Wind Turbine Technician Review

I work bi-weekly shift patterns involving travel to various offshore wind farm sites across the UK. From those sites, I work to service and maintain operation of the wind turbine generators. My job sees me sailing from small ports and pontoons to wind farms varying in size from 35 to 175 turbines! The models and layouts of these turbines can also change depending on when the wind farm was built, meaning that I am now cross-skilled along platform lines.

I have learned a plethora of new engineering skills, gained understandings of complex and high-tech industrial power generation systems, alongside developing my interpersonal skills amongst a large and varying array of colleagues. My abilities in the engineering world have developed considerably. I've discovered a love for my field in the respect that I take on small engineering projects at home now, as a hobby.

I thoroughly enjoy my job. Every day is an adventure, and no two turbines are the same. The excellent and engaging vocation is backed up by fantastic colleagues and thoroughly interesting personalities. I'm given a great work-life balance, and am also offered the chance to participate in a huge array of extra-curricular activity.

Over the years, my programme has had unending effort invested in it to ensure that it's the best around; and it shows. The structure of my program has been meticulously developed, and is constantly changing for the better, sometimes even on the input from the apprentices ourselves. The apprenticeship programs following mine have also benefitted from this investment, seeing constant improvement and even better prospects for new intakes, year after year.

My employer gives an exceptional amount of support. Vocationally, we are often given bonuses and privileges to match those who have professional jobs within the company. These include travel expenses! Curricular support is also available, both from the training provider but also from our company representative. Where some specialist questions and queries may not be answerable from a generic engineering college point of view, the knowledge of individuals from my company can be tapped into and harnessed. Extra curricular support can also be provided. There are many internal and external support functions available to us, meaning that any issue we have can be addressed quickly, easily and confidentially.

My training provider in the past almost entirely managed my year group. With this in mind, almost all of my support was generated and provided from my training provider. As we progressed along our course and progressed to vocational work, we saw management structure shift towards more internal bases. Now in my final year of my apprenticeship, my management is almost exclusively captained by my employer. However, my theoretical and curricular work is still under the wing of my training provider, meaning I can also reach out to them for support should I wish.

My training provider has bolstered me with basic knowledge of engineering systems. By teaching this knowledge to a very high standard, they've ensured that my transition from classroom based work to that of my vocation was easy and far less daunting. My first day offshore was testament to this. As opposed from shadowing other technicians, I was given the opportunity to dive straight into work and prove myself as a valuable member of the maintenance team.

There are multitudes of extra curricular activities at work. I have the option to choose from: networking events, which assist not only in promoting company image, but in promoting my own personal image internally. I can take part in internal social events, too. These can range from performance recognition awards to annual service sector social meetups. Finally, sports and wellbeing events are also available to me. I'm currently enrolled in the Virgin Pulse wellbeing programme, and have even been gifted a Max Buzz fitness tracker to aid this.

Yes

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) is a sister company of Siemens PLC. They specialise solely in renewable wind power, and manage everything from design and production of wind turbines, to installation, service and maintenance. The range and diversity of career paths within SGRE alone is monumental, and even at the infancy stage of my career I'm beginning to see strong opportunities for personal career progression well within my reach. In short, the possibilities are endless here!

SGRE, similar to Siemens PLC, operate a very strong ownership culture. They advocate ones pride in their work, and recognise when people go above and beyond the normal call of duty to make their work personally special. To someone applying for a role in SGRE, I would implore that they reflect this mindset in their CV, covering letter and interview stage. SGRE really does notice when you put the effort in, and the rewards for doing so are excellent.