Marine Electrical Apprentice Review

As a 4th year apprentice I am to start work at 07:30 in the morning. I am given jobs by my manager to do by myself or with another fitter in the team. The work i do each day can be different or the same as before which improves my overall skills everyday.

I have learnt many new skills which include different wiring techniques and more interests in the work i am doing. it also helps with interacting with new people and learning from them with their experiences whilst working for the company or outside so their is always new things to learn.

I enjoy where i am currently more than i have been at other placements which i have been put at. the difference has been the people that i work with have been more friendly and helpful compared to others so this improves my time at work and makes me want to come in.

The apprenticeships seems organised but however as it goes on it has slowly gotten worse with the lack of support from apprentice managers and little to no check ins after completing the theory side at college so i barely see my apprentice manager as they can be too busy doing something else.

There can be support when you ask for it or there isnt any at all and you can feel quite stuck in what to do. Some apprentice managers will support you better than others but there is a lack of engagement between them and the work you do day to day.

At college there was quite a lot of support and it was easy to ask questions to your lecturers as you would see them everyday/once a week when in 2nd and third year but once you at work full time it feels like their is no time to really see them and have a break to do NVQ qualification work.

The theory learnt through college didnt really benefit the work that i was doing on the job. it couldve been better if communication between managers and lecturers was better to provide relevant learning tasks towards our actual job role, some points were valid but a large chunk was not great.

I think there are but none are advertised well so no one does them. it doesnt help when all these notices get sent out via the internal internet which the majority of workers do not have access to as they do not have a computer account to log on and check them.

Yes

I would still recommend babcock to a friend even with my low scores towards their program. i can definitely see that it is better once you are finished with the apprenticeship and become qualified as then you will feel more involved with the team that you work with day to day. and the pay is really good.

stick through it and persevere. try to not get too wound up with coursework as this can really get you down. as the ack of support is so little. make sure to enjoy the first year and concentrate with the college learning. make sure to get involved with qualified fitters to learn.