Matthew Mills – Atkins

I decided to become an Apprentice Engineer as I wanted to work in an industry that is ever changing and provides a challenge. It also enabled me to learn on the job whilst developing my theoretical knowledge at College. Working as an engineer creates a lot of job prospects for later life given how broad the industry is.

A typical day for an Apprentice Engineer will involve listening, learning and replicating tasks provided and checked by senior engineers. This helps to develop a deeper understanding of what may be required on a project and allows you to retain technical information to use throughout your career. When you start as an Apprentice a lot of the software and terminology used may be overwhelming however being exposed to this on a day to day basis allows you to pick up on it quickly.

The thing I enjoy most about my job is the number of different routes you can take as you develop your career, specialising in a certain discipline and project types. I have been exposed to different disciplines and project types over my two years which has helped me identify the route I wish to take with my career as a building services engineer.

The End Point Assessment was the last step that enabled me to complete my Level 3 Apprenticeship. At the time of me joining Atkins, the Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard was new and therefore not many people were currently undertaking it.

In terms of preparing for the End Point Assessment I had to first find out when the assignments were to be handed out as well as other various pieces of information required to start the process. This was important as the start date of University was approaching and information on the End Point Assessment was yet to be released.

I had generated my written report in advance and therefore had saved myself some time to focus on the presentation. Once I had received the presentation assignment, I generated slides that corresponded with the pass criteria provided by CIBSE. This allowed me to create a presentation that focused on the essentials which was important as the presentation had to be a maximum of 10 minutes long. I created my first draft and presented to principle engineers who highlighted areas that needed work and areas that may take up too much time during the presentation. I also chose to create an information pack which was to be read in conjunction with my presentation, this helped me to illustrate the design I had produced as well as meet some of the criteria for the End Point Assessment.

Now that I have completed my Level 3 Apprenticeship, I am currently in my first year of my Degree Apprenticeship studying Building Services Engineering at London South Bank University.