Gents , have flown the panel for years giving a good apprenticeship for flying up front . Was not an eng. but around Europe with eng. coverage at most stations was no prob . 25 years later had the privilege of operating with F/Es . Brilliant experience , and glad I was not too late .
Laterly , some engineering apprentices came out of the hangar to the ramp on qualifying . Then trained as F/Es , before being retrained as pilots . Bril.l crew when it was 1 1/2 pilots and 1 1/2 F/Es ! The younger ones then , are now senior skippers earning my pension .
Pros.
Mend things when broke , extend crew duty hours , expert monitoring , social evenings were beers in multiples of 3 not 2 . On layovers someone to mend hire car , boat , aeroplane . Did not not have to do the walkround in -30C blowin snow at Gander .
Keeping the show on the road by helping a fleet colleague mend a sister ship , whilst us 2 Nigels turned our ship around .
Cons.
Only one really ... It was always Engineers Year . They were the first to be able to chat up the 'gurls , or the 'gurls chat them up [ pleeeese mend my galley ] .
Best lesson learned from F/E .
The US had / has some great micro breweries , 'specially IPAs on W. coast ... However always served cold in a cold glass ..Yuck .
Engineers solution . '' Darlin' , please put that in the microwave for 25 seconds . Releases the aromatics and flavours so we can drink it properly . ''

rgds condor.

I had 30 great years as a F/E in the UK , but leading up to it was a 5 year apprenticeship and 2 years in the hanger and I enjoyed it all even the bit of working inside a Comet 4 fuel tanks.
On retirement in 1998 i was lucky enough to be offered a volunteer position for short periods as a F/E on an old airliner in the USA, but first I had to get an American F/E ticket with a recip [ piston engine to me] endorsment
I filled in the relevant form and applied to the FAA office in New York, but talking to the gentleman and explaining my career he was not quite sure I had suitable qualifications to even apply for an american F/E ticket. His last question was it would be much easier if you had some pilot qualifications, and he could hardly believe i had been a F/E for 30 years without any pilot qualification.
In desperation at the end he said that perhaps I should go ahead and sit the test and the that led to 5 summers of great fun