Apprentice Diaries – Q&A Follow up

We have been catching up with Jake and Kundi, to see how they are finding life between AGI and College.

So, 8 months on from when we first caught up with you – how have you been?

Jake:  I have been good! Due to the global pandemic of Covid-19, I had to complete the rest of the 1 year OTJ part of the apprenticeship from home since March. I had to complete all of my assignments that were issued remotely to me by the college from home, these consisted of a mixture of health and safety units and mechanical and electrical engineering units.   I wasn’t able to return to college to complete the last few practical and written assignments until June.

As well as completing my assignments, I spent the majority of the time whilst working from home revising for the written and practical exam of my course. I completed the Level 2 Mechatronics course gaining distinction grades in my exams.

Kundi: I have been great, thank you. Especially now that I am back at work and building on the skills and knowledge I have gained over the past 8 months.

What challenges have you encountered since lockdown? How has it impacted on your work / studies?

Jake: I returned back to working on site at the beginning of September. Since then, I have been issued with a job rotation plan where I will be spending time learning and working in each different departments of both production and engineering. So far, I spent my first few weeks working in the stores department where this helped give me an insight as to how the materials are purchased into the company and organised before the parts are assigned to the shop floor staff to build.

I am now currently spending time learning and working in the mechanical assembly department. To begin with, I shadowed some of the engineers by watching them build a specific order and then I became confident enough to build a product independently. I have so far learnt different skills including how to safely use a variety of tools and equipment.

As I entered year 2 of my apprenticeship in September, I am now working towards a level 3 engineering fitters qualification where I have been studying electronics. I attend college now once a week and spend the other 4 days a week gaining hands on learning and working experience at AGI.

Kundi: The challenges I encountered during lockdown was that it was harder to get in contact with college lecturers as everything had to be done remotely from home. It was also a shame that I could not return to the workplace until September as I was enjoying it.

Looking forward what are your plans for next few months?

Jake: In the next few months I am looking forward to spending time rotating around the different departments at AGI, where I will be able to learn new skills and further understand the process that a particular product goes through throughout each department. I will be able to see how the product is built together and tested/inspected before being sold and dispatched to a customer.

Kundi: My plan for the next few months is to gain as much knowledge I can about the differences between Mechanical and Electrical Engineering to understand which is best for me. On top of that, I want to learn and pick up as many skills I can from my supervisors and fellow work colleagues who have experience in AGI and engineering as a whole. I plan to finish my first year of level 3 in the coming months so I can progress onto my second year. I will ask as many questions as I can to gain further knowledge on AGI and how and why they do things a certain way.

It’s great to see how both Jake and Kundi have adapted to studying and working during this year. We will catch up with them next year to check how their apprenticeships are progressing.