Apprenticeship advice

[Sinny]

Hey all, Just thought I'd create a post looking for advice and to see if anyone is able to offer any guidance at all as I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment.

I'm currently just under half way through an apprenticeship that I started in 2014. It's something I've always wanted to do as I have never been interested in going to university.

To get this apprenticeship it meant moving to Telford from Chester and living in digs for the majority of the week, which at first I thought I would be fine with, however after starting I've realised a few things

- I don't believe the training I'm receiving will set me up for any future work, my original plan was to complete it and try and gain a job back in Chester, however the work I'm doing is quite specialist and isn't instilling me with confidence.

- I've started to hate going back at the start of the week, all of the other apprentices are pretty alien post work and I end up going back to my bedsit and generally stay in.

- I want to progress onto a HNC as my last year will consist of me just working due to me already having existing qualifications, however nobody is giving me clear answers about any funding.

I don't want to just leave it and end up with nothing as the deed's I will get at the end will be quite good, but what good is this without the experience that I want?

If anyone else has been in a similar position or can offer any advice I will greatly appreciate it. D

 

[tickedon]

If anyone else has been in a similar position or can offer any advice I will greatly appreciate it. D

In my last job, I used to hire 2-3 apprentices a year. The experience they got was fairly specific to how our company worked, but, demonstrated skills they could transfer elsewhere - we had a pretty even split with some going on elsewhere to further education (e.g. university), a higher qualification with another employer, or staying with us in a new role.

I think in your case, it really depends just how specific the training/experience is. But I would imagine you are using equipment / technology that others use, or that at least demonstrates specific skills that are transferable elsewhere? I also wouldn't undersell just how important having some experience under your belt is, and demonstrating that you understand how to deal with a work environment.

As for having a more interesting week, I can entirely understand your situation as I moved from Scotland to London for my first job and didn't know anyone in the city - it took quite a while to build up different groups of friends. Think about your interests / hobbies and see if there are any groups/clubs locally you could get involved with. You need to make an active effort to find something to do, which will hopefully lead on to finding people to meet up with outside of that too.

 

[HangTime]

I can't offer advice specifically about apprenticeships; however, in my experience having specialist/non-transferrable skills/experience can be quite limiting if you don't have other experience to fall back on. My first job after uni in hindsight was a bit of a dead-end (using relatively rare/proprietary software and hardware) that took me years to crawl out of, yet as soon as I transitioned into a more mainstream role (which IMO required less responsibility/knowledge/expertise), doors seemed to open up and people started taking me seriously in the job market.

Note: I wouldn't jack it in based on the above, just sharing my experience.

 

[Sinny]

In my last job, I used to hire 2-3 apprentices a year. The experience they got was fairly specific to how our company worked, but, demonstrated skills they could transfer elsewhere - we had a pretty even split with some going on elsewhere to further education (e.g. university), a higher qualification with another employer, or staying with us in a new role.

I think in your case, it really depends just how specific the training/experience is. But I would imagine you are using equipment / technology that others use, or that at least demonstrates specific skills that are transferable elsewhere? I also wouldn't undersell just how important having some experience under your belt is, and demonstrating that you understand how to deal with a work environment.

As for having a more interesting week, I can entirely understand your situation as I moved from Scotland to London for my first job and didn't know anyone in the city - it took quite a while to build up different groups of friends. Think about your interests / hobbies and see if there are any groups/clubs locally you could get involved with. You need to make an active effort to find something to do, which will hopefully lead on to finding people to meet up with outside of that too.

I'm training as an electrical engineer, the work that I'm undertaking currently is pretty basic and is more to do with fitting side. at one point as I was cleaning cables and re-soldering connections for 3 months which really gave me no experience at all.

My NVQ means that If I did move on, I could go after Maintenance jobs which would be higher paid than what I'm currently on, but I would have no experience on working with that sort of equipment.

 

[Unicorn]

I'm training as an electrical engineer, the work that I'm undertaking currently is pretty basic and is more to do with fitting side. at one point as I was cleaning cables and re-soldering connections for 3 months which really gave me no experience at all.

My NVQ means that If I did move on, I could go after Maintenance jobs which would be higher paid than what I'm currently on, but I would have no experience on working with that sort of equipment.

