engineering apprentice

[swedge]

well i think i may be getting offered a new job :)

at the moment im a techincal operator for this company http://www.emtelle.com/

theres an apprentice engineer job came up which i have applied for before but in one of the other factories but didnt get it but done really well on the tests and interview

ive spoke to the head engineer and is really keen for me to get the job

only thing that bothers me is the drop in wages :( my wages at the mo are between 15k-16k a year after tax and thew apprentice wages will be around 7k after tax for the first year going up every year

im 24 so will be an "older" apprentice

anyone here live off apprentice wages lol?

its a multi disciplined engineer so will take on all aspects of engineering electrical mechanical, tool making etc

it looks a good job in the long run as its a 4 year apprenticeship with the first year at college full time

[mowgli]

see if there is any financial help from the govt.. there might be.

its good to see that you are looking at the long game here. but you might be better off looking at doing open university courses or similar or evening classes, cos 7k is truly scary for a 24 year old, and you'll not get decent money for a couple of years.

or get a part time job to pay your way.

[swedge]

i meant to say that in the first year ill be staying on campus during the week and all my rent etc will be paid but obviously still have my car insurance etc to pay

i have a part time job at the moment working on a bar at the weekends so id still be able to do that

[16v Nova Kev]

do it. your pocket might suffer for a year or 2 but in the end you will be on better money.

[MK999]

If you're getting 7k and your rent paid you will be fine to live. Uni per year costs me roughly 7-7.5k including rent (320/month) and food etc during the time I'm living away. That's purely uni related expenses though, insurance etc is paid for with money earned during summer, which is something you could do as well.

[swedge]

yeah ill just need to budget and stop spending cash on the nova lol

i wont have a summer as soon as the first year ends ill be straight into where i work without "summer holidays"

[MK999]

all on 7k a year? You would need a 2nd weekend job then imo, and even with that you'll struggle. In total with student loan, parents and my wages I've pulled in about 7 this year, and its barely covering uni costs atm, I am heavily relying on working over summer to pay off overdrafts etc atm.

Between working over summer and not you're talking a difference of 4-6k ish.

[swedge]

i wont have any student loans, i dont have an overdraft credit card or anything like that i dont owe any money. only things i pay are my normal bills :)

the thing is that i work 3 on 3 off at the moment so i work weekends at times

the apprenticeship will be monday-friday so there may be a chance that i could still get some work with the company at the weekends doing what i do now which tbh is easy money doing what i do lol

[MattBrown]

7k, then what?

On my apprentaship, it was £10k, then £13k, then £18k, then £22k.

Then £32k plus overtime when qualified.

So in the long run, you should earn a lot more then 15k as an engineer, providing its a propper apprantaship.

[Stuart]

Will the apprenticeship REALLY get you a huge gain in salary at the end of the 4 years? I personally cant see that happening.. plus you will be the 'new' guy again so back at the bottom of any earnings ladder, and I reckon that having done an apprenticeship wont mean much as far as the employer is concerned

[swedge]

the company that i work for are quite big and nearly all the engineers there were apprentices with the company the head engineer started there just as a normal engineer and he is on mega bucks

one of the engineers thats just started there is on 27k per year and he is on the lowest grade engineer salary at the company

theres 4 grades i think

apprentices thenh grades 1-4

[mrT]

do it, if you do mechanical and serve your time you'll walk into a job offshore up here in aberdeen with ge and the likes, you'd be looking around the 35/40k a year to which aint to bad:p