Higher Engineering Apprentice Review

My role involves a wide range of engineering and IT development. The structure of my apprenticeship is set up in such a way that I can revolve around multiple departments of the business to enhance my knowledge of the entire process when providing a system or service for the rail environment.

I have gained a plethora of new skills, turned weaknesses into strengths and turned strengths into professions. My mentors and co-workers have coached me along the way and I have used the majority of my own time to nurture these skills and move forward in becoming a valuable asset to my employer.

I genuinely love my job. Each time I receive a new work task I obsess over making it better than the last and fixing previous mistakes, improving certain methods of working as well as carrying out my work more efficiently and to a higher standard. I have a lust for learning and becoming my best self and this program allows me to continue in doing so.

Since I am the first apprentice of my kind in my company, I am a prototype of sorts. Therefore I feel I have a duty to set an example for future apprentices taking on my role. If I were to be absolutely honest I feel the structure could be improved and I am confident it will be over time. The apprenticeship is set up and such a way that the employee rotates around different departments every three months, which I can understand is supposed to expose them to every environment and give them a wider knowledge base, but the time span is far too short and does not allow enough time to learn any system or process in my opinion. It also means that the employee can never settle or build long lasting relationships with other workers. I think the structure would be improved by tailoring each apprentice to be involved in a department of their interest for a full project duration. This means the apprentices can experience two full projects start to finish and everything in between, from multiple points of view.

The amount of support from my employer is unprecedented, no matter what the issue I am confident that I can seek advice, mentorship etc. Although I feel I am much more independent than most people my age, I am fully aware of all the support available and the extent that my employers will go to in order to help me.

My employer and training providers give a lot of forward momentum in terms of self development and also support further development outside of my daily work, as I have taken up night college which was backed by my company. I am reviewed on a three monthly basis by my training provider and ion a monthly basis by my employer to assess my development.

Currently I am completing a HNC in Electrical engineering, which focuses on electrical distribution, communication, testing and IT skills. I use what I have learned from this qualification on an almost daily basis, for example if I need to calculate the load of a device and determine which rating of protection should be used.

There are a surplus of extra curricular activities from my employer, some of these include; road shows, training in other environments which are not specifically related to my daily role, night courses, overtime opportunities and safety tours which enable further learning of the safe work practices to be carried out when on site.

Yes

To me, Siemens are the absolute elite in their practice and set the example on a global scale. I am truly honored to be a part of what the company represents and I feel I would not have been given the opportunities I have been or be aloud to develop myself as much as I have with any other company.

To those who want to be part of the Siemens journey, you have to be driven, motivated by challenge and able to prove that you are unique and valuable. You must be able to show that you are willing to be your best self and put in the work that is required to represent the company in a positive manner.