Commissioning Engineer Apprentice Review

As a commissioning engineering technician, (progress from trainee > technician > engineer), I am responsible for testing components on electrical substations (part of the transmission and distribution grid) all over the UK and filling out appropriate reports and paperwork. This involves travelling and staying away on a 5 days on 2 days off or 12 days on 2 days off rotation, only travelling home for the weekend, which is part of the role as this is a site based job and sites can last for 1 or more years. Currently for commissioning activities, the day to day would be preparing any work activities for the day and briefing at 7:30am, going onto site at around 8 / 8:30am and carrying out testing and commissioning activities until lunch time, and depending on how the week is planned, continuing testing after lunch until finish at 6pm (or 8pm if on 12 hour shifts), or doing the appropriate paperwork for any tests done, after lunch.

The first 12 9 months were spent at college reinforcing previous learning from the 2 years of college needed to start the apprenticeship. After which 6 months was spent on site developing skills in installation works (fitting) and becoming familiar with the site and the activities that go on. Before now starting to learn commissioning activities such as using test equipment and the theory behind it to be able to diagnose problems when testing which is similar to the theory learned at HNC level. Beside work experience, being away from home every week, having to organise transport, accommodation and food expenses does help to develop financial management skills. As for qualifications, as part of the apprenticeship a HNC and NVQ Level 2 were mandatory at the start of the apprenticeship in one big block lasting 3 months for NVQ and 9 months total for HNC. From this courses specific to your role are done such as safety passport, national grid persons, basic electrical safety course (BESC) and first aid at work, and depending on your role other training such as mobile elevated work platform and harness training etc may be required but specific skills depending on your role such as brazing and soldering, testing and using power tools etc will be taught on the job.

The first 9 months at college were very enjoyable with the other apprentices and the staff at the college as I was familiar with them from the previous 2 years of study. After college however there was no clear direction of training for our specific job role meaning for 6 months we were left to fend for ourselves and take any opportunity you could on site (which were very limited and could maybe accommodate one apprentice out of so many so the others missed out). This is down to poor management in one part and in other parts down to the nature of the job. As the job role is site based, any work will be dependant on what sites are available and at what stage of construction they are at. If no sites are at commissioning stage, as an apprentice you will be expected to do other things in the meantime not necessarily related to your role to get by. This in part meets my expectations now of large companies being disorganised or sometimes poorly managed in small areas however companies like this one are so huge, a review often is not representative at all as the next team over could have a great manager or one with much more experience which would remove all of these issues and make the program more enjoyable. This is why I am rating 7/10 based on although the first half of the apprenticeship was very rough and may push you to the edge, once you get to a stage where you are doing commissioning, the positives start to outweigh the negatives.

The organisation is down 90% to your manager and 10% down to your training coordinator that helps with your on boarding when you join the company. During college the training coordinator is usually your main point of contact but after college your manager has to sign off on any training courses and is responsible for putting a program together, which is typically a rotation between departments within the office, or in our case on site, a rotation between different activities however in our case so program was put in place as mentioned previously so the training was as and when. I am however giving this a 3 star rating instead of 1 as it is too early to say but when you do get a mentor or manager that has time for your development they do get involved and over time for example in the 3rd year of the apprenticeship, I imagine the structure will be a lot more apparent.

I will rate this 5/10 as the entry talent team such as your training coordinator for the apprenticeship really do want the best for you and to help and support you through college and for the duration of your apprenticeship however once you get into the workplace, the support is entirely dependant on your manager signing things off again so can be difficult depending on your manager. Mentors on site are also a big help in teaching you and supporting you but this is also dependant on who your mentor is as most people working on sites are not Siemens staff and are all contractors. The HR Team in my experience are fairly non existent in terms of support as they are based in the office and refer you to your line manager for most issues.

During college, support was non existent as we were left to the teachings of the college however when in the workplace we are expected to complete an NVQ Level 3, with little to no guidance at all as the assessor / advisor expects at this level for you to be able to self assess yourself and progress at your own pace without guidance. This means any guidance is up to the discretion of your mentors and superiors when on site in our case which often times unless other apprentices have been based there will not fully understand the requirements of the qualification and will be unable to assist. The training provider tyne met college / tyne coast college was only responsible for the first 9 months of training while at college.

Initially the qualification at Tyne Met College was not really relevant to myself as it is entirely dependant on the role you have at work as it may help others working in CAD or in electronics however overall, most of the topics were irrelevant. Now working on commissioning, very specific parts of the units done at college are relevant in the knowledge for testing in commissioning however it is only a very basic knowledge whereas when on site, your mentor will typically give you lots more detail relevant to the role.

I will rate this 5/10 as based on the nature of our role on site, we are isolated from things like the main social activities and events that may go on in the main offices as they are present as shown on our internal social network however working on site, you have to organise your own social activities with the site workers with the majority being contractors and not employed by the company direct.

Yes

Despite all the shortcomings listed in this review, a lot of these issues are down to a common problem that won't affect other people joining the company, or are present in all companies and are unavoidable. Besides these issues, the benefits of working for the company are similar to other large organisations if not better in some regards compared to that of part time jobs and the opportunity for training and further development beyond the apprenticeship are far reaching so although it might start out rough, thinking of the bigger picture is where you need to be.

As with any interview, make sure you have a sound general knowledge of the role your applying for (electricals in this case such as basic things like how to wire a plug, what voltage the UK uses, how electricity is transported), research the company a small amount so if the usual question of "what do you know about us" comes up you can at least say who founded the company, how old it is, what countries it operates in and what industries. In the interview also make sure to have evidence of any projects that you have been involved in in college, in your own time or in school so you can make yourself stand out, be it that you've done a small solar project on your home, or make something, just to demonstrate you are technically minded or willing to learn and do things in your own time. In the group activity make sure your voice stands out as reasonable, not commanding or demanding but rather suggesting your ideas and being calm and conveying your ideas in a sound matter.