Broadcast Engineering Apprentice Review

I am a broadcast engineering apprentice for the BBC. My day to day task changes depending on whether I am currently doing educational activities at the University of Salford for my degree or if I am on an industry placement. At university I attend lectures and labs all focused on different areas of broadcast engineering whilst on placement I perform the roles required of me with the team I'm working with. I.e. equipment repairs, desktop support, etc.

Since starting the course I have vastly increased my skills in programming at university. I have gone from only knowing a little bit of Visual Basic to now being relatively competent in both Java and C++. My knowledge of all broadcast technology related activities has also developed massively with the industry experience being the best possible. We're given regular opportunities for training courses such as personal development, health and safety on site and project management.

I really enjoy my apprenticeship as a whole. The work placements are truly excellent and get me the best possible experience I could ever get with the opportunity to also work with external companies. I struggle with the university work however so enjoy this less but the lectures at my uni are extremely friendly and helpful and are more than happy to assist with any issues I have. The course mates are all very friendly too and I've made some good friends on this course.

My scheme manager and coordinators are very good at ensuring we're felt valued and provide as much support as we can possibly get however outside of the BBC Academy I don't think there's much particularly known about us so as a whole I do always feel very valued but I do believe this is only down to a lack of knowledge of our roles. When working with teams they all seem to value our work and knowledge and get us involved as much as possible whilst on placement.

The course structured incredibly well and essentially planned out from the start of the course right through to the final day as soon as we begin. We're provided with a timetable that shows this from the day we started. The university are good at working around us should we need extra time in certain areas but always provide timetables as soon as they have it planned themselves. We have bi monthly catch ups with our managers to ensure we are progressing well.

The university provides us with different lectures for each module who are all well versed in that field. These tutors are available via email, phone or face to face visits whilst I am on campus. They are all very helpful with any issues I have and as someone who struggles with a lot of the work given to us, I really appreciate it. The only issue is if we need face to face help we're not always at the campus to do so.

My manager and course coordinators are excellent with any issues I need resolving and do so mainly via phone or email as they do not work in the same city as me. I feel comfortable in contacting them at any time and that they will do their best to solve any problem I may be having. I always feel like they put us first in any situation they can. Fortunately I have never had to contact HR with problems but they are easily accessible and this is made clear to us.

As I live in London, the living costs are quite high but the BBC provide London weighting on top of my salary to accommodate for this. Even with London weighting I do sometimes find myself scraping towards the end of the month but I have never felt seriously in trouble financially. Any travel costs outside of my home base are covered by the BBC which makes it possible for us to go to university as I would not be able to afford this otherwise.

Due to us being busy with work placements and university we have very little time available for opportunities outside of work. Since started I've worked on two extra outside broadcast events outside of my usual work which were excellent but it would nice to do more OBs and other company events. We obviously do have our own time outside of work however as we get 25 days holiday a year + study leave.

Yes

The BBC offers huge opportunities within the broadcasting industry to us and to have the name BBC on your CV alone is a strong step forwards. The work placements they give you are absolutely first class and get you hands on with all of the actual equipment in use to bring BBC to the world. They're incredibly supportive and without a doubt give you an excellent standing in breaking into the TV industry.

My biggest take away from the application process was to be yourself. As long as you're genuinely interested in the industry and have passion for what you want to do then that will come over and be hugely appreciated. I would recommend reading up on your selected course on the BBC Academy website to get an idea of what they'll be asking you about during the interview day.