Engineering Apprentice Review

I create small jobs and then complete a final assessment every 8 weeks to summarise what I have learnt. Meanwhile I attend College 1 day a week. At college we are completing a level 3 BTEC course in engineering and we are working with other local apprentices who are working for different companies.

I have learnt how to use a lathe, and understand how to behave in a working environment. I have also learnt new skills in health and safety such as how to complete a risk assessment and a manufacturing plan and how to understand what engineering drawings need to have to comply with the BS.

I do enjoy my apprenticeship and I learnt lots of new skills physically and mentally. I enjoy working with my colleges because we can help each other and teach each other new skills and techniques to improve our work or make our work more accurate. I also enjoy learning from more experienced people as well.

It is very well structured and it makes sure that we get the most out of our time. When it comes for us to do our final assessment we are very pushed for time so it means that we need to work at home to complete our work in time or it gets carried over.

I get lots of support from our trainers and other experienced people at work when I am struggling or needing some advice. When it comes to our final assessment we get no help from our trainers because it helps us to work independently and figure things out for ourselves but we can ask the other 1st year apprentices if I need.

We don't really get much help from our training provider with our college work but we can ask our colleges if we need help with our assessments. If i need help with my college work then I either ask the teachers at college or the other 1st year apprentices.

It gives me some non-practical knowledge about more aspects in engineering (such as electrical principles, mechanical principles, drawings, health and safety, materials). This sometimes helps us with our assessments at work because we can understand the drawings easier. It is also good to compare what other apprentices are doing in different companies.

There is extra curricular activities such as football however I do not get involved in them and they are not very well advertised so we need to organise activities our selves. We have certain times where we go out with work (such as a Christmas meal and night out) but not often.

Yes

I definitely would because they are such a big company which provides help when needed and can give you so many opportunities such as going on site and going abroad to meet other engineers and visit other countries. Siemens are also such a big company that the likelihood of the company getting shut down is very low so your job is safer.

Make sure to participate in extra curricular activities to make your CV more interesting and this will give you a better chance of getting the job over other people. Also make sure to try hard in your courses at school or sixth form so you get the best grades possible.