Apprentice Technician Review

Work as part of a design team to produce CAD design drawings across many different highways schemes. This can include anything from the resurfacing of a motorway to designing new signage. On a normal day I can be working on different CAD drawings as well as completing various paperwork that goes with a construction project.

During my time as an apprentice here I have had the importunity to develop a number of skills. Prior to starting I had no previous CAD experience whereas now I work on complex schemes. I've also had the opportunity to develop my soft skills as I've attended various meetings etc.

Work wise, I really enjoy the programme as my workload is interesting and I have a great team around me. I enjoy working with my team but for me, the college course itself has been a bit of a sticking point as I haven't enjoyed the classroom side of it as much.

My programme is quite well structured from the companies side of things. In work I've been provided with plenty of training and support from my mentors in work that have helped massively. Support from the college has been harder to come by however and the assignments have sometimes been vague.

I personally have had plenty of support with my studies and my team have always been more than happy to help. My mentors have been easily accessible and have always been happy to assist me and make appropriate arrangements for me to get on with my work and with my studies.

In all honesty the support from the training provider has been slightly disappointing. The course has been difficult which is to be expected, however I feel like sometimes support has not been easily accessible. Sometimes I've felt that what I cover on the course isn't always useful to the sort of work I do but this is just my personal experience.

50/50 here. I feel like what I am learning on the course will benefit me over the course of my career but right now the sort of things I'm learning are not always relevant to my current role. This is to be expected though on a course as broad as civil engineering.

I would like to think that in normal times I would of been able to give this a higher rating. Since COVID, there has been a lack of face to face interaction but there have still been multiple virtual team building events which have been decent given the circumstances. Prior to covid there were work social events.

Yes

Because from my experience, the vast majority of people I've worked with have been great and always happy to help me to find my feet in a challenging industry. The workplace culture is positive and flexible and I've always felt valued from day one even as an apprentice.

My whole application process was smooth and originally I was contacted off the back of registering my interest in a role. Don't be deterred if a role you want isn't available in your location I'd recommend registering an interest as that is how I was eventually contacted.