Engineering maintenance apprenticeship Review

My day varies greatly. Sometimes I will be at college carrying theory based learning thta i can implement when i am working back on site. Other days I will come into work for 08:30 for my start of shift brief. After the brief I will get handed my tasks for the day and will be appointed a qualified tradesmen to shadow on the job.

I have learend many new skills whislt working here including vital life skills and vast technical skills. One of the main skills i have developed when working here is my confidence. Before starting i hated talking infront of crowds whereas now due to practice and support have vastly improved and developed as a person.

i enjoy my programme a lot as i have been given the opportunity to do many different things. These include living away from home for 2 years to carry out the start of my apprenticeship and going on several european visits with my company to further develop me as an individual.

The programme is fairly well organised as it has been running for several years now so most issues have been rectified and smoothed out. The first two years is very structured and you live away from home whereas the second two years are less striclty defined and you are given more control over your development and progress. Despite this we do still have regular meeting with our co-ordinator to discuss any concerns we have and also to ensure we are not falling behind in any areas.

We recieve lots of support from our employer. For the first two years we are supervised by our instructors as well as residential officers when we are back at our group accomodation. We also have an apprentice co-ordinator who is there to help with any further concerns. We back on site we are assigned a technical mentor who ensures we are gaining the relevant knowledge which we will require to become a skilled crafts person.

We are given a fair amount of support as if we want to we are allowed to work towards a HNC which are employer is happy to subsidise as long as we are willing to learn and put in the required amount of work. Are co-ordinator, team leaders and mentors ensure that we are gaining the relevant knowledge and experience by regualrly going through are qualification manuals.

In our first year we learn the basic practcial and theoretcial skills in order to give us a starting block that we can then further develop in the further years of our apprenticehship. In our second year we are assigned our discipline (mechanical, electrical or Control and instrumentation) and we start to learn all the skills and knowledge we will require when we are fully qualified

When working away from home for the first two years there are varoius extracirricular activities which people can take part in. There is a company football team who compete in one of the local leagues, there is a gym and swimming pool on the site which can be used, there are french lessons provided by the company after work as well as many more.

Yes

The reason i would recommend edf energy to a friend is because the apprenticeship is a great way of developing you both technically and as a person. There are also several experiences you will have that no ohter apprenticeship offers for example the european visits we do. It also gives you fantastic qualifications and knowledge that can be used all around the world in many different fields.

A good tip for others is to take every opportunity you are offered in life as this develops you as a person and puts you one step ahead of the rest of the candidates. Also it is important to be confident but not arrogant during the application process as it will you get noticed.