Apprentice Track technician Review

My day to day can change depending on what jobs I get sent to. There is a lot of travel to different locations and I like the change in places as it keeps it interesting. But I do a lot of changing track components like rails and sleepers. Outdoor work with days and nights on a shift pattern but I find I get more rest periods this way.

I am constantly learning new skills and learning new standards. In the first year you learn a lot with online learning and a training school from an external provider. It’s ok but bear in mind not many the lecturers have rail knowledge but they do come from engineering backgrounds. It’s a busy period of assignments but if you keep on top of them it’s ok

I really enjoy learning new skills and know I am in a good career for life knowing I have a good job that can take me anywhere. There is a lot of options of what you want to do in network rail. I enjoy staying away from training courses and meeting new people and having a good time with them

The first year of the program with the external provider can be hectic with the amount of training then going to depot and working out on track with your team. It can get messy and change and the external provider can make things messy of confusing. But everything done by network rail is ok and if you have problems there are people who will help

The apprenticeship coaches are great they are quick to answer questions and try and find the best outcomes. The external provider for training can sometimes be slow on marking assignments and not really give great feedback but you can contact the apprenticeship coaches and they will try and get it sorted. My manager has been very supportive putting me on relevant placements and ensuring I am fitting well int he team

Network rail assessors are great with the feedback on NVQ Submissions. They are on hand to ask questions. The year one work feedback was hit and miss depending who was marking it but overall I didn’t have too many problems. As long as you follow guidance and templates given it will be easier.

The assignments are sometimes word heavy and it is a heavy workload but it’s all knowledge in general engineering and some rail engineering stuff that is relevant to your job. Having some background knowledge can help when doing more difficult courses

When on courses a lot of us apprentices meet up to do some social activities. There are opportunities to go to some professional networking events such as team breifs and rail live but it depends on your location of work and what your teams does

Yes

Variety of work no two days are the same and there is lots of avenues to go down in terms of jobs and progression

Be yourself in the interviews. And once you get in make sure you keep up with your workload as it will make things 10x easier