Undergraduate Engineering Apprentice Review

General engineering practice, based on the placement that we have chosen, work goes towards actual engineering within the company. We go to University on day release in order to get our degree, we must also be doing activities within work in order for us to sign off our Level 4 NVQ

A lot of new skills, there are multitudes of tools at Airbus that are required in order to do most day to day jobs, working in an open office allows for development of my interpersonal skills, also we have the chance to be able to lead our own projects, developing ourselves as leaders

I enjoy the program for the most part, obviously balancing a full time degree and full time job simultaneously can be difficult, however the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Some of the engineering work can be tedious, but usually a method is created to help automate this in the future

Within the workplace the programme is very well structured, we are allowed to choose our own placements every 3-6 months, this gives us the freedom of working within many different areas, it also allows us to focus on the sort of work we enjoy doing the most. Sometimes integrating into University can be difficult as the timetables cannot be squeezed into one or two days.

Airbus give their apprentices significant support, with University work, within the company their is specialists in almost every area who are more than willing to help, monthly (or more frequently) catch ups are held by our relative supervisors, the HR team works as it should, giving any help that is required. On site occupational health is free and available to all employees, including a physiotherapy service.

We don't tend to need much help when it comes to academics as we are quite a large group and we mostly work together. However if help is needed we can always go to one of the respective specialists within the company in order to get some guidance on these matters and they are always more than willing to help.

we are receiving a degree which is the level of education that is required to do the job efficiently and effectively. We also do other training in order to be able to use the multitude of tools that are required to work at airbus. These are all essential and well taught.

Within the early careers we have a society called "Gen A" which is a collective of all of the Apprentices, Graduates and Interns, this platform is used to engage this population and help to organize any social activities and things of that nature. As early careers we are required to perform some STEM time, meaning we should attend things like early careers fairs or airshows, this is a good method of networking as it is usually filled with similar companies and people.

Yes

We are given a huge amount of support, our degree is paid for, we are getting the same level of education as the typical university student (but without the debt). Whilst you are obtaining your degree, you are also gaining around 4 years of work experience, essentially putting you ahead of the curve from the traditional way in. Finally, we are paid a competitive salary whilst doing all of the above.

Be yourself in your application, Airbus are not just looking for academic statistics, we need people that can work in the real world, in the workplace there is a strong feeling that teamwork is needed and this is important as work can easily build up. I would recommend an apprenticeship over the other methods, simply due to it encompassing all of them and progressing your career quicker.