Submarine Design Apprentice Review

Item: Submarine Design Apprentice at BAE Systems
Rating: 4.5
Author: Anonymous

at BAE Systems

Higher Level Apprenticeship

Engineering

Barrow-in-Furness

Review Submitted: April 2026

Overall Rating

4.5 /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!

4/5 - Overview of Role

5/5 - Skills Development

4.6/5 - 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

First year was a college completing a BTEC course. After that, we started to integrate into the business learning about the different aspects about designing a submarine.

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

4/5

I'm enjoying the work now as it is fulfilling, enjoyable and relevant to what I will be doing in the future. However, during the start of the course (the college for a year) it was a bit rough with getting sub par teaching from the local college and completing rather mundane tasks.

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

5/5

Yep, I would say so.

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

5/5

So far, I don't have any complaints regarding the structure of the programme we have undergone so far.

How much support do you receive from your employer?

5/5

We receive a lot of support from early careers staff, other senior members of the company and receiving training courses to help better our understanding and development.

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

4/5

Overall, I think it has been quite good though it has been troubling recently due to security issues with what we (designers) can put into our EPA document to ensure that it doesn't contain any information that could cause security issues. This has been quite problematic as they have restricted certain words that we cannot use which don't compromise the security of BAE Systems making it hard to provide evidence of our work.

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

5/5

Overall, I cannot complain about the training.

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

There are always activities outside of work that they advertise although they are not for me.

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend BAE Systems to a friend?

Yes

Why?

I think they are a good company with a strong support network with both early careers and employees within the business that want you to do well. Additionally, they also ensure that you are working in an area that you want to and have numerous career opportunities that employees can go into.