Apprentice Broadcast Engineer Review

I am an Apprentice Broadcast Engineer at the BBC. This course allows you to get an honours degree and a considerable depth of professional experience in broadcast engineering at the same time. Currently on placement at ITV Wales, my day-to-day tasks are helping team members with IT problems, managing our media, and assisting other tech support team members in their undertakings. I have a number of projects going, one of which is coding a program to automate media management.

The skills gained on placements are most commonly team working and interpersonal skills, business awareness, and of course technical competence. At ITV Wales I have gained skills in coding with Python, HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and SQL databases. My course in general has vastly improved my resilience, study skills, time management, professional conduct,

The opportunity to work in a huge range of teams and gain broad experience/knowledge at such a young age is amazing. University is done in a completely non-conventional way and can be hugely challenging but is sometimes enjoyable. The BBC's culture makes it a good place to work, but it's easy to lose touch with it after such a long time away on non-BBC placements. I expected the course to be challenging but

As an engineering apprentice the support available to you is fantastic. As a cohort we have our own scheme manager and programme coordinator who offer us support on personal, academic and professional levels, as well as the opportunity to give feedback and suggest changes to our university experience. The BBC is a really welcoming and inclusive place, and one I feel extremely proud to work in. We are regularly encouraged to participate in 'extracurricular' commitments and feedback on our experiences is frequently asked for.

The structure of the course is quite systematic in that we alternate between studying at university and doing ~3 month long work placements. Changing between the two can be difficult as it may be necessary to relocate. Uni is very intense in order to allow time for our placements, and living in a hotel can

Support at work is readily available. From the start of a placement we are put in close contact with our placement supervisor, who offers placement-related support; the BBC Academy can offer us course-related help at any time; and the university has its own support structure. Academic support from the university is average at best.

Support from the BBC is wide-ranging: HR and other support is very accessible online. Our mentor/scheme coordinator is always on hand to

There is usually enough to cover travelling/living costs and still have a modest amount to save.

We can volunteer at BBC Get In days, be School Report mentors, STEM ambassadors, development days, etc.

Yes

As a young person interested in media/engineering/technology there is nowhere better to start training.

- Read up about the BBC's values and ethos. - If at first you don't get in, try again. It's worth it - Prepare for interviews as well as possible. - They love unique people with enthusiasm and flair. - When applying remember they're not looking for people who know it all, they want potential! If you don't know something, just say.