Technical Apprentice Review

I have been involved in multiple roles within the organization from working on the shop floor assembly lines, to working in maintenance and office based work. I have been given responsibilities relevant to the departments as I went in them and have been getting heavily involved with project work. A lot of this involves communicating between departments within the company and contacting external suppliers and contractors to request specially made equipment.

I have developed my communication skills a great amount both when contacting suppliers or doing presentations for managers. I have also been improving existing skills such as my computer skills (Excel, CAD, etc.) I have also improved my hands on skills such as assembly fitting, machining and maintenance and even gained new hands on skills by learning to weld.

I have thoroughly enjoyed each department that I have been working in even though the work that is performed in each of these departments is very different from each other. I have no complaints about the type of work that I end up doing even when the task being performed is more trivial than usual (e.g. audits, observing, etc). The advantage that this program gave is that each department made you feel like a full-time employee rather than an apprentice so it was easier to get involved.

The program is well structured around both getting the experience at work and then day-release at college. 8 weeks is more than enough time to spend in each department to understand the roles and responsibilities of that department and when it comes to making a decision for a final placement, you will have plenty of information to go off when making this decision.

My employer supports me within the work place, with college and even outside of the working environment. If I am struggling with a certain aspect, I can go to my manager or HR to get advice on how to move forward or request for a change to be made. For example, if I am struggling with a certain topic at college, I can speak to my manager and they may refer me either to a specialist book or an employee who knows a lot about the topic.

My training provider is always available if I need them and they even hold tutorial sessions at the end of the day if we need to use them to understand something further. They also host these sessions during half terms should we need to use them and the organization is also happy to allow us to go to these sessions to get the extra support.

I am able to apply what I have learned through my qualification to the work place. This is especially the case when I have been learning about the business management as I have been using examples from the work place to complete assignments that I have been provided. This helps me understand the process flow within the company and how on-the-spot decisions are made and the implications that come of them.

The organization performs community work at various locations. Charities, care homes and even just for the environment. There is a sports-social club within the organization who are constantly organizing events that any member can take part in. The company also provides discounts for other activities such as cinema and other outdoor activities that are not part of the sports-social club.

Yes

The apprenticeship scheme that Cummins provides is very good for young people to get an idea of all the different engineering sectors and the responsibilities that they have. It also gives them a much better idea of where they want to end up in the long-term and should they complete their apprenticeship they are more likely than not to end up with a full time career with the company with the department that they enjoy being a part of.

Go in with an open mind as to which section of engineering you would like to end up in as there are so many options available and you can find yourself enjoying a department that beforehand you would never have thought that you would enjoy. Try to find enjoyment in the jobs that you do not enjoy doing and always ask questions about the activities that you do to get a better understanding of why you do what you are doing.