Technical Mechanical Engineering Apprentice Review

Technical Apprentice working in the Manufacturing Engineering department, I am training to become a manufacturing engineer so that when my apprenticeship finishes I can have a smooth transition into the department, my role day to day is to be a support service to the fitters on the shop floor whenever there is an issue as well as getting involved in route cause analysis projects.

I have had training on becoming a CMM operator and in the future CMM programmer, Internally I've been trained on how to use all the internal software packages and raising work scopes for fitters to carry out, During this I have to present meetings on the work I am carrying out

I thoroughly enjoy the program because it is a very social environment because I have to deal with a lot of people throughout the work I'm doing, There are often a lot of group project or group reviews I can get involved in. It exceeded most of my expectations due to the nature of the work I am able to do exceeding anything I had imagined

Within my day to day role I feel valued by all members of the team as you are not treated like an apprentice you are treated like a trained employee, this can cause confusion sometimes when people forget you're not fully trained and ask you to complete work you are not trained to do.

The program is very well structured as you get to experience a lot of different departments, the inductions into each department are done by the department meaning they are relevant, the training is always available however the internal communication between departments can often cause confusion or frustration.

In each placement I have felt comfortable in approaching other members of staff asking for help and they have always been supportive. I have only been in 1 placement out of 16 where I have had a negative response when asking for help. Generally everyone is very supportive and helpful when advising meaning the learning experience is enjoyable.

My manager is very supportive as I often chair meetings with him in and he always provides good feedback on how I have done, the HR team often have very slow communication which causes frustration but I have very little interaction with them day to day. Due to me coming to the end of my apprenticeship my current manager is acting as mentor as I am in the department where I will hopefully get a job.

The salary is very generous and I have not struggled financially, I have been able to buy a house by the end of my apprenticeship however we are slow in receiving pay rises upon milestone completion of the apprenticeship.

There are lots of volunteering opportunities available outside Siemens, I have recently taken part in a local schools go karting challenge where the schools had to build a pedal powered go kart in 8 weeks then gather together to compete them against one another. Due to Siemens being located in a City all these opportunities are fairly local.

Yes

Due to the size of the company the amount you are able to learn in a short space of time is immense, this sets you up well for a career within engineering. Also due to the amount of people you meet my personal confidence has grown greatly from interacting within meetings and day to day work.

Be honest throughout the process as people will find out if you have lied at any point, There is no point pretending to be someone else for an interview as it is obvious to tell. Always try within every placement as it will be a 4 year job interview and all the managers talk to each other to find out strengths and weaknesses.