Engineering Degree Apprentice Review
at BAE Systems
Degree Apprenticeship
Engineering
Barrow-in-Furness
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
3.1 /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!
3.5/5
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Overview of Role
3/5
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Skills Development
2.4/5
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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
Mondays are my day release to university, the rest of the week is spent in work. My typical day at work involves providing solutions to problems occurred in build, going to meetings with stakeholders, developing schematics and writing relevant documents. Recent work has been reviewing requirements for a project and providing an early design for a temporary test equipment.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
I love the placements and getting to see different parts of the business. The work is interesting and I am always kept on my toes with new projects and developments. I do however find the university side of my course slightly irrelevant to my day to day job. I also find the early careers team who help apprentices to be slightly unhelpful at times. Like anything it has it's ups and downs.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
3/5
I have learnt a vast amount of major systems within that enable the product to function effectively. I have learnt how to produce technical drawings and documents to an acceptable and high standard that are able to be used to manufacture, build, and test the product. I also get sent on a few course a year to expand my knowledge and apply these to day to day tasks.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
The scheme can be slightly disjointed, from the organisation of modules at college and the content and time given to do tasks, to the placement side where we aren't allowed much input as to where we're allowed to go around the business. However, the company have been doing apprenticeships for a long time and their past experience has obviously been used in certain areas to implement improvement over time.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
We receive a lot of support, depending on your home team/function, the support given to apprentices can be outstanding. In general, from early careers, we do receive a lot of support from general admin, to well being, ensuring college and work time are going smoothly. This is something I can't fault the business much for.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
2/5
We are offered support, however doing an apprenticeship means you don't have much to throughout the week to gain the support offered. I would say that the modules can be self taught to an extent, however when the scope of the assignment is beyond this, the support can be sub optimal.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
2/5
I would say that 10% of the content I am learning is relevant to my job role on a day to day basis. Writing assignments and reports for university certainly helps when it comes to writing documents for work, however because the scheme and business is so large, no two placements are the same, meaning that the course wouldn't be able to tailor for every student directly anyway.
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
This type of thing is more set up by apprentices themselves or the teams they are in, compared to the likes of early careers or the business. Personally, I do a lot of climbing with other apprentices, and have been a part of a small group who have gone on a weekly basis. Depending on the team you sit in, some have gone on to do cinema nights, walks around the lakes with pub stops on the way, etc.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
Yes
Why?
The work can be exciting and the pay is pretty good
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BAE Systems?
Learn about the company, about the product. Research the job role you're applying for, research interview questions related to the job role/discipline.
