Data Analytics Apprentice Review
at BAE Systems
Degree Apprenticeship
Data Analysis
Samlesbury
Review Submitted: March 2025
Overall Rating
4.7 /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
5/5
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Skills Development
4.4/5
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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:
5/5
My role has three sections: Placement, Apprenticeship, and University. Placement work is where I help a real team within BAE across a variety of tasks in order to improve my skills through practical experience. Apprenticeship work involves tracking and analysing the work I have done in my placement in order to evidence my contributions and skills for the End Point Assessment at the end of the course. University work is self-explanatory. On a day-to-day basis I do mostly placement work.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
5/5
I have thoroughly enjoyed the programme so far. It's been extremely fulfilling across the board, with my only gripe being certain aspects of the university course.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
Through my placement, I have massively expanded my skill base across many different types of skills. I have learned several new programming languages including C#, HTML, CSS and SQL to the level of being able to quickly full-stack develop web applications. I have also learned how to use Tableau. Outside of programming, I have massively improved my conversational and communication skills with team members, clients and higher-ups, from normal conversations to technical presentations and demos.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
4/5
The programme has been pretty well-structured, with my only complaint being a bit of an overload of information from varying sources in the first few weeks, which led to a lot of confusion surrounding some aspects of the apprentices' responsibilities and commitments. It seemed like there wasn't a clear central reservoir of information, so different people that came in to talk to us gave us different explanations of how certain things like logging Off The Job hours, Flexi-Time, and tracking progress are supposed to work. This all gets cleared up after a few months however due to consistent communication from support personnel who you can ask as many questions as you need to in order to clear up your understanding.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
I receive a lot of support from BAE, from assistance within my placement team to dedicated skills coaches and responsive higher management. If I'm confused or unsure of anything I can just pop it in an email or teams message and I'll know by the end of the day.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
5/5
I receive an excellent amount of support from BAE in regards to university, as they doubled the weekly allotted hours that I can dedicate to studying and are very understanding if I need to book certain days or half days off in order to catch up on university/EPA work.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
I am aware that it's quite early on in my course, however I do feel that the university course is somewhat lacking in substance. The first module was kind of a nothing-burger, with hours of presentations around topics like how to talk to people (while useful, I kind of figured that degree apprentices would be okay at that) or how to google effectively, how to structure a paragraph... it felt like wasted time, considering there was only one 9-5 lecture every two weeks. However, the tutors tried their best to make it engaging - most of the time - and as it was the first module in the course, I'm sure that it's not representative of the entire experience.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
5/5
Absolutely. There is a vast range of social activities and extracurricular events across the company, and apprentice-oriented trips like Outward Bound in Eskdale are brilliant.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I absolutely would because the salary is ACTUALLY competitive, the support you get is excellent, the people you work with are awesome and they actually take you seriously. You get to learn a bunch of really fun stuff, apply it in really cool and impactful ways, and get a degree + job while doing it. A++
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BAE Systems?
It's not about how good you already are at programming or whatever you're applying for, you don't have to know anything at all. It's about the qualities that you demonstrate in how you talk about yourself, your experiences, and what you DO know that matter. If it sounds like you've done your research about the company and the role, and you seem like an open, communicative and passionate person, they will like you.
