Level 3 Apprentice technician Review

Item: Level 3 Apprentice technician at BAE Systems
Rating: 3.4
Author: Anonymous

at BAE Systems

Level 3 Apprenticeship

Engineering

Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire

Review Submitted: April 2026

Overall Rating

3.4 /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 - Overview of Role

4/5 - Skills Development

3.2/5 - 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

I swap placements every 4-6 months. As I have progressed the placements are longer, so 2nd year were 4 months, 3rd year 6 months. Currently I am in design writing User Guides and have been performing Process Confirmations (audits) within the Design Team.

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

3/5

Unfortunately the programme has suffered a lot of disruption, whether this be changes to HNC, Level 2 recovery work or skills coaches all leaving Early Careers. It feels like when things get into the swing of working, they completely change again.

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

4/5

I would definitely say so in my first two years, however now I am more just performing the same office based skills I have learnt. I have worked within the same office (The Hive, Brough) for 2 years.

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

2/5

The structure is a let down. It is forever changing and between 4 years of cohorts of technicians, every cohort is doing a different scheme / structure which doesn't help as we have nothing in common work wise.
Also, when coming into Brough, placements are never organised prior and therefore apprentices end up sat around waiting for placements for weeks- months as they start as nothing was pre organsised for them. A set structure should be in place to prevent this.

How much support do you receive from your employer?

3/5

In terms of support with learning opportunities, we are treat very well. However, in terms of how our career goes we don't get much at all.

How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

3/5

When training in person at Heta, we received support endlessly. Online doing the HNC is a struggle as we get feedback and failure on stuff which was never taught or even stated within the question.

How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

3/5

It doesn't really. My placement work is all documentation which doesn't have anything to do with my qualification. I prefer my qualification a lot more then work.

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

I am in the LAC and part of the sports team who organised 5 a side football at Brough

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?

Yes

Why?

There needs to be a structured programme which all cohorts follow. Such as HNC should be delivered to every cohort in one way, not one cohorts gets the opportunity in person and another doesn't as it limits cohorts capability, as we do ours online which extends our HNC to 2 years when cohorts prior only needed a year and a half.