Engineering Apprentice Review

My role as an apprentice involves me working or three months at a time in different departments and learning the ins and outs of that department. at the moment I am in test equipment and this is a CAD based placement. This involves me designing compartments for different test units and doing drawings based off models.

During my apprenticeship I have both developed pre existing skills and learnt new ones. I had never done any 3d CAD modelling, Lathe work or really any machining previously so during college for the first year I was learning lots of new skills. During every placement I have been in, I have been working within a team, so my team working skills have definitely been challenged and developed.

I Enjoy the programme greatly, the work that we do on site is even better than I was expecting when I joined the programme. During every day I am kept busy and everybody I have met and/or worked with have been really friendly and welcoming coming into the company. College is not as good as on site work, there have been some problems which can weigh on my mind sometimes

the programme is really well structured, I cannot fault how quickly we know about what placement we will be going into next and all the events that are going on. 3 months is sometimes not long enough for an apprentice to really get into a job role fully and so I wish it was easier maybe to extend time within a placement.

Lots of the work we do on a daily basis is independent work and so there isn't much our employer can do to support us with this however regarding college, there have been a multitude of problems surrounding the engineering department at oaklands and my employers have been more than helpful when we have come to them with complaints.

we have not long changed our training provider to alliance learning and this has improved the amount of support we get massively. although last year we had more regular meetings, our old provider did not really give much support when it came to completing our qualifications. alliance are much more clear and helpful with any questions I have and what we need to do to complete the qualifications.

I feel that very little of the qualifications I am working towards or have completed have benefitted my job role. a lot of the questions in our PEO and NVQ are health and safety related which is important in the workplace however most of the remaining questions are not as benefitial.

There are a ton of activities that are accessible by MBDA employees, I am a member of the sports and social club which allows me to go to the gym sometimes after work and I also go to play football on Tuesdays with some other apprentices and graduates and participate in the Harrison cup.

Yes

It has Laid a foundation and a beginning to my engineering career. I find it much more interesting and rewarding than any of the subjects I could have studied at sixth form instead. I am extremely glad that I chose it instead of college or sixth form as it was definitely the best path for me.

MBDA as employers have some key values that can be found on the website they include integrity, creativity, innovation, commitment and passion. these are taken very seriously so I think it would be a good idea to research and have a think about what these really mean and reflect these values throughout the application process.