Trainee engineer fibre jointer Review

My job is to install fibre equipment at business and follow a jointing route in order to provide fibre from a telecoms exchange to the customers premise. The customers are business use customers so a lot of my job involves dynamic risk assessments when working around industrial estates and near main roads or busy high streets

The training provided by Openreach is very in depth and engaging, with the majority of the integral training lasting 8 weeks before going out on the tools. I have picked up many new skills during this, including cabling and pole climbing, whilst developing existing skills like use off Ppe and health and safety.

So far my programme has been very enjoyable. Work life balance with the apprenticeship and work is absolutely brilliant. I have met many new people along the way and the company really cares about progression of their staff when they’re in the apprenticeship stage, as we are given days dedicated to doing our portfolios which helps us not to worry about work and gives us time to work on ourselves

The whole programme as stated previously is very well structured. We are given plenty of time to train and prepare for our role as well as days dedicated specifically to our apprenticeship where we are given time to talk to our assessors, learn about the apprenticeship, get the help we need and fill our portfolios

As previously stated, the support given to us by our employer is phenomenal. There are plenty of useful resources on our intranet to get us the help we need as well as dedicated ‘review’ days given to us to speak to our assessors and managers about our progression and where we want to be and what they can do to help us

The support given to us by our training provider is great. We get a workshop review every few months where we can chat to our apprenticeship assessor. He gives me feedback on how well I’m doing and where I need to improve and he listens to feedback from us about what he can do to help us

The qualification is a great confidence booster to my role. The training to achieve this qualification teaches you everything you need to do the job and once achieved, shows us we are competent and qualified to do the job which is a great way of boosting self esteem and confidence

There are groups and clubs within the company where people get together who have similar interests. Also the company allows you a certain amount of days off each year for you to do charitable events and volunteering work as a way of them helping you to give back to the community

Yes

The biggest factor in this job is a very healthy work life balance. Typically it is 5 days a week and finishing at 16:10 which gives plenty of time to unwind or run personal errands after work. The training is also amazing and the company looks after you well while you stay away to complete your training

The advice I would give to someone is to be persistent, listen, take notes and don’t give up. The job is a great career gateway with many corridors of opportunity to end up in any role you would like. The training may seem long and intimidating, but it is worth every minute