obtaining an apprenticeship

DanSilva

Member
I am thinking to take an apprenticeship in graphic design. I am just on beginning, so I don't have experience or a degree. It's hard to obtain one, what do you think?
 
The whole point of an apprenticeship is to gain experience on the job, so you shouldn't be expected to have a degree or any real world experience, though much like applying for any course you should have examples of personal work to demonstrate that you have an interest in the subject and ideally have a basic understanding of what design is. As for how hard they are to obtain, I have no idea, I guess it depends on you and who's offering the apprenticeship. But I'd be sure to read up on what expected of you, and more importantly what's expected from the company/organisation offering the apprenticeship. They can't simply use you for free labour or just have you running around making tea all day. They have a legal obligation to be teaching you a skill which means they must be giving you actual hands on experience of design and the industry,
 
I guess it all depends what's around you regarding design related companies.

My niece needed to do an internship whilst at uni and had to travel all the way down to London to find one.
On the other hand, my son was searching out design apprenticeships and I was surprised to see how many there were around us.
 
I have basic knowledge of design, I can draw and I have some pieces of design work...but I am not yet completely confident in my portfolio. My question is...what is the expectation for the portfolio? It must be a professional one or it's working with a decent one?
 
I have basic knowledge of design, I can draw and I have some pieces of design work...but I am not yet completely confident in my portfolio. My question is...what is the expectation for the portfolio? It must be a professional one or it's working with a decent one?

You're not a professional designer so you won't be expected to have a professional level of work. If you did, you obviously wouldn't need to be doing an apprenticeship in the first place. What is expected of your portfolio is likely to change depending on who is offering the apprenticeship so it's probably best to just start applying and see what happens. If you hold off because you don't think your work is good enough, you might miss an opportunity.
 
Back
Top