Electrical and Instrumentation technician Review

My role as an instrumentation technician is to monitor and maintain systems that support the operation of Gas re-pressurization and transmission. I work at Carnforth compressor station where my role entails working with pressure, flow, temperature, telemetry and gas quality systems to ensure that the quality and performance of natural gas being used is acceptable.

Coming straight from high schools, the skills I had would've usually been fairly limited and I wouldn't have had much knowledge about tools and equipment that I would be using. However, my father is a builder and I have helped him previous to joining with the company so my hand skills were up to scratch. I have learnt a lot of new skills and techniques on the job.

The program I am currently a part of is a 4 year, PEO, Level 3 Btec and HNC apprenticeship. I am very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to join a company as prevalent and as important as national grid. There has been no major errors and the program has ran smoothly up to COVID becoming an issue. The online learning we have now is very hard, however if I can get through the apprenticeship at the end of it all I will be very grateful.

In my personal opinion the program was ran very smoothly at the beginning of the apprenticeship, decisions were made and things were dealt with. Good communication seemed paramount when I first joined, our programs have progressively gotten more jumbled up. Since grid moved the planning team off shore, planning and getting our calendar and course dates correct seemed impossible. There are still changes being made because of COVID which is completely understandable but the planning side of the apprenticeship seems to weigh quite heavily towards a negative response when considering an overall opinion of how it's going.

National grid as an employer make sure that they have always got your back if you ever need it. This can vary from personal support like the EAP (Employee Assistance Programme), to time of work for medical needs, dentist appointments, check ups, etc. If there is any ever doubts that you have you can always rely on grid as an employer.

On the instrument and electrical training course side of the business the support is very good, you can always feel confident that you are learning what you need to and that if you ever need to ask any questions or need any support you have qualified, competent people who can assist. On the college side it is the polar opposite. There has been one good tutor that I have felt like I was actually learning something. I felt like Kevin was the only tutor that seemed confident with what he knew. And that in turn gave the apprentices confident and motivation to complete their work.

Again, the Eakring training courses are all relevant and I use most of the things I have learned, from these courses, in my everyday work life. The subjects we have covered at college have little relevance to anything really. I have used knowledge I gained from the PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) course, at CCSW. However, that is all from college.

There are Off-Job opportunities with national grid that you can get involved with and this can help in progress reviews, etc. However, the advertisement for these activities don't appeal to me. There is things that grid will advertise that look good for your career path potentially, and I like that they encourage you to put yourself out there.

Yes

National grid is a blue chip company, it is full of potential for growth and a really solid business overall. Working for a company like national grid or a company which is such a big player in their chosen market, really gives you as an employee the motivation to come to work and be a part of the movement.

When applying to National Grid make sure you are aware of what they do as a company, what values they believe in and let the employer see how keen you are to begin working. If you don't have any past experience you are at a disadvantage so you must ensure that you come across with a really polite manner, a nice smile and always ask questions.