Electrical and Electronic Engineer Review

My role as an Electrical and Electronic engineer at Network Rail included various responsibilities ranging from leading major projects, loads of opportunities to go out on site and leading multiple STEM events. A typical day would consist of weekly meetings, working on ongoing projects, interactions with colleagues within your team as well as meetings with your host and line manager.

I've developed various technical software skills such as Power BI, Business Objects, ETAP, Grafana and RouteView. In terms of soft skills I've become a lot more confident as a person since there were times where I needed to speak in front of a large audience for a presentation. Additionally, I've enhanced my collaborative skills since in Network Rail, it is heavily encouraged to work in a team.

I was given as much responsibility as I asked for. What I mean by this is that from day 1 of joining Network Rail, I asked to lead a project and by the end of the year I ended up leading multiple projects. Although if I had asked to just work on something minor then that's what you can expect to work on for the year. It's very dependant on the person.

I received a lot of guidance and support during my placement. I had regular monthly meetings with my line manager and weekly meetings with my host manager where I was able to discuss how I was feeling at the time and what I had planned in the future. Furthermore, they're always happy to speak to you whenever they're free.

To answer this question honestly, I'd have to split my answer in 2. The company culture within the office-based locations was very friendly and polite. The company culture within the depots and out on site working with the maintenance team can be a little daunting at first but they're just as friendly and welcoming when you get to know them.

I can't stress this enough, I thoroughly enjoyed my placement year with Network Rail. Who said a 9-5 job was boring? This placement gave me so many opportunities to travel across the UK, work on projects that had real world impacts and I was able to make long lasting friendships within the business. I consider the past year working with Network Rail the most fun and enjoyable experience ever!

Yes

If you've been lucky enough to have secured a placement with Network Rail then please make the most of it! Be as proactive as possible, what I mean by this is ask to work on exciting projects that interest you, ask to go out on site, ask to go and work in various teams, ask to join the many societies available etc because the answer is most likely always going to be yes.