Chief engineer Cabler Review

We do all sorts, from recovering dead copper cables with the winch, rodding ducts to get draw rope through, reading job packs to know where to put cbt's in, and also install and fix cbt's on mobra's and install a-frames to keep our fibre cables off the floor of the joint box.

I have learnt many new skills :- 1. To read the Geopin and GeoHub maps. 2. To read a job pack, to know where the node is and where the cbt's are going. 3. I have learnt how to put a trailer on and drive it to the job. 4. I have learnt how to do a full van check. 5. I have learnt a lot on how to use devices such as a computer.

I love the work. It gives me satisfaction finding ways of rodding from a joint box to a DP. I get along very well with the team and have made new friends. The money is very good and can get overtime very easily. In the mornings I am excited to go to work.

The training courses are very well organised. Regarding upskilling there's very poor organisation as I was getting put on a course I couldn't do as I was not tetra trained. Some jobs can be very disorganised as there will be 20 Openreach vans in 1 quiet street. There's a very good setup with the devices we have which you can check your shares, pension, attendance calendar and order stores at a click of a button.

My manager is a superb manager. He gives everyone the same chances in the job from getting invited to do courses and for overtime. I have recently gone through a tough time and had to take the wife to the hospital and he was very understanding and made sure I got the time off work.

I have been given a lot of support from the word go from my training provider. In this company there's loads of doors that can be opened within the company. I really enjoy it and can see that I have a course coming up next month which I cannot wait to learn new skills.

I have learnt a lot of IT skills on how to do certain tasks in my apprenticeship. From using word and excel to using GeoHub, surfing web pages to installing different apps on my laptop. I feel as if the Nvq work has very little helped me out in the field, only helped me with the IT software side of things.

With the situation with the Global Pandemic - Covid we have not done any activities. Christmas time was cancelled but we did receive chocolates and a nice Tesco voucher. A workmate has recently finished with the company after 43 years and we are planning on having a leaving do in a few months time.

Yes

Its a solid and fantastic company to work for. We have so many perks, from the company paying 10% into our pension, to having a lot of different deals such as cheap Dental insurance which gets taken out of your wages before tax and NI. I am happy to work for this company until I retire.

The tips I would give would be :- 1. Apply for the job immediately and be yourself in the interview process. 2. Listen carefully when in training as its a lot to take in. 3. Look after your kit and devices. 4. Be ready to travel a long way for your training and daily work activities (I currently travel just under 2 hours each way). 5. Enjoy it.