Electrical/Mechanical Higher Apprentice Review
at BAE Systems
Higher Level Apprenticeship
Engineering
Portsmouth
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
1.9 /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
3/5
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Skills Development
1/5
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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:
3/5
Working within a team to complete a range of work orders, working with electrical and mechanical systems on Royal Navy ships and systems, including maintenance, repairs, installation, removal, fault finding and problem solving. This involves talk with ship personnel as well as company staff to organise solutions.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
I love the communication I get with the RN and partners part of the job, and the problem solving is very interesting.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
3/5
I have definitely expanded my knowledge on electrical and mechanical systems, improving skills with test equipment, developing my teamwork, communication and problem solving skills, my mathematical and science skills have also been touched upon during my general engineering HNC.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
1/5
In my opinion its poorly organised, from the start there were many questions we simply didn't have an answer to and when asking about it we were often told you have been told in the past etc, either we are all very forgetful or it wasn't clear or simply not stated. other than that getting new equipment has been challenging and there seems for apprentices to not be one specific way to do so, some bits we can get from our skill development centre and others we have to organise ourselves with other co workers.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
1/5
Initially we were talked through parts of our apprenticeships on how to get the ball rolling, once we were sent out to the work place, support from above was very limited, support from our temporary managers has always been good but from our long term managers it feels lacking.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
1/5
Again other then meetings with our HNC instructors/teachers, there is none.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
1/5
I mean it definitely gives you a better understanding of principles, but more often then not its wasted knowledge as it can be either very relevant information for the task at hand or completely irrelevant, unless i moved to a completely different area that knowledge doesn't spread very far, the knowledge ive required has been shown to me during my placements around the company from the workers in the teams.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
1/5
there are lots of opportunity to advertise the business, STEM opportunities are definitely there, but social events are not organised, unless done by the apprentice cohort.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
No
Why?
Typically it depends, No as a overall answer, due to the poor management of apprentices initially made the whole process confusing and misleading, secondly because the scheme has now changed since I've joined and in my opinion become more restrictive and overall worse. i would recommend it for someone who has no experience and needs a foot in the door, or striving for a step qualification with a reputable name.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BAE Systems?
Take an interest in general engineering, common sense goes a long way, do your research about what you'd likely be working on, if working on warships with old(ish) equipment doesn't sound for you, see what your qualifications would get you elsewhere.
