Apprentice Review

My role as a network rail apprentice is a electrification and plant trainee technician on a day to day basis I normally go to multiple substations and track paralleling huts this includes maintenance of the equipment in these buildings such as dc circuit breakers, AC feeder breakers and the rectifiers.

Over the course of my apprenticeship I have been trained from the ground up on electrical engineering on Both the railway and in domestic houses including how to wire up all the circuits in the house such as lighting and sockets. I also learned how to test these circuits to make sure everything is working as it should

I absolutely enjoyed my time on the apprenticeship to the highest extent I enjoy going out to work and building a relationship with both my work colleagues on site and my friends in my classes. I also enjoy the accommodation we are put in when we do are classes as there are plenty of activities and things to do.

I feel that the apprenticeship is very well structured from going away and staying at network rails accommodation in Coventry and Portsmouth, to then going out on site with my colleagues. I feel that the split between doing your classes and working on site are spaces appropriately to make sure that you don’t stay in one or the other for to long

Network rail give me a ton of support when it comes to my learning on the apprenticeship and developing my real world skills out on site. My manager does monthly reviews with me to see how my apprenticeship is coming along and how my skills are developing and what extra I may need

In the first year the training provider (Babcock) do all of the training for our initial courses and we are given plenty of support however once we start doing our more advanced courses network rail take over so I feel that network rail should do all the courses as they are the company we are working for so they can deliver courses that are more relevant to what we do.

I feel that to a small extent are training given to us by Babcock it a good way to get people up to scratch on our electrical engineering, however I feel like that when we go to work out on track the later courses they provide are no longer relevant to what we do and I feel courses need to be made more relevant to what we do

When we are away in network rails accommodation to do our courses there are plenty of extra curricular activities to do such as a purpose built gym with weight lighting equipment and treadmills. There is also a swimming pool on site which is free to use. And lastly there are house football teams where apprentices compete in a network rail football tournament

Yes

I would recommend network rails apprenticeship scheme as it develops you in more ways then one. Not only does it develop your professional skills on site which allows you to qualify as a technician for network rail, but it also develops you personally by giving you valuable experience in a work force you may not have worked on before

Best advice I can give is firstly when applying for the job the process may take a very long time but stick with it, as it all becomes worth it if you get accepted. Secondly, get all of your theory work done as quick as possible because the quicker you do it the earlier you can qualify from the apprenticeship.