Apprentice Wind Turbine Technician Review

As an apprentice traveling wind turbine technician you are required to be deployed to a site away from home for 2 weeks at a time. Once at site you are required to arrive early morning (depending on site and sea levels), this involves a morning briefing including weather condition, teams, jobs etc. Once this has been completed you sail out to the wind farm and transfer onto the wind turbine generator. The team lead will then brief you on the job and allocate tasks to each individual. At the end of the day you transfer back onto the vessel, sail back to shore and complete a demobilization meeting at site. Paperwork and timekeeping is completed at this point. You then travel back to the accommodation that you booked in the hire car that is provided. Tasks can vary massively from blade bolt replacements, troubleshooting, servicing etc. You get to use a variety of specialist tools and equipment to get the job done. Safety is paramount therefore It is your responsibility to ensure your PPE is in good condition and that you have it all ready for the transfer.

From staring my apprenticeship I have developed massively. Not only do you learn skills in engineering such as troubleshooting and servicing however you also get to develop skills that only a small majority of people get to experience, such as offshore survival, working at heights, confined spaces, specialist rescues, advanced first aid, helicopter hoist operations etc. At SGRE they are not shy of putting you on courses to develop your skills. Jobs that are undertaken are usually specialist that require the use of specialist equipment and training. If this needs done then you get to go on the course to learn about it. Developing your existing skills is also something that has been done in all aspects of life such as becoming more independent (booking your own accommodation, hire car etc) speaking to people all over the country, developing your communication skills in terms of email, Skype calls etc.

It is thoroughly enjoyable in all aspects. The training and development opportunities are endless at SGRE. From online training, to on the job training there isn't an end. The social aspect of being away from home and integrating with people all over the country isn't bad either. Meeting new people allows you to expand your social circle opening new doors and giving you new opportunities.

The merger of Siemens Wind and Gamesa gave us some complications during the apprenticeship, nothing that couldn't be amended though. The structure of the programme changed slightly, however the organization throughout during this period was good. We haven't missed any opportunities that would jeopardies our chances of development. Other than what is mentioned above the organization is good for such a large company, now that the dust has settled from the merger everything is running smoothly and the apprenticeship has regained structure.

The support is excellent. There is always someone to talk to if you have any issues, regardless if it is about work or not. With regards to support about our qualification, everyone will proactively help you. All technicians are able to give you information that you can use in your qualification. All equipment that we need to use to support our qualification is provided such as a laptop, iPad etc.

HETA is the provider of our qualification. We have regular 1-1 meetings with our personal tutor and online help also. If we need support a quick email will do the job. Upon receiving work for re-submission the tutor will go out their way to help you. They provide in-depth feedback on work to assist your development however the marking of work is quite slow compared to what I was expecting, this is reflected in the score.

The qualification is quite repetitive, we don't get tuition through HETA therefore its more of an evidence based thing however during our training at Tyne Metropolitan College we learned an a lot that has helped our development at work. This was for the first 2 years of our apprenticeship. The qualification we are working towards now at HETA just asks us to document evidence for several questions. The training at Tyne Metropolitan College was second to none, however the training at HETA is non existent apart from the feedback we get from our knowledge questions. The majority of our learning is done onsite.

Yes, there are many opportunities that are available. This includes site specific sports teams and running clubs (site specific, socially set up), professional events such as awards evenings, conferences etc. As a Traveling Technician you have no definite set workplace therefore you need to adapt and find out what is going on at certain sites. Social activities I imagine happen often at the head office where things can be organized easily.

Yes

It is an amazing apprenticeship with endless opportunities. They look after you and assist you in everyway to become your best. I don't know of any other companies that look after you like the way SGRE do. The support you are provided with is endless. They will not restrict your development in any way and this is proven throughout the business with high quality technicians.

Get your application right first time to increase the chance of an interview. Prepare yourself mentally and learn a lot about the company, they like it if you have shown interest. If you do get the job, throw yourself in at the deep end, don't turn any opportunity down and strive, they will assist you in everyway they can.