Apprentice Quantity Surveyor Review

Working as an apprentice / assistant Quantity Surveyor on a range of civil engineering and infrastructure projects. Assisting the senior QS in the day to day running of the project regarding subcontract management, payments, cost forecasting and report etc.

All the skills I have learnt have been from working on the projects themselves namely the above. I have learnt very little relevant information from the degree course itself. This being due to me working in Civil Engineering and the course being focused around house construction.

I really enjoy the working side of the programme and progressing through the company. I do not enjoy the degree / learning side of the programme.

The degree course is well structured as it has been established for long enough to have a good structure in place. The structure on the companies' side could do with some work as it isn't really tracked.

Support is there if required, however not a great deal is done with regard to mentoring and having regular interaction with apprentices. I feel that it is on the apprentice to press the issue for progression and not all would be confident in doing so.

Sufficient support is provided towards the qualification, however the degree course in general is not very flexible and can be very hard to make it relevant to working in civil engineering, no flexibility is given by the provider for student to tailor assignments to their experience.

Very little. only a small part of the degree course has been relevant to my role. And these are the areas that are generic through all construction, everything else has not been relevant or useful to me.

Yes, being site based you often find people on the project who may organise sports etc. We also have a team who work to create activities for the business as a whole such as social events and quiz nights etc.

Yes

I feel that John Sisk is a very good company to work for and you are made to feel like you are all part of a team. with regards to the degree apprenticeship I feel that this is something which is still new to the company and that they need to work on this to focus more on the development and ensuring apprentices know where they stand within the business and its goals.

Just to ensure that you are willing to work hard to succeed, John Sisk are a company who strive for excellence in everything they do and are looking for employees who strive to do the same.