Railway signalling design engineer Review

The role varies depending on which placement you are on. The placements last for 3-6 months and could be based in the office completing reports and filing documents, or they could be out on the tracks with maintenance or in the depots. Even the placements in the office have opportunities to go out and see real life examples of what you are working on.

I have learned a lot about the railway and the signalling systems used to control the railway. Due to the varying placements I will also learn which area of the business/profession I would most like to go into after the apprenticeship. The college teaching is not very good, however the assignments are interesting and they have prompted me to teach myself a lot.

Currently I am on a placement which I don't enjoy very much, however other placements are much more enjoyable. The work can be very interesting or very boring depending where you are working. The other apprentices and colleges are very nice to work with and make the sometimes boring days a lot more fun.

This is where the apprenticeship falls down slightly. Mainly due to the college. They are very unorganised, and the teaching is not very well planned and structured. The apprentices are encouraged to find their own placements rather than having a set plan, which can be both advantageous (so you can go to the placements you find interesting) and time consuming (especially at first when you don't know who to contact)

We have a placement manager who we work with on a daily basis to provide support with the day to day work we are doing. We have a mentor assigned to us that we can go to for help with the Eng Tech part of the apprenticeship, and for general help with finding placements etc. There is a scheme sponsor who looks after all of the apprentices as a whole and who talks to the college when we have issues.

City of Westminster college is very unorganised. We are still not sure exactly which course we are doing. The assignments are interesting however you will need to research and write them yourself without expecting too much help from the teachers. They will check it over to make sure you've hit all the pass criteria before you hand it in though.

The qualification will help me towards achieving the Eng Tech qualification, which is the first step towards being a chartered engineer. So from a career point of view it will help me to have the qualification. From a day to day working knowledge point of view it has helped slightly with electronic knowledge, however I have learned a great deal more from my placements than I have from college.

Yes, there are loads of thing to get involved in. There are lots of different groups that come together to organise things, especially as an apprentice. There is an apprentice and grad committee who organise trips to see interesting things around the railway. So far I have visited an abandoned tube station, seen the engineering and repair workshop and driven a train.

Yes

Because of the opportunities it provides. It would depend on your career aspirations whether this is an apprenticeship you would enjoy. The company is really great to work for and the people who work here are all very keep to help and give advice when you need it. And it's the best paid apprenticeship in London!

I would recommend reading up about the company, and also about the apprenticeship you are applying for. Find out about the placements you would go on and think about if they sound like something you would enjoy. If you make it to the assessment day then my advice would be to just be yourself and be nice and listen to everyone in the room.