It's great news for Josh - he's our apprentice of the month for January 2019! Read what Peter Rees had to say about apprentice Josh who works for him at Siemens PLC, Rochester. Could an apprenticeship be for you? Apply online now!
‘Our industry has a very wide area of application from small commercial and industrial sites through to nuclear power stations. This, in turn, requires a very wide range of knowledge, and understanding in both theoretical and practical skills to enable successful solutions to be provided. Josh is the first apprentice we’ve had at Siemens in Rochester but, as a number of our senior team had progressed via this route, it seemed fair that we should put the effort into giving something back and, a structured training plan was devised to put Josh through each area of the business to learn the various skills.
Josh began his time in our UKAS accredited laboratory. Obviously, with only limited skills at that time, only basic tasks could be assigned. However, as he was keen to read and learn, he soon advanced to more complex tasks until he was able to configure, compensate and calibrate meters that would be used on high capacity circuits, metering millions of pounds per day. As Josh neared the end of his time in the lab, I was approached by the senior technician and asked if they could keep him!
During his time in the assembly workshop, Josh was shown various skills needed to construct and test a complex communications panel that forms part of a metering system installed at an international High Voltage DC link. This panel was finished to a very high standard and worked without any snags.
Josh is currently placed within the Products area where he is learning about the various products and systems we provide to the industry, how they work, how they’re made and tested and when unsupervised Josh is nearly always found using the internet to research terms he has heard. When I’m out of the office on business or leave, he asks what I’d like him to research as he is very keen to benefit from the opportunity he has to learn which in turn, makes it very easy to make time for him. When combined with his polite manner, it’s a real pleasure to have Josh as part of our organisation.’
It is great to see that Josh has clearly made an exceptional contribution to his workplace and has become a valued member of the team. In his own words:
‘It is very good to be recognised for apprentice of the month as it shows that my employer and college are appreciating the work that I put in. It is reassuring that the time and effort I am putting into my working day is not unrecognised and being nominated for the award is highly motivating.
Being an apprentice at Siemens has been a great opportunity for me to get a good foothold within the electrical engineering industry. I am surrounded by highly skilled engineers that are very supportive and that are able to give me guidance throughout my apprenticeship. The team at Siemens dedicate a lot of time and effort in giving me the training that I need which helps me to improve my skill set and progress further in my career. My colleagues are also very mindful of the qualifications that I am doing and ensure that I am on track to complete the work that is set, particularly with my NVQ. Being part of Siemens is something that I am very proud of and I hope I can continue to develop within the company.
The best part about working for Siemens is the ability for me to move around different sectors of the business and get an understanding of all aspects of our work; this exposes me to different types of work so that I am able to develop different skills throughout my apprenticeship making me a more valuable member of the workforce.’
A big thank you to Roger Selling, Josh’s training officer who felt that Josh deserved to be recognised and said:
‘Josh Filmer joined Siemens PLC, Rochester, in September 2017, on the high-level engineering apprenticeship scheme. His first 6 months were spent entirely at college, learning basic engineering skills towards completing an NVQ Diploma in Performing Engineering Operations (PEO Mechanical) Level 2. Four days of the week were spent at the Medway Campus with the fifth day being at Maidstone UCM, studying for his HNC Engineering (Electrical) Level 4 qualification. During this time Josh achieved a 100% attendance.
During my time as Josh’s Training Officer, I have seen him develop into a confident young man, who is keen to grasp the challenges that lie ahead of him. The work set for him was completed on time and to a high standard.
In his second year, Josh has progressed not only in his workplace, gaining knowledge within the company but is also well on the way to completing his apprenticeship by March 2020.’
Well done Josh!
Find out more about what an apprenticeship can do for your business.
