Apprentice signalling technician Review

As a signalling technician apprentice I assist where best possible to the team I am given to learn the most i possibly can from a wide range of members from the company. On a day to day basis I can be preparing the and helping gather resources for the task(s) in hand. These tasks can vary vastly between routine maintenance, critical maintenance, responsive faults and outstanding faults.

I have learnt many new skills During this apprenticeship communications is a big aspect of working on the railway and have been growing to meet the standards. I have developed existing skills also on the job I have learned how to approach and deal with situations physically that could arise

I really enjoyed the programme training was very professionally and competently delivered I am thankful for the experience of the instructors during each and every training course. For example at any time if a question was thrown at them the response was always swift and accurate, this installs confidence into the trainees and increases the background knowledge for when physically out at work.

I feel incredibly valued especially within my depot. I feel personnaly that apprentices shouldn't have to observe work they should be in with tools in hand learning, growing as members of the company this way a lot more experience and knowhow is embedded into the apprentice and helps them grow. I fee valued by my colleagues and management who will openly thank and so gratitude to members when a hard or unexpected task has arisen.

The programme initially is set out perfectly but there were changes in courses and delays getting to do courses. I feel that they were somewhat restricted as to the number of instructors and having to cope with so many classes at a time. The quality of instructors is not the issue what so ever is the amount of classes that have to be organised and implemented into the training plan however forces classes to be delayed. The instructors have other tasks such as assessing our nvq's, work and taskbooks. This accompanied by constant teaching of courses I'm sure makes their job very overloaded and stressful. If all taskbooks and nvq's and work were given straight after the first/second course then this would also make the apprenticeship flow easier giving apprentices more time to gather information and instructors longer to asses and complete their duties.

My training provider gives me all the support I require and if there is an issue and I am back at depot an email can be sent and a reply within 1-2 working days is given back I feel this is very important and the information back is also very clear and halpful. Any issues or quities are sorted out rather quickly and professionally.

My employer offers a huge amount of support. Obviously being in an extremely busy environment they still put time aside to sort any issues and assistantce I require.

The salary is ok. If i was a young apprentice then I feel it is much better suited as a slightly older apprentice I feel I am as good especially in the last year as the lower grade within the teams at work which are on a considerably higer wage. Having said that I have learned to deal with the issue and make my needs meet my salary.

There are opportunities outside of work and the training provided would be a superb staring block. Although the security network rail bring and the investment in its members make it hard to see why people would want to leave.

Yes

Because the training standard is really high and the job at the end is very appealing not only is the actual work good but the benifits are also respectable.

The advice would be to get stuck in don't shy away from the work the best way to learn and to benifit the most from the scheme this will adapt and grow you into a valued member of network rail.