Combat Systems Degree Apprentice Review
at BAE Systems
Degree Apprenticeship
Engineering
Portsmouth
Review Submitted: May 2023
Overall Rating
3.5 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
3/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3.2/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
Over the course of my apprenticeship I am completing 6 month placements in different areas of the business. This means that the teams I am in and the tasks I complete change for each placement. Currently I am working on tasks to learn more about networks while taking simpler tasks from other members in the team to allow them to work on higher priority tasks.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
2/5
I really enjoy the work side of the apprenticeship, I feel I am learning a lot and improving my confidence. Unfortunately the university side has been quite disorganised and they haven't really taught us anything which would actually help in our careers. It often seems like a waste of time attending university sessions.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
I have improved my communication skills as I have to make sure that I reach out to people if I am stuck with anything. I have also learnt about how teams are managed and work together in business to achieve their goals. I have also improved my management skills through a project I was asked to run.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
It has been quite disorganised, that could be down to us being the first cohort to be doing this apprenticeship with this university, however it feels like there is a lack of communication of what we need to be doing to complete the apprenticeship. In work, it is a bit more organised, people are very proactive with organising placements.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
I receive a lot of support, within placements, people are always available to help and answer questions if I don't understand something. I am also fortunate in that I know some people outside of placements who are helpful in providing other career advice and more knowledge about the company.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
3/5
The university do provide support, we have an apprenticeship coach who is available to schedule one to one meetings to help with any questions or problems. The university is ensuring that we keep up to date with collecting the evidence required to achieve the qualification, however they aren't teaching us about the things which we need evidence for.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
2/5
At present, the modules we have completed at university have no relevance to my role, however a couple of the modules have had some relevance to other specialisms' roles. In future we are supposed to be completing modules specific to our specialisms which hopefully will help me to perform better in my role.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
4/5
There are apprentice social events that are organised to get involved in, and apprentices are able to organise and advertise their own through the monthly apprentice meeting we have. There are also stretch projects which can be joined where you have the opportunity to work with different people to achieve a goal separate to what is happening in your placement.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
Yes
Why?
In the time that I have been working here, it has improved my confidence and I have learnt a lot about how cyber security is applied in business. Everyone I have met has been really nice and I feel safe to ask people questions to allow me to improve my knowledge.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BAE Systems?
I would say to not worry if you don't know much about the products BAE Systems make, as long as you are able to demonstrate that you have common sense and are able to think logically about how they would work then you can learn the details during the apprenticeship.