This a very similar issue I faced but luckily I had a company change roughly half way through due to redundancy. My apprenticeship in electrical and instrumentation was mainly served on gas turbines but as this was for a single company 99% of the tooling, ways of working etc was unique to them only. I learned things I will never use in my life again like hi-torq, riverhawk hydraulic tensioning etc for casing bolts on turbines. U just have to accept everything isn't needed to learn but as an apprentice you will learn to do the jobs of 3 men if needed.

In the second side of my apprenticeship I moved more onto electrical end and I learned a lot more but even that had its downsides were I was earth linking glands, tray work, transformers etc for 3 months.

I'd always say stick it out I did and my deeds were worth it I now run a gang of labourers who do what I did as an apprentice whilst I do the jobs I earned the deeds for. You will get through it there's good times and there's naff times. If your unsure raise anything with HR get anything regarding funding in writing also and make sure your mentors know your plans so they cannot stall your paperwork and mess your plans up in your final year. Mine did this and it stopped me doing 2 courses I'd of liked.

Learn as much as you can, ask for every course you can get.
Specifically as you will be doing electrical you can ask for a regs course incase u ever did drop back onto maintenance, other ones which are handy on that field are pasma, ipaf, compex 1-4.
All looks good on a cv.

 

[Sinny]

This a very similar issue I faced but luckily I had a company change roughly half way through due to redundancy. My apprenticeship in electrical and instrumentation was mainly served on gas turbines but as this was for a single company 99% of the tooling, ways of working etc was unique to them only. I learned things I will never use in my life again like hi-torq, riverhawk hydraulic tensioning etc for casing bolts on turbines. U just have to accept everything isn't needed to learn but as an apprentice you will learn to do the jobs of 3 men if needed.

In the second side of my apprenticeship I moved more onto electrical end and I learned a lot more but even that had its downsides were I was earth linking glands, tray work, transformers etc for 3 months.

I'd always say stick it out I did and my deeds were worth it I now run a gang of labourers who do what I did as an apprentice whilst I do the jobs I earned the deeds for. You will get through it there's good times and there's naff times. If your unsure raise anything with HR get anything regarding funding in writing also and make sure your mentors know your plans so they cannot stall your paperwork and mess your plans up in your final year. Mine did this and it stopped me doing 2 courses I'd of liked.

Learn as much as you can, ask for every course you can get.
Specifically as you will be doing electrical you can ask for a regs course incase u ever did drop back onto maintenance, other ones which are handy on that field are pasma, ipaf, compex 1-4.
All looks good on a cv.

Cheers for all the responses

My deeds apparently will be quite attractive to employers based on the department I work for, however due to me already having Electrical Installation and my 17th edition quals I was fast tracked onto the BTEC electrical engineering.

Due to this my final year is unknown, so near the end of this year I will be trying for funding, and as you saying going to HR.

My plan is just to get the deeds really, and then once I have them move back to my hometown.

I'm mainly just worried that when I finish, and I apply for other companies that I'll be shoved in the deep end with not much experience with other than what I currently deal with (Mainly 24v DC vehicles).

 

[Unicorn]

Cheers for all the responses

My deeds apparently will be quite attractive to employers based on the department I work for, however due to me already having Electrical Installation and my 17th edition quals I was fast tracked onto the BTEC electrical engineering.

Due to this my final year is unknown, so near the end of this year I will be trying for funding, and as you saying going to HR.

My plan is just to get the deeds really, and then once I have them move back to my hometown.

I'm mainly just worried that when I finish, and I apply for other companies that I'll be shoved in the deep end with not much experience with other than what I currently deal with (Mainly 24v DC vehicles).

I faced this slightly but try cater to jobs which you know you can do or there's an opportunity to learn it. I never did shopfitting in my life until September and we overhauled a morrisons in two weeks, new fridges new lights the lot. Went on to a leisure centre build were I was on swimming pool installation something totally unique.

If your going to do similar stuff then contract work through agencies may be up your street just to get your familiarity with a lot of fields up to scratch. Iv seen and done a fair few bits due to agencies as iv put above. One thing I'd say to stay away from is modular builds, horrid work

 

[CircleFaust]

how long is an apprenticeship usually? BT are recruiting at different levels, advanced / higher / full degree
i've applied but would be taking a big pay cut as i'm an old bugger now, but there are very few options for me getting a new career as competition for jobs is so high
i'm thinking if it was 3 years with a full job at the end that would cost me about £15k, which would be doable in the long run
does your pay go up each year on an apprenticeship?
anyone else done one later in life