Apprentice Signalling Design Engineer Review

I am a Apprentice Signaling Design Engineer, My day to day task vary depending on the level of work available to my design team, but I am mostly assisting with design packages (CAD or on Negatives) due to the run up of the commissioning of the North Lincs project I have assisted greatly in preparing documents for issue to site, and ensuring that any last minute design modifications are designed and completed.

I have developed myself personally, as well as academically. Personally I have gained a better sense of pride in my work, I take more care with the fine details and pay a lot more attention to how my work will be received by others, especially those on site in 'Harsh' conditions. Academically I am progressing towards my Level 4 qualification in Electrical Engineering at college, while also gaining business qualifications in CAD, Electrical safety, First Aid, PTS and MOD05 qualification to allow me to work on track. I am also well on my way to obtaining my Assistant design license due to the volume and variety of work I have completed.

I enjoy being in the company greatly, I feel I have been accepted into my design team well. I enjoy the office atmosphere, everyone gets on and is friendly, also people are keen to share knowledge and advance my learning.

I feel valued and included by Siemens, constant invites to meeting and briefs make me feel included, although in some situations some of the content of the meetings are beyond my understanding, it is nice to be included all the same. The work I carried out for North Lincs in regards to the commissioning did not go un noticed by my manager who greatly appreciated the work I did during weekends, and showed great approval for my effort during my reviews.

In regards Internal Training, I feel the system is well structured and offers a lot of support and flexibility, as well as being planned long in advance as to not conflict with planned holidays. External training has been an issue in recent times, the training provided by my college has been patchy and has resulted in Siemens terminating its contract for future trainees, meaning I am one of the last apprentices form Siemens to attend my college. Issues could have been prevented if more research and site visits we conducted to our college before the contract was agreed, rather than phone calls and assessment ratings.

As stated my support at college has been patchy lately, with tutor support at next to nothing. The issue had been raised with the college on numerous occasions with no response, at which point I informed the Capabilities Assessor at Siemens HQ that the issue could not be resolved internally. The response form then on was excellent with the college apologizing and putting further support methods in place.

I have received massive amounts of support from my design team and manager in regards to my on the job learning and internal assessments and qualifications. Everyone is friendly and willing to provided they're opinion or expertise when needed.

Personally my salary is adequate to meet my running costs for transportation to work, meets my daily costs for lunches, meals e.c.t and allows me to meet demands of my social life. Although the cost of living in York is high in comparison to similar locations in the region, the salary provides me with enough to live comfortably, with spare capacity to begin saving for the future.

There are numerous opportunities to progress myself outside of work on weekends through Job Fairs, Voluntary evens, Industry meet ups e.c.t. All are available in non working time which provides a mean to further progress people skills and build wider connections throughout the business as a whole.

Yes

Because it is an excellent company to progress and stay with. They offer a wide range of funded academic courses and internal qualification that give you excellent life skills. The company is vast, so if later on in life you became fed up with your current role within Siemens, you have the opportunity to re-train and re-specialize somewhere else in the company.

Be prepared for a competition, as one of the best apprenticeship schemes in the country, as you would expect, places are limited by the gains from being in the business are massive. Ask questions about the day to day tasks and ask about the processes behind what you will be doing, engage with your assessors on the day. And mostly, be yourself, Assessors need to make sure your the right person for the job at the end of the day.