Railway Signalling Design Review

My role is to assist with the design, checking and approval process for new signalling systems. This means working with colleagues and clients trying to achieve the same goal. I will also respond to emails and attended training courses to further my development as an apprentice, enabling me to succeed in my course.

I have developed a lot of communication and interaction skills that I built a base for in school. I have also been able to increase my understanding of various workplace skills and requirements. The scheme has given me opportunities to do more training and learn about railway signalling design engineering.

I really enjoy my programme. It gives me a chance to try new things I wouldn’t have before. I get to drive trains, tour maintenance depots and gain a lot of certification I wouldn’t have otherwise. The team I work with are amazing and really support my individual needs as an apprentice.

My programme is really well structured - well so far as I know anyway! There always seems to be a new opportunity for me to have a go at as well as time to study and access to support I might need. The team I work with is brilliant, I know who my managers are and where to go for information.

So far my employer has been really helpful - they are really encouraging me to take every chance I get to develop myself and stretch as far as I can. I have a mentor and a buddy for the scheme, these are people I can turn to if I have issues I don't want to raise with management.

I'm four months into my apprenticeship and currently I don't know who my 'training provider is' I attend college and have help and support from some of the tutors there. The problem is that college and my workplace both think the other party should be setting us up with a training provider.

At the moment we are covering the basics of the course at college, this is very similar work to what I was doing in Secondary school so at present it doesn't have much of an impact. Later in the course I imagine it may help but TfL training covers any issues that I am having.

There are teams for all-sorts at TfL. As apprentices we have a monthly coffee roulette, this is where apprentices are put randomly into pairs and they go for coffee to get to know each other. Talking about work, social life whatever really. There are lots of networking events organised internally, as well as invites to external ones too.

Yes

The company is full of amazing opportunities both during and after the apprenticeship. The pay and benefits, including free travel in London are an nice bonus too! All of the staff I have come across so far have been kind and supportive, the majority have had a good career within TfL.

The main piece of advice is to be honest, open and just be yourself. They aren't looking for someone how knows everything - it's a case of being willing and determined to learn and accepting that we all have to start somewhere. Make sure to check out all the other apprentice schemes we offer as there may be another one more suited to you.