Fibre engineer Review

As an Openreach engineer my role is to provide fibre broadband to peoples properties and to fix any faults that people are experiencing with their broadband. a typical day starts where you sign on around 7am and get sent your job list for the day. you then prepare and leave to be at your first job for 8am. There is customer interaction with this job on a daily bases so your best bet is to call ahead and let them know when you will be there. when you arrive you explain the process of bringing a fibre cable to there property, location for equipment to be installed, our safety procedures etc. if they are happy you commence the job. in a day if you are doing full installations you should expect at the beginning to be doing around 2 a day. this can be more or less depending on the complexity of the jobs assigned. your work day ends at 16:10 but you never normally finish then, you still need to travel home and you only leave a job if it is complete or cannot be completed by yourself and you have passed it on to the relevant team with all paperwork completed.

you learn a lot of new skills on this job, Im not entirely sure you would use them outside of this job but i guess its handy to be able to drill out a wall or do some basic diy with what you have learned. you learn good safety for climbing poles or opening under ground boxes but this isnt something you normally do in life. the job has taught me what i need to know in order to do the job though.

to be honest, i dont enjoy this program... its a job. and it pays well but its also stress full and after training you do not get enough buddying but also the people getting the buddying can define how well you do afterward so its luck of the draw really. the apprenticeship is good in terms of the teaching you how to do the job but it doesnt give you a lot of help when it comes to asking for pictures of you doing a job but you are working on your own most to the time so you have to wait for the odd occasion you are needing a hand and then pester that person to take a bunch of awkward pictures of you.

the initial training is brilliant. there is no pressure but everyone gets helped and its well thought out. the days for doing your svq are spaced out well in terms of getting enough time and help to do them. there is a lack of buddying available or you get made to feel like asking for more is an inconvenience.

my employer openreach is doing a huge drive to employ engineers just now so its easy to get a little lost in the crowd and nobody helps you find out much or really takes the time to be helpful. engineers who you work with esp new recruits like yourself are the most support and patch leads do their best but in my experience managers and any higher up do not care and are all about stats. it can be very frustrating because i know others have had good experiences but im just about 3 quarters through my apprenticeship and i have already had 5 different managers and been in 2 different teams because of managers leaving and people filling in and then new managers etc. it feels like there is little stability.

my training providor is great. he answers my questions, is available to me when needed and always follows up if he doesnt have immediate answers. a nice guy who puts in the effort even though he has so much to do and things have been super weird with covid.

after the inital training it doesnt really help at all. it just makes you write everything down repeatedly to show you know what you are talking about. nothing is better than doing the job to perform better, getting help from other engineers teaches you the right way to do things and that the course doesnt cover or tips about things that come up. the initial training is good though and very helpful.

not that i am aware of. i know there are groups you can join on workplace but outside of work you don't really see each other unless you build that kind of relationship. this is a very isolating job. there are Christmas nights out though, which is just an excuse for a free meal on the company and seeing you boss and colleagues super drunk.

Yes

it pays well enough for being an entry level job and there's opportunity to try different things. as a woman they are pushing to get more of us in the door but its still a mans world and although most of your male colleagues are great guys who support you well. if you need a job to get in the door and you dont mind casual sexism then go for it.

be prepared to feel alone, wireless earphones and some music and courage to ask for help in group chats. you will never feel like you know everything in this job and even if you know your own area of the business well you will have no idea how other areas operate. make sure you ask for help and 1000000% get to know the engineers in your team, ask your buddy who is good to call for help and network with the other engineers because ultimately they are the ones you can rely on to help you out.