Digital Technology & Solutions Degree Apprentice Review

I work in one of the electrification departments within Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). This involves constantly learning how our motors and other components work within the car. Its extremely interesting! Afterwards, we constantly face problems and challenges that we must work to overcome to deliver an experience the customer will love! Every day is different, from programming to meetings, to opening up parts to discover whats inside and of course testing our cars on the onsite test track! It's Great!

Yes! Communication is a big one. We have lots of meetings and presentations and are always liaising with fellow colleagues to understand the challenges we face. After studying Alevels in Maths Physics and Chemistry last year, working in the electrification department is really building on that prior knowledge for me. Every day, i will see something that i learnt whilst at sixth form but now putting it into a real life situation. Surprisingly, there are many uses for Integration and differentiation! Maths was useful!

I really enjoy my program here at JLR. Everyday is an opportunity to learn and discover something new. Its great finding out how all of our complex systems fit in and work together for form the next generation of our electric and driverless cars. JLR support me very well and allow me to have the parts im working on, right by my desk so i can see exactly how it all works together. After that, i have the opportunity to see it integrated into the car before we go on to test it on the track. I get to see the full process from start to finish! Also the people i work with are great. I have a manager and mentor (both in my team) who support me and if i have any questions, i can go to and ask for help. Everyone is very friendly and always willing to try their hardest to bring you on.

The apprenticeship is very well structured. Our first 3 months was spent at Warwick university enabling us to gain the software and business knowledge we needed to start in the business afterwards. Now we operate on a 6 week rotation. 1 week at university followed by 5 weeks at work. Its very good as we get the opportunity to put what we learn into practice at work. We also get lots of learning support from lecturers and our managers and mentors. There are always people we can ask if we need help.

We receive lots of support. Our managers and mentors are always willing to help us as well as university lecturers, fellow colleagues and of course other apprentices. From a business point of view, our HR team are very helpful at helping us if we have queries and we also have a big IT support team for any IT issues. People are always willing to help and share knowledge.

We get lots of support from university. We have watsapp group chats with our lecturers were we can ask questions any time as well as lots of study time and even designated extra study days at university. And if you need even more support, there is always the opportunity for the university to give it. Lecturers are very friendly and give up lot of their time for you.

My degree is extremely relevant to what im doing at JLR. It allows me to have an understanding of the problems we face and be able to join in with conversations and not feel lost or left out. Studying at university has been a massive help to me. It also allows me to know what to do when im asked to preform a task.

At university we are free to join any societies we want too. As long as it fits in with your working schedule, join in. Many of our apprentices are involved in societies like Skiing, sailing, archery etc. There are lots of opportunities. From a work perspective, lots of my fellow apprentices are very friendly and we often will meet up on a weekend to go for a drink or do activities like paint balling. The company also offers a scheme where you can learn a new skill. There are all sorts from advanced driving to welding to sewing. Its great. Always opportunities to learn.

Yes

The atmosphere is great. The people i work with are very friendly. There are always opportunities to learn and ultimately i get my degree paid for whilst earning a good salary and gaining extremely valuable real work experience. I also get a job at the end of my apprenticeship and a degree that is relevant to my career. I cant do any of that if i go to university the traditional way! I fully recommend the course.

Having the right mindset is very important. Be yourself, be happy and positive and you cant go far wrong. You will need to be willing to work hard and potentially give up some of your time to your work and studies. The course is not like the tradition university route. The days are long. I work a standard 40hour week plus long commuting time. Don't create a false fantasy for yourself and think its easy, its not. However, that being said, its worth it and i love what i am doing. I wouldn't have it any other way.