Sales Apprentice Review

There is no typical day in the office. When I first started my apprenticeship, I was warmly introduced to everybody in my local office and found out in-depth everybody’s roles as well as Schneider’s structure. Being in sales, I was then introduced to the sales team and assigned a mentor to shadow. I began becoming more familiar with the day to day tasks and spent the beginning of my apprenticeship settling in.
Now being in my second year, I am frequently traveling to other SE offices across the country and different departments to gain a wider understanding of our processes and to make connections to other employees who I may work closely with in the future. I have also begun introducing myself to our installed based customers which includes shadowing my mentor in meetings, site visits and attending events.

I feel my apprenticeship is well structured and there is always a plan in place for me to develop my knowledge and skills. However this does change time to time, for example the initial 5 year plan of my apprenticeship has changed quite significantly from what I am doing now, but I feel I am much ahead of where I expected to be in my current role.
Most of my university is distant learning, where I attend Skype lectures throughout the week and complete tasks through the university portal online. I visit a university three times a year (for a week at a time), where I can complete practicals and coursework. I can contact my lecturers whenever I need help, and I can watch the online lectures as many times as I want. Although my job is Monday to Friday, 20% of it is assigned to university work, so I may catch up with lectures during my days in the office.
The sales engineer apprenticeship allows me to be flexible when balancing my work with study. For example, if I am away on business one week, I can catch up the week after and vice versa.

I am very well supported from my collogues. Everyone has been happy to share their knowledge and offer help if I ever need it. I completed various short rotations around our other offices/department which has been a great way to introduce myself and build that relationship.
I also have a mentor which I met on my first day of Schneider and have been working closely with since. I was able to shadow and learn much more from this.

I have many online lectures with my university (Lincoln). They are always an email away if I have any queries. I feel very supported whilst completing the degree.

My degree is Integrated Engineering and this offers a mixture of subjects in relation to engineering. The department of Schneider I am working in is process automation. Therefore my degree works hand in hand with my job, some future subjects include control systems and robotics. Although my job is in sales, it is still good to have a basic technical understanding and an appreciation for what engineering involves. Also it is helpful to understand subjects which may not necessarily be involved in my job now, as it may come useful later in my career.

Yes

I would advise anyone leaving college not to rule out apprenticeships for any career they are looking for.
It allows no student debt, a salary and many more company perks whilst working. The main benefit is the experience gained which you wouldn't get through uni alone.