TELECOMMUNICATION ENGINEER Review
at BT Group
Level 2 Apprenticeship
Engineering
Gloucester
Review Submitted: May 2021
Overall Rating
3.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
-
Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3.4/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
the title of my role is called Pole tester and in short terms it is a vital safety role to maintain Openreach/BT telegraph pole plant in the field, testing poles in residential areas and rural areas. Which depending on the stage of the test the pole requires a small excavation at the base of the pole, a probe, hammer test, resistograph test and finally a climb making sure the pole and wood itself is safe to be climbed by other engineers.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
the programme started out online due to the ongoing global pandemic, learning my role over teams and what was required with set time tables every day to keep things fresh which can be difficult learning over teams, then in person getting hands on i enjoyed most getting a feel what was expected of me and my peers.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
i've picked up skills and development through doing the courses that are required of a pole tester. Sign, lighting and guarding course learning about road works and whats required of me to keep myself and members of the public safe while working on the roads and also learning different parts of the business while going through training to understand what other engineers do that effect my job and what i do that will effect their job
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
my programme training wise was well structured and thoughout and we were given timetables of what training we would undergo and where it would be, what was required etc. after hands on training and we were given to our apprenticeship assessors it wasnt very well structured, we were passed over to someone from our first assessor who booked all our 10 NVQ days we were given by the company before we had vital parts that were needed for certain units and they are very slow at getting back to submitted work so we are in limbo as we have submitted work which requires the assessor to look through and with no more NVQ days left in company time will potentially have to carry on NVQ units in our own time
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
support wise the company have been great and have offered time inside work hours if needed to complete the NVQ on time unfortunately the BT assessor we have currently isn't very quick at getting back to work submitted or emails or calls and is slowing the process down considerably
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
4/5
support wise we can contact each other and ask our peers if we need any help as we are going through the same process together but if we are stuck we can send emails or calls to assessors any time in the working day and they should get back to use pretty sharpish to help us complete the units.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
3/5
personally as a pole tester and plant protection officer the NVQ itself is new to the role and it shows, alot of the question and units don't have much relevance to our day to day job and is much more geared towards the service delivery and fibre side of the job
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
4/5
due to coronavirus its been difficult to get together for any social events or team events, the company tried organise Christmas do's but unfortunately wasn't deemed safe so happened over teams calls. but when the pandemic has gone I'm sure do's and events will happen frequently
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend BT Group to a friend?
Yes
Why?
personally my job role gives me freedom to plan my day to day schedule and have minimal contact with my manager unless i or they need/want something, the pay, benefits etc are a lot better than my previous job in the military and make leaving the military to civilian life seamless.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to BT Group?
brush up on health and safety and customer service, the two main points Openreach look for is a welcoming face that will provide good customer service and secondly health and safety is at the forefront of everything we do, if you show a good understanding and knowledge of health and safety and why we do it you cant go wrong.
