Inside Lloret’s Apprenticeship: An Apprentice’s Perspective
My name is Elia; I am 19 years old and I’m part of the first batch of apprenticeships that Lloret has taken in. While completing my A-levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry I had decided to apply for some sort of degree apprenticeship, specifically in engineering.
Most apprenticeships in the mechanical sector were defence related so I directed my efforts towards the construction industry. I applied to a variety of different companies, but in the end, I decided on Lloret for 2 main reasons.
1) The environment created by the people here is very friendly and welcoming, the ability to work closer to home and the overall positive attitude helps a lot.
2) Lloret as a company is growing. With the company growing at an impressive rate, it provides me with a very hopeful prospect for the future as I’m sure my skillset will be able to flourish here.
Rotation Experience:
When I first started, I was placed in the workshop. Initially I was a bit sceptical as my main priority was the design/software team so the idea of doing hands on work wasn’t too appealing to me as it felt like it was getting in the way of what I really wanted to do. Instead, I was proven wrong faster than I could realise. The light-hearted environment not only allowed me to get used to the workplace, but it let me feel comfortable enough to ask questions any time I needed help. But it also helped me realise the importance of understanding what each department within Lloret does. Above all the importance of communication and understanding what the departments around yours, need from you.
I was then transferred to the maintenance department and placed onto a manned site. Maintenance was helpful in the sense it was my first on site experience so I got to see a lot of the systems we had studied in university (will expand on university later) in person. It also showed me how these large and complex systems are managed and maintained live. Unexpectedly it also showed me the importance of having good communication and workplace relationships as it got us a lot of favours and good faith. Again, through the very welcoming team.
My third rotation, lasting a total of 3 months, was commissioning. Coming into commissioning I didn’t know what to expect because in all reality I had no idea of what commissioning really is. As I didn’t understand commissioning, I had no idea of the importance it played. Being one of the last things that happens before a job is finished there is a pressure to get everything done on time. Upon reflection, I think commissioning has been the most hands-on module so far. It’s also been the most challenging for me personally as its very repetitive compared to the others. I feel that through commissioning I learnt how to be more patient and resource as I spent a lot of time waiting for others before I could start working.
University:
University works on a day release system, so that meant I was doing 9am to 6pm. The first year of university wasn’t too difficult, but I was quite fortunate that my previous education had prepared me quite well. Even though the content was relatively easy to grasp, I didn’t want to take the course for granted so I was regularly brushing up on my skills. When it came to assignments, specifically group assignments, I very quickly learnt the importance of having a team that communicates and having team members that care as much as you do for that course. For personal assignments they were a lot shorter than I expected so often at the start I would leave them last minute, but it ended up being so much easier to just chip away at them throughout the month. For Revit/CAD it was very helpful just going over them every couple of weeks as after the first semester we didn’t use much of either software. Personally, I found Revit harder to learn then CAD which was much more straightforward in my opinion.
Changes:
I also had to learn how to get used to certain changes from school life to work. I think the biggest one for me was the lack of half term/holiday and the longer hours. Not getting a break every couple of weeks like I used to, was very tiring initially, but like all things I got used to it. The longer hours in conjunction with the longer commute was the hardest thing to adjust to, as I realised just how much time I was “losing” suddenly. For as much as I can say that the working environment is very lovely, I still had to learn that work relationships function a lot differently to those you make in school.
Overall, during these past couple of months I’ve learnt more than I could really imagine. It has been very difficult in certain circumstances but, I can say that I’ve enjoyed it so far. I think I’m looking forwards more to the successive years of university as I really want to learn the different applications of maths, physics and technology in the construction sector.
