Operator Review

My role is simpler to go around the different sewage treatment sites in my area and to look after them. This includes doing basic first line maintenance, sampling at different points of the process to make sure that the works is working efficiently and running each process when I need to.

I learn new skills every day on the job as i see something new everyday by going to vastly different sites. I’ve gone from someone who didn’t even know that sewage works operator was a job to someone that is almost train to run most sites by myself.

I do enjoy most of what I do as I get to see new things everyday and learn something new everyday. But like with most jobs there are some aspects that I do not enjoy as much these are: the nature of the job working on a sewage works it can be unpleasant at times and someways there’s not as much to do so it can be boring.

The organisation is pretty terrible, I sometimes feel like I’m on my own and there’s no support structure available to use. This is mostly because it’s all very centralised in Birmingham which is very far away from wear I live so there is a definite disconnect between me and the wider company.

The support is pretty terrible, I sometimes feel like I’m on my own and there’s no support structure available to use. This is mostly because it’s all very centralised in Birmingham which is very far away from wear I live so there is a definite disconnect between me and the wider company.

I got absolutely none. The training provider EEF contracts out the training to a company called merit skills then that company contracts the training out to self employed trainers. This creates lots of confusion as EEF don’t really know what’s going on and end up making mistakes because of this like cancelled sessions and changes in timetable that we are not told about.

The qualification is useful as it is primarly foucused on my role as a operator. This means that what I am learning realities to what I’m doing on site everyday so this helps me learn this quicker as I can see the theory and practical side of what I see in the books.

There are plenty of things to get involved with such as five a side football or school events promoting the apprenticeship, however these events are animist always around the Birmingham area so they are far to out of my way so I end up not going to them. It would be better if they could arrange some in different places.

Yes

There’s plenty of opertunity within the company and the pay is good for what you have to do. It also is a great way to get good qualifications such as level 3s while at the same time getting pay and learning on the job skills such as what real work environments are like.

The pay is good and the work is most of the time quite easy but when the work does get tough and unpleasant just remember you are getting payed a good wage and what you are doing unlike most jobs does have a direct impact on the environment around you.