Mechanical Engineer Review

On a day to day basis as an apprentice mechanical engineer I am expected to help and carry out tasks such as maintenance on machine in situations like breakdown occurrences or safety inspections etc. I am also expected to continue my education on a day release course at college to get a NVQ qualification at least and will then have the opportunity to take your qualifications higher to even degree level.

Over the period I have spent with this apprenticeship so far I have definitely gained new skills such as welding and fabricating (briefly), Machining, and a lot of other craftsman skills. The apprenticeship has also helped me develop my basic fitting and engineering skills due to the wide variety and different types of activities and tasks you take part in. It has also helped me develop my personal skills that have helped outside of work too such as confidence and the ability to speak in crowds etc.

I would say that I am very pleased with the opportunity to be apart of the apprenticeship programme I am and I do really enjoy the hands on engineering parts of the job. However, there are parts of the apprenticeship I do think could be worked on to help keep the apprentices interested in continuing; College courses that we attend can be very draining in the sense that they just don't grab your attention but that is mostly down to the actual college and not the apprenticeship itself. We also have to do a lot of written work as "evidence" to show competence but for me I personally think it is almost unnecessary with regards to how much you have to write. I think it would be much better if video evidence or an actually observation was how you can produce this "evidence"

The programme is structured pretty well and clear targets and goals can be set easily due to this. Its pretty simple that you have 5 days in the week and 4 of them are spent on site doing your job and then you have one day to go to college to further your education. Then with the written work and evidence you need to produce is done whenever you can find the time to do so and have frequent reviews to see if you are keeping up with targets and so you can make sure you are up to speed

Support is always available and I think it is one of the best things about the programme. Any problems I've encountered so far have been sorted relatively quickly and have been able to get back on track with little fuss. There are a lot of facilities readily available for you to be able to find information to help with the actual job, college work and the written work / evidence

Again, this has been a very positive experience for me especially ion the past year or so whilst pursuing my HNC qualifications. We had a slight slip up with regards to tutors at the college I attended and due to this we started falling behind with assignments. However, my training provider managed to sort things out with the college and we now have a new tutor and assignment deadlines have been extended to allow more time to catch up.

Honestly, the classes that we have I think don't have that much of a benefit to my performance at work. However, I think the courses are well worth sticking to so you can gain your higher qualifications as it looks much better for things like future job roles and applications and can help you reach your goals quicker.

With my apprenticeship, we have a team building programme that allows us to connect with other apprentices in the company from all around the country. These courses and activities have included things like outward bounds events that allow you to better your skills as working part of a team and ultimately build your confidence up within your company

Yes

As someone that came straight out of high school into an apprenticeship I can safely say that I now have a very good starting point to a life long career if I choose to continue in engineering. The opportunity to get stuck into a full time job and have your further education paid for by the company doesn't happen to everyone and is well worth taking if you get the chance. It has also given me the chance to start making a solid base to my own financial and private life

The main advice I would give you is to make sure you are someone who can focus well and are dedicated to make sure you get the best experience and don't fall behind. You need to also keep an open mind because the engineering scene can be a rough one with regards to some of the working environments. You need to also be able to give and receive banter well :)