Power System Engineer Review

I am a Power System Engineer in the Network Access Policy (NAP) team. I deal with outage requests daily, which are sent by the Transmission Owner. I study and assess these requests to make sure the outages are operable and secure and that customers are aware of the impact to them. I interact with customers (mostly generators) and the Transmission Owners (TOs)externally. Internally, I interact with Commercial, National, Study Set Up, Delivery, Year Ahead, Operability, Schemes, Contracts, the Control Room and a few other teams. I am responsible for dealing with all requested outages from 3 week ahead - Year Ahead as well as the 3C's on our team hub. I am responsible for producing KPIs and acting as a main point of contact for all customers and stakeholders. I also chair the System Access Meetings and produce the minutes which go out to the TOs, the whole of NAP and the Control Room.

On our scheme, we received a Foundation Degree in Electrical Power System Engineering and received a vast range of training from our internal Eakring Training Centre. This included fire safety, first aid training, effective writing, time management, presentation skills and many more which proved invaluable when becoming a full time employee.

The people I have met have been extremely helpful and kind. They will always help you where they can or try to find you someone who can help. Overall, the scheme was extremely stressful trying to balance work, training and university all together. It was enjoyable at times but I did not find I had a lot of time to enjoy it as it was very full on all the time. I feel that the scheme should have maybe been stretched out over another year.

I feel very valuable as I feel like a vital part of my team. I am currently the only one in my role until a colleague joins me in a few months time. I have been given lots of responsibility which has challenged me and will continue to challenge me. I know that my role is vital and the work I do helps National Grid and the people around me. This can be reflected in our performance reviews where we are told how we have been performing and where we need to improve. This allows achievements to be recognised and appreciated if appropriate.

The programme could have been more organised as I felt at times I was not entirely sure of what was going on. This was mainly at the start of the programme when I had no idea what to expect and I felt a bit lost. The university definitely needed to improve its organisation. The Blackboard we used to revise from which contained all the materials was rarely up to date and folders were labelled incorrectly with resources seemingly placed randomly. This made it difficult when it came to revision and feeling prepared for the exams.

Most of the lecturers at university were available to provide help when we needed it and were available most of the time. They provided revision sessions as well as seeing us individually after lectures. However, this level of support did not feel equal across all of them and they did not always manage to provide an answer to our questions. At times it was difficult to get a time to see them as we had lectures 9am-5pm which meant they would return home straight afterwards.

Everyone was helpful and provided support to one another. We were allocated mentors at the start of the scheme who were always available if we needed them. This meant that if we did not know who we should go to, we could ask our mentors and they would provide us with the contact details we needed. However, I feel we could have had more contact with our line manager.

My salary met my costs perfectly. Luckily I do not live far from work and for all the travel required, we were given a company car and could claim mileage. Hotels were paid for when we had to stay overnight as well as lunch and dinner. This meant we did not have to incur many costs ourselves out of our salary.

There are lots of events here at Wokingham to celebrate a wide variety of things from Christmas, Diwali and also the sports matches between departments.

Yes

I would recommend National Grid to a friend as it is a friendly environment with lovely people and provides a great platform to learn and develop skills as well as progressing in your career or trying something new entirely. It can be challenging at times but also rewarding.

Be prepared for lots of hard work and learning. It is a great opportunity and alternative to the usual university route and provides many advantages. It will be difficult at times but stick together and help one another as this is what will get you all through the programme.