I’m in my final year as an Engineer Technician Apprentice and I’m finding it really rewarding. I was initially attracted to the apprenticeship at BMW Group because it’s an international organisation, there are opportunities to travel, it’s in a great location with good pay and there’s the opportunity to earn a good degree at the same time.

For the first year, most of my time was spent in the workshop learning hands-on skills with every Monday in college, learning the academic side of things. In years two and three I gained my foundation degree, spending two days a week in college and the other three cycling round departments and moving on every quarter. The final year – which is what I’m doing now – is spent in my full time placement, as well as doing the top up year for my complete degree – it’s busy!

My favourite part of the apprenticeship is going through all the different placements, building connections and networking. That’s the advantage of an apprenticeship at BMW Group in the UK – you get to experience different aspects of the whole company rather than just the one job area and that helps you find out which bits of the job you like. For anyone considering a BMW Group apprenticeship, I’d say go for it – it’s challenging so you need to be driven but it really is a fantastic opportunity.

Melanie,

Engineering technician apprentice