EDAS Aerospace Engineer Review
at BAE Systems
Degree Apprenticeship
Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering
Warton, Carnforth, UK
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
4.3 /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!
5/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3.6/5
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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:
5/5
1 Day per week of University lectures during standard term times remaining 4 days per week spent in placement work across various areas of the Air Sector working on many different projects at different stages in their engineering lifecycle. I am now a composite designer in my final placement before finishing the apprenticeship and lead multiple technical reviews and am constantly attempting to find novel solutions to engineering challenges.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
5/5
The program is hard work, and places a lot of pressure on time management skills, especially when trying to maintain co-curricular commitments and a social life on top of the work associated with the apprenticeship. I feel as though this challenge has been extremely beneficial to my development, but I appreciate it may be too much for some to manage at once.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
I have been trained on multiple different toolsets and picked up a plethora of industry related skills and experience, positioning myself ahead of my peers that attended university traditionally when applying for jobs in engineering coming out of my time.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
4/5
The program is very well structured however it feels as though it may be longer than it needs to. Me and many of my peers are itching to come out of our time as apprentices into full time work, and upon reflecting on the work covered in the apprenticeship, we believe it could be manageably achieved within a 4 year timeframe.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
The early careers team and company as a whole provide a plethora of support in various different domains spanning university, apprenticeship standard , general health and wellbeing, as well as assistance with placements that may be unsuitable for your specific career plan.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
3/5
The university experience, while not as poor quality as some may make out, could definitely do with improvement. The college is far too understaffed and there simply is not the support and quality of teaching as would be delivered at a traditional university.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
As most people that have come out of university directly after studying an engineering degree and then going to work for an engineering company will experience. Not a lot of the knowledge or content when studying your degree is particularly relevant in your day job. Despite this, I feel as though the teaching we have received has provided a good foundational context to the work we do as engineers, as well as informed the way we approach and solve problems. Should I ever want to leave the company and apply to work somewhere else it is a qualification that is desirable to have.
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
Although I have not personally taken part in many work related sports teams or networking events, due to other commitments, being a member of external sports teams and a serving member of the British Army Reserves, within the apprenticeship there are a plethora of social and networking events to take advantage of.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I wouldn't recommend this apprenticeship to someone who isn't hard working, determined, motivated, and willing to persevere. Luckily for me, either by chance or design, my friends all display these qualities. So for them, and people like them, this apprenticeship is an amazing opportunity to propel your engineering career and develop at a much faster pace than your peers attending university.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BAE Systems?
If you have decided that the EDAS apprenticeship is something you want to pursue, you need to best position yourself to have experiences that will demonstrate your capabilities and therefore suitability for the role. things like being a member of cadets, volunteer work that you have done, any time you have lead a group of peers, any times you have been proactive and taken control of your outcomes you need to record them, and if you have time, do more of them. Having a job prior to applying will definitely strengthen your application as it will demonstrate that you are capable of showing up at the right place and right time when your are needed and doing what is required, it doesn't need to be remotely related to engineering but will stand you in much better stead when submitting your application. Finally, the number of applicants who don't know the first thing about what the company does would shock you, find out what we do, what aspects of that work interest you, and talk about it in your application and hopefully, with your interviewer. Good luck.
