Electrical Engineer - Electrical Review

I'm in my first year of this apprenticeship doing the electrical course. It's 5 days, 09:00 - 17:00 a week at the Nantgarw campus of Coleg Y Cymoedd. The course is great and all modules are relevant, useful and interesting. There's plenty of support available and all of the staff are approachable.

I've learned new practical skills such as basic, domestic electrical installation. I've developed my soldering skills to a standard that I'm really proud of. My knowledge of electrical theory has grown over the year and I'm now familiar with a wide range of electrical components and their uses in the real world.

I joined this apprenticeship scheme to move out of my early career in IT. So far, I've been loving this programme. It is a good balance of academic study and practical work. The relationships I've developed with other people on the course have been great. Hopefully GE will allow me to continue studying after this apprenticeship and complete higher education.

Overall the programme has been well organised and structured in a way that suits the students well. There is clear communication between GE, the college and the students. On the rare occasion we have issues or questions, they are sorted out quickly. GE made us feel very welcome during the induction and I feel like I belong in the company.

The staff at GE have been very accommodating and have dealt with all of my requests quickly. Staff from GE sometimes come to the college to check up on us on a Monday morning, they check our progress and try to answer any questions we may have. They have a good attitude when it comes to supporting us.

The staff at Coleg Y Cymoedd are really supportive and push us to do the best that we can. They challenge our thinking and allow us to expand our answers in class. They are engaging and friendly, I feel that I could approach any of them if I have problems.

I have not yet completed my apprenticeship so I'm not sure how relevant it is to the daily work we'll be doing in GE. I think that the underlying knowledge I've managed to put some of the new skills to good use at home and hopefully will continue to do so.

Yes. The college offer plenty of social clubs and sports teams to get involved with. I haven't personally enrolled on any of these but they do encourage participation. I'm not sure if GE have sports teams but I think they do run team building events every now and then.

Yes

I think that they are a great company to work for and they provide a high level of training. The staff benefits, salary and pension scheme are fantastic. They offer good career progression and anybody who works there would be happy to remain there for the rest of their career.

If you are applying as an apprentice, you must be committed to the course and maintain high standards at all times. GE expect nothing but the best from you and won't settle for less. Laziness and procrastination is not tolerated and you can easily find yourself slipping behind on work if you choose to slack off. It's a great experience but definitely requires your full commitment.