Mechanical Engineering Higher Apprentice Review

Every day is a different day. It is, genuinely. Always something going on in the BOS Plant in Steel and Slab. Amazing experience as an Mechanical Higher Apprentice. 500T Cranes Lifting enormous Ladle buckets carrying molten steel at approx. 1400deg c. That is engineering at its finest. The team I work alongside with are great. They are very supportive and always happy to help when required.

I have learnt many new skills and developing new everyday. An important skill that I have learnt is communication. Communication is a key skill that everyone uses in the industry, without it. It would be very difficult to operate as a individual, team and organisation. My experience so far has had me be able to organise and plan projects that can be carried out in the work force.

I enjoy all aspects of the programme. The course is so varied. Being able to work with various teams across the site and developing skills and knowledge that can be transferable across all industries. The company culture is always improving. Having a designated safety day to reflect on all safety aspects when working on site. Trying to find ways to better ourselves.

The programme is well organised and structured throughout the whole programme. Training side of things we are set to complete HNC/HND. NVQ L4 & PEO L2. The support struce we have is that we have various managers that are able to support us if required and point us in the right direction if required.

I receive a good amount of support from my employer. We have regular reviews on our progress and have meetings. By having a good team around me I can learn a lot of information of all the little things that is required to be a better engineer and bring me to the next level.

We receive a lot of support from our training provider when working towards our qualifications. We attending college once a week to learn our material for our syllabus of our qualification. The support structure that the college is relatively good. We have easy access to communicate to our lecturers when required.

The qualification is quite transferrable to the workforce. The majority of the content is useful and is required to day to day activities. By being able to learn this with our training provider is very beneficial. By having the theoretical understanding behind you makes you feel more comfortable in making decisions on site.

Yes, in work the is a community in work called Magnet which, basically is a society ran by young professionals that create events for people in the organisation to be able to learn and understand different topics e.g. Industry 4.0. I have been to different events personally and I have found them really useful and beneficial and is a great way to network with peers across the business.

Yes

Tata Steel is the biggest steel company in the UK. Being able to contribute in engineering activities on a very large scale as a apprentice is quite exciting. Thousands of tonnes of liquid steel is produced each week. It is quite staggering on a level how we do it. Tata is great way to develop your skills and become an engineer for example.

So, for the guys that are looking to apply at Tata Steel. The best bit of advice I could give is do your due diligence. What I mean by that is do your research! e.g. What is the business currently facing? Sustainability measures... How is steel made? etc etc. If you are lucky enough to receive an interview, You will want to know everything to make yourself stand out from the crowd. If you would like to contact me on LinkedIn to ask a few questions I am more than happy to help. Matthew Washbourne