Had spent several summers as a placement student whilst at uni and thoroughly enjoyed my experiences, was offered a position on the scheme following my final summer placement and hastily accepted! I really appreciate the flexibility and customisability of the scheme, there is enough of a support structure to help get us going, but it can be tailored to an individuals interests and passions to enable the graduate to achieve what they would like to. The in-built training is fantastic, and provides a specific and holistic understanding of railway engineering.
Working normally in the office, but also occasionally from home, with meetings a couple of times a week (in person or on teams). I’ve had project work to be doing continually, but there is also the variety of getting involved in pieces of work that others are working on, and opportunities to take on extra-curricular activities like STEM ambassador volunteering or participating in engineering challenges.
Working in a professional environment; technical skills in terms of safety training and taught modules; networking across the business with other grads but also experienced and senior engineers; refinement of IT skills ie Outlook, Excel, coding; giving presentations; time-management and self-regulating with delivering work and managing my diary as well as admin tasks -timecards etc.
Lots of data-analysis on my TA placement with the NTH of power distribution such as: feeder station reliability dashboards, national traction circuit-breaker reporting, validation of signalling power cables, creating a machine-learning tool for categorisation of natural-language fault reports.
Whilst on my maintenance placement I have developed a tool for interacting with the signalling power asset database and design drawings, providing an intuitive and rapid solution to finding asset information, specifically with fault-scenarios in mind.
Fantastic, every engineer and manager I have interacted with has been nothing but supporting and demonstrating genuine care and desire in helping me develop myself. My line manager continually ensures I have everything I need to help me complete day-to-day tasks, and helps me with long-term planning for my placements and projects. My mentor helps me to keep on-track with development against the UK-SPEC as well as my personal development.
Deciding which opportunities to pursue. There have been so many opportunities to get involved in projects at work, placements in different teams and extra-curriculars that it’s been hard deciding which to pick.
I really enjoy using data to drive change and realising efficiencies in processes that can be improved. The circuit-breaker and feeder-station analysis I worked on will be used to inform maintenance regimes and capacity analysis for enhancement works. The machine-learning tool and the signalling power asset tool will unlock efficiency in what are currently very manual processes, saving time and reducing error.
If I’m honest, I sort of fell into it. There was an email sent round at uni about the summer placement scheme which I took a chance and applied for, was successful and consequently found myself on the grad scheme. Replying to that email was possibly one of the best decisions I made at uni and I’m so glad I did. I’ve found myself in an industry I don’t think I’ll ever leave, and getting to do a job that I have real passion for and makes me want to get out of bed and come to work every day.
Definitely do it. If you are the sort of person who enjoys problem solving, getting hands-on experience, and a mix of practical and computer-based work this is the scheme for you. You should be the sort of person who enjoys and thrives getting a breadth of knowledge, has a systems-thinking approach and critical problem solving ability.
