field engineer Review

Carrying out inspections on my vehicle on a daily basis, Speaking with customers and discussing the possible options to carry out their install of Fibre to the Premises. Discussing everything from time due to arrive on site to agreeing the final location of the equipment inside the home. Carrying out inspections on all my issued equipment and following the relevant health and safety procedures in order to carry out the required task safely and to the required quality standards. Working as part of a team to try and cover any jobs that may be missed or assist on tasks where 2 or more engineers may be required to get the customer into service.

I previously worked with a company called KN Circet who are subcontractors for Openreach. Working with them for two and a half years on the copper network. Since moving to Openreach I am now working on the Fibre network which is a completely new skill set and work stream I could never get onto with KN. I have learned about the fibre network, how its built, how its worked with, how to Splice the fibre at the end and also picked up skills in Safe Digging.

Very much so. I have always enjoyed the work itself even with my old employer. I enjoyed working on the copper network and just the general structure of my day. Since moving to Openreach I can honestly say I enjoy it more knowing that I now work for a company willing to offer me the opportunities to learn new skills and offer the help and guidance, training and equipment I need to carry out my tasks safely on a daily basis.

Everything seems to be very well organised. As far as our NVQ, we have sessions planned well in advance to take us right up to our planned end date and as long as we stay up to date we will be well on time to complete our NVQs. As far as the day to day structure of working on site and completing our jobs, it is as organised as you want to make it. We will get a list of jobs and it is up to us to prioritise and plan out in which order we go to them provided it suits the customers and meets the appointment slots. we have access to order our own stores and equipment so we can stay a couple weeks ahead of the orders if we need to.

Up until now I feel like i haven't needed too much support thanks to the skills and experience i picked up with my previous employer. However I know that all the help and support is out there for me if I need it. We have a good team and are continuing to add to it and help is only a phone call away when we are struggling with completing a task. if its other issues outside of work we need help with then there are lots of different options and channels we can use to ask for help.

The tutors and advisors we have are great to work with. Very approachable and always happy to help and advise if we need it. They know the subjects inside out and have created lots of useful resources to help us stay on track. They give great feedback on our modules and they are fun to work with on the NVQ days to the point you look forward to it each month. It makes it overall a very enjoyable experience and stops it becoming a chore.

At this early stage of the NVQ i feel the current skills and topics we are learning doesn't help us much regarding the tasks we have to carry out as an engineer but i know as we progress through the NVQ the topics become more specialised in what it is we actually do and the theory behind it all. I think the topics we cover at the minute will be more useful to us further down the line in our career paths if we want to progress up the ladder and need to present information to colleagues a certain way. These are skills that maybe a patch lead or manager would use on a daily basis when they have to give presentations or create guides and documents or send emails.

There are lots of company events and activities to take part in. Everything has been scaled back this last year due to COVID but the company have organised online activities instead. I can see if we look on our companies page on workplace that lots of people are interested in these and take part in the activities and they seem to be run all over the UK.

Yes

Its just a great place to work. We are trained in everything we need to know to be able to go out and do the job. We are given all the tools and equipment we need. We're given a van and fuel card. All of our equipment is checked regularly to make sure its still safe to use. The company does everything it can to keep us safe and get us back to our families at the end of the day. They take all the stress out of work and allow us just to concentrate on the task at hand and the customers. There's a great working atmosphere. When I joined I didn't notice it at the start, but everyone works together, everyone checks in on each other to see if there's any help needed. After 6 months here now I feel like I've gained a new family and look forward to my work each day.

DO IT! The application process can be quite long but hopefully if we are getting through the worst of COVID now it might become a bit faster. The whole process from the online assessments at the start to the assessment day, the interview. It can be a very nervous experience but it is worth it if you get it. If successful its usually a very smooth transition into the job, the first couple of days is getting you in and set up on all the systems and it is all very well organised.