Engineer Review

I am an electrical engineer working for Siemens in the energy management division, at the start of the apprenticeship I was at college for full time and this was for around 6 months after this I dropped down to two days at college with 3 days at work, when at work I am helping on the testing side of jobs for ESBi, I have recently been soldering a box that will be used to speed up the testing process.

During my apprenticeship I have developed upon my soldering skills not only at college but also at work, as well as this its helped with problem solving skills as at times I have to locate problems within the systems or jobs we are doing, finally my communication skills have been improved as I meet a number of new people on a day to day basis.

At the beginning of the programme it was not the most enjoyable as it was all college work, on top of this the college work that was being done was on a smaller time frame than what the qualifications are usually done this meant many lessons were rushed and not as much information was taken in however now that I am working at Siemens it has got a lot more interesting as I learn how everything works.

When first starting the apprenticeship all apprentices were taken for a week away to the lake district as a bonding exercise and to meet people that you will be working with in the company, this made me feel valued as it was a fun trip away that they paid for as though we are an investment to them. As well as this my manager checks up to ensure I am ok where I am and if I need anything as well as being allowed to help on jobs this makes me feel like a valued team member.

When first starting Siemens the trip away was well planned and everything seemed organised however once I got to college the college did not seem like they were prepared to teach the course in such a small time frame this could of been down to it being an updated course, as well as this when we were at work during college holidays many managers did not know we were going to be there meaning they had little or no work for us to get on with.

Some teachers at the college will give you as much support as you need to help you get trough the course from explaining certain aspects again or helping you with resources however some teachers rarely teach you or just read from a power point that has large pieces of text copied from a internet page this can become annoying when getting to the assignments and not understanding how to answer the questions.

My employer has reviews throughout the year with me to see how college and work is going as well as this my manager will check up and ask how things are going to ensure everything is fine, this is both with the work I am doing and also college work and is always available to help me.

The salary we receive is enough to comfortably meet my expenses currently, however due to the distance I live away from work a large sum of my salary goes towards petrol to make it to work, I knew however this would be a sacrifice I would have to make as there are no suitable jobs for me close to my home.

There are many events that go on within Siemens that are sent to you through the company email, these events are from going out as a staff night out or a retirement party to charity work or physical activity clubs, all are voluntary and are available to everyone who works at the company.

Yes

The company is well organised and a good company to work for that you will learn a lot from.

Ensure this is the job you want to do before accepting as it is a large portion of your life to waste if not the right job for you.