Trainee Gas Transmission Engineer Review

As a trainee I am working towards becoming a Project Manager taking on and seeing through projects that National Grid are involved in on the Gas Transmission side of the business. As a trainee I shadow the daily operations of the current Project Manager and Project Engineer throughout current projects underway; this involves both on-site and in-office operations giving me a broad range of experiences.

In terms of the academic side of things, National Grid have put me through a foundation degree in Professional Engineering; from previous qualifications from doing engineering based subjects at school and college, I have greatly developed existing skills in these areas. In terms of on-site experience, the fact that I am actually on-site during operations and can gain hands-on experience has meant that I am able to learn quickly and from having no experience in the gas industry, I can confidently say that it is now an industry I am very familiar within. As well as this there are lots of job-specific courses, both internal and external, that we are put through in order to gain relevant qualifications.

I have made life-long friends from working within National Grid, including people who will work in completely different areas of National Grid and the UK itself than me. The culture at National Grid is very welcoming, humble and friendly; from day one you are made to feel part of the team and contributing workforce. I have enjoyed all aspects of my programme.

My programme is very well structured, to begin with you receive a 3 week long induction in order to ensure everybody is happy in terms of how the years of our traineeship are structured. I spend roughly: - One third of the time on-job - One third of the time at University - One third of the time at External/Internal Courses Despite COVID disrupting original structures, the traineeship has run smoothly without adding any extra stress.

I have at least 7 different points of contact whom I can think of from the top of my head: - Line Manager - Mentor - HR Team (5 individuals) These are people who I can contact at any time, about absolutely anything, whether that's by picking up the phone or by email. We have regular meetings and reviews and constantly reminded that they are there for us. As mentioned previously, we are treated with the upmost care and respect and are made to feel completely welcome from day one.

For the University side of things we have multiple Lecturers whom we have the contact details of and have been encouraged to contact them if we have any queries whatsoever, the responses are always quick and helpful. In terms of courses relevant to our jobs, these take place in National Grid facilities and have been effectively managed by National Grid to ensure that the courses are relevant and helpful to all new starters.

All of the courses that take place either, give us the qualifications in order to complete relevant activities to our job role or, give us the knowledge to better understand the principles behind operations that are taking place in our workplace. This has been demonstrated on numerous times where I have demonstrated theory that I have learnt into practice at my place of work.

When at the training centre in which we stay at when doing internal/external courses, there is a gym, football court, social area (including: pool table, darts board); this is a great opportunity to network and get to know other colleagues that you may not get chance to meet elsewhere.

Yes

As well as being such a happy place to work, there are so many opportunities within National Grid, in so many different lines of work. The sky really is the limit and there are no restrictions when pursuing your career; even if this involves changing line of work completely to something better suited to yourself. National Grid support you in every possible way.

Apply as early as possible! It is no secret that National Grid is such a great company to work for and therefore, demand for jobs are very high. Aim to get as much experience beforehand to include on your CV, in engineering roles that is. Do not be concerned that the job you are applying for is the job that you will be doing for the rest of your life; therefore is so many opportunities to move around on the career ladder in the future.