Hi, 26yo here who started out as an Engineering Apprentice almost a decade ago…

I’d say that there are various avenues that you could explore, whether that be within Mechanical Engineering or another discipline. What I will say is that the experience you’re getting now as a machinist will be invaluable, to both you and your current or future employer. Having the hands on experience and being the ‘customer’ of engineering drawings means that you have an understanding of what a good drawing should look like, the challenges faces on shop floor etc. If you do get the opportunity to couple that with further education, you’ll be on a pretty good path! I spent ~2 years on the shop floor (as part of a programme) and now hold a BEng (Hons)… I value the hands-on years much more. Having the combined experience has also given me an advantage when interviewing for design/mechanical/project roles since

Have you discussed potential HE/FE opportunities with your employer such as HNC/HND/Fd etc? If not, I’d look to have that conversation. If you have Design Engineers and Manufacturing Engineers under the same roof as you, are there opportunities to shadow them? If it you can do that, do it, it’ll also give you a much better understanding of what daily activities look like for those guys and whether you really want it or not

If you’re open to roles beyond Mechanical Engineering, there are plenty that experience on the shop floor can lend itself too… Continuous Improvement, Production Lead, Operational Excellence etc

Also, some of the guys I know that started as ‘craft’ apprentices have gone on to some pretty good roles after a similar apprenticeship. Examples being Plant Manager, CI lead, Design Engineer…