OHL apprentice Review

My job title is an Overhead line maintenance engineer apprentice, my day to day tasks depend upon whether I am working days or nights. When on nights I have various on track duties doing either inspections or planned in maintenance based on earlier inspections, during days my work is more computer based either doing various paperwork or working in with the tech office.

The qualifications I have gained so far are Btec level 3 in engineering and NVQ level 2, by the end of my third year I will also have NVQ level 3. I have my personal track safety and my working at heights training completed also to allow me to go on track and work in the basket.

So far I have enjoyed the programme a lot, the first 20 weeks are away from home at Westwood which is based in Coventry. Here you do the majority of you assignment work to gain your qualifications and it is a great experience here. I have made many friends which I will know for life, I am now at depot and have been for a few months and I am loving it. Everyone here is so friendly and I have fitted right in with everyone being really helpful and getting me involved, there is no standing at the back here.

From the very start the company have shown how much of a value you are to them, you are a member of staff from the start and so you are no less value than anybody else. You are encouraged from the start to challenge people if you believe they are wrong as even though you are an apprentice they want you to feel valued, also in doing this and by being a part of the team you are following the network rail values. My manager at depot has given much appreciation saying that he has high hopes for me and wants to help to push me to do well and get me as far as I can go.

The programme is very well organised by having the majority of the learning in the first 20 weeks in a relaxing environment with everyone else that is in the same boat as you, there are many people there which will support you along as well such as instructors, mentors and even management. There is support for everyone with learning difficulties as well to ensure that nobody struggles and they get the best out of the training. Once in depot you are put with a team which help you with everything and then a section manager that is always in depot to go to with any issues, along with your line manager who oversees your progression.

The training provider for this apprenticeship is Babcock, they were very good and had a lot of very well trained instructors who knew a lot about engineering and the things we were learning. Every one of them would help you if you asked with either verbal help or by sending you additional resources for you work. I actually really enjoyed the training and learning the basics and theories behind the work that I would be doing, the work required a lot of thought and effort but with the instructors help it was made much more enjoyable.

Network Rail as a company have a wide range of staff who are all but willing to help you out with any problems that you may have, the managers will take time to make sure that you are ok unlike many other companies in which they believe it isn't there job to look after the apprentices. There are lots of people at each depot who have also gone through the apprenticeship themselves and they are all very helpful with giving you resources for the second and third year as they have completed it themselves.

My location is in central London at Westbourne Park depot, the wage for the first 20 weeks at Westwood is fine as you have all of your accommodation, food, travel and clothing paid for you but once you have finished the 20 weeks the wage is slightly low. Living in London is very expensive anyway, people living outside of London are not finding it as bad. There is also the London allowance which is very helpful and if you have a nice depot like mine I get a lift to work the majority of days to reduced my travel costs which has helped a lot. However after the first year the wage increases quite a bit and so this will then be plenty for an apprentice wage.

There are opportunities for you to volunteer and help out at events, I recently helped out at one of the assessment centres for the new apprentices for this year doing a Q&A session with them. Also though out the first 20 weeks voluntary work and charity work is pushed, I did multiple days at the weekend working at a national trust areas doing work that they wanted us to do (leaf removing, bridge building etc). Some apprentices did a sky dive and others did cake sales it is down to you whether you wish to do anything and what that would be. We also had inter house competitions at Westwood mainly doing sports or quizzes and this brings together the apprentices more in a friendly competitive way. At depot we do workout Wednesdays as a group to try and improve fitness and push each other to do better as a group also.

Yes

This experience so far has been brilliant, I have made many friends along the way and learnt lots of new things. Engineering is what I have always wanted to do and Network Rail do nothing but try and push you to your full potential. Everybody that works for Network Rail loves it and it is a very well loved company.

When applying for the apprenticeship it is important to show enthusiasm for engineering and the job you are going into, it doesn't matter if you have never done anything like it before. The phone interview requires you to know a lot about the company and so research is very important, where as your assessment day is where they want to know more about you. I would have liked to have know this as it would have made both these interviews easier, Network Rail do not try to catch you out in this process like most job applications they want to get to know you and why you want to do it so that they can get the best possible candidates.