makes a more relaxing environment to work in which I feel has a positive effect on the work we produce. I was unsure of my expectations when I first started but I can safely say that I am happy with what I have found in this company.

I feel very valued by Teledyne e2v as they have invested in us by paying for college qualifications, treating us to team building trips away and holding apprentice awards evenings. The apprentice manager is greatly supportive and will always offer positive feedback and reinforcement as his way of encouraging us and boosting our confidence/ motivation. In other areas of the company I have received praise for some work that I have done, receiving phone calls simply to thank and congratulate me on good quality work that I have produced. These have often resulted in gifts such as food/ drinks which is a motivation booster. As apprentices we are tasked with running primary school challenge days where we represent the company to an external organisation, this shows to me that they value their apprentices and trust us to give the company a good image through our events. Further in the scheme, we will be holding careers event around the area to showcase the apprenticeship and speak with prospective apprentices about the scheme itself. During our month of on site training we were given the opportunity to meet the CEO (at the time) as well as some directors to discuss what they thought of the apprenticeship and how they see us progressing within the company. This was a confidence booster as they were enthusiastic regarding the scheme and its' results.

The scheme starts with 5 months of full time college during which time we completed a PEO including mechanical and electrical. This consisted of producing circuits or metal work and using evidence of our work compiled it and completed question packs regarding the subject. After this we had induction and a training month where we were trained on site by people internal and eternal of the company, as well as meeting the CEO at the time, directors and heads of departments for the company, spending lunched discussing our interests and what we hoped to gain form the scheme. Once this month was over, we started our rotations, this consists of 6 different placements that span 7 weeks each, we were given a list of placements to choose from based on what we thought was more interesting to us. I am currently in my 2nd of 6 placements. During this time I have been attending college every Wednesday on day release, where we continue with out BTEC L3 units. Our apprentice manager has an open door policy and is always willing to spare time to speak with you and to discuss any issues or concerns you may be having. We were allocated apprentice mentors who we can turn to in order to discuss problems we may be having that we would rather not discuss with our manager. We are also offered support from HR, with a member of HR responsible for apprentices, we can talk to her if we are uncomfortable speaking with anyone else. We hold regular informal meeting with our manager and mentors

The college lecturers are well trained and have always been willing to spend any extra time with us to help out with any work we are struggling with. We hold an hours lesson at the end of college specifically to receive any help we might need. We have the lecturers emails should we need any assistance outside of college, we can request resources from them such as lesson PowerPoints, hand-outs, and certain links and references that they think we'll find useful. The college offers a counselling service for any personal issues. They overall attitude of the college is positive with respect to our apprentice group. Overall I think that it is a good college, bar some minor organisational issues.

Our apprentice manager has an open door policy and is always willing to spare time to speak with you and to discuss any issues or concerns you may be having. We were allocated apprentice mentors who we can turn to in order to discuss problems we may be having that we would rather not discuss with our manager. We are also offered support from HR, with a member of HR responsible for apprentices, we can talk to her if we are uncomfortable speaking with anyone else. We hold regular informal meetings with our manager and mentors to check up on our progress and how we feel it is going. Support is easily accessible, in most cases, any issues that arise will be confronted the same day as our manager's open door policy means we can meet with him throughout the day. Overall there seems to be a large focus on support of employees, with many different routes to resolve issues and ensure the employees are happy in their workplace.

I receive enough that I can pay a small rent (to parent), operate my car (petrol/ insurance/ tax etc.). I still have money left over for socialising and am able to save between £100-200 a month. There is a yearly opportunity form pay rise based on performance. The location of Teledyne e2v, for me means that there is not much in the way of travel costs.

As apprentices, we hold primary school engineering challenges with local schools to enthuse younger people about our company and engineering as a whole. This is nice as we are trusted to represent the company, and formulating the challenges and presentation, I enjoyed very much. We also hold career events around Essex where we will go to schools/ job fares and advertise the scheme to prospective apprentices. There is a yearly awards evening held for apprentices, this consists of Apprentice of the year awards, progression awards etc. We will be going on a team building trip to somewhere in the UK where we will take part in activities such as canoeing, caving, climbing etc. this is to strengthen the bonds between apprentices. There is opportunity to be sent to other locations of Teledyne e2v around the world, this is a great way to see the other functions of the company.

Yes

The work that we do is very interesting and has positive, real world consequences, such as life saving cancer treatment and the exploration of space. The variety of work to do means that I never get bored of being stuck on the same task. The company is high supportive and often provide extra training and qualifications to their staff, to further their careers.

The application process is as follows; -CV -Video interview -Call back for assessment day -1Hr interview -If successful you are invited back to a welcome morning where you are introduced to those who run the scheme, and you eat pizza. My advice would be to not only focus on your academic achievements but also focus on showing that you are pleasant to work with and be light hearted. Just show that you can work effectively as part of a team and don't assume that taking leadership makes you stand out, as everyone is being observed equally for how they work in a team. Always be listening and maintaining eye contact, and ask questions to show your enthusiasm and interest in the company and the work that they do.