Signal engineer Review

Checking for any faulty equipment within the district, fixing any problems that there may be on the lines, in relay rooms, on track, in stations. Ensuring all point machines are working, checking for any damage that may have been caused by weather or trains running over, installing new equipment that is needed

I have developed many skills over the time I have been in the apprentiship, including how to wire, solder, fix electrical problems, how to install new equipment, I have learnt how to safely cross the track and observe where dangers may be within the working environment. I have also been able to improve my confidence working with other people

I enjoyed the program, it was worth it, it included challenges that I was able to overcome and resulted in me becomeing a much more confident person. It brought me new people, and new experiences that I never thought I would be able to do. I would recommend it highly

The apprenticeship overall was very organised, however there could be some improvement, there was a lot of trouble with paperwork and staffing, paperwork was not always filed correctly and that resulted in me having to redo some things, there was poor management at times and this did not help things on a day to day basis when you didn’t know who you were reporting to

I receive a lot of support from my employer, they are very understanding of any problems I may have, however it may take them a while to resolve them. Staff are very encouraging and will help you in any way possible and some will go above and beyond for you

Most tutors are fantastic and will support you, help with any issues you have with the work, however others will push harder that is nessesary and cause panic for students, sometimes you are seen as a child in the program and this is not helpful at all. This is only relevant to about 10% of staff

In certain aspects it helped a lot, however there are other aspects that are unesseary, the need for extremely difficult maths and physics is not nessesary, also the need to do sports, English, this should be focussing more on the real job portrayal such as learning how basic Signalling works

No professional network events were provided, sports were not very well organised and other events were messy and un interesting, more work should be done on the application of events. Events should Revolve around what the apprentices want. Communication is needed to get publicity of the events of around, and not just word of mouth

Yes

This apprentiship has set me up for life; the conpany is inclusive to all people and helps people along the best it can, it needs a lot of work to try improve its communication between the training provider and network rail, but it works well and has helped me become a better person

Research all you can into the job, make sure you have enough experience within communication. I would advise them to talk to other people who may work for the company or companies that are similar; look for events that may help with confidence and do not panic when it comes to answering questions