Tom

My first day at ARA was very daunting for me, meeting loads of new people and going to new places.  Once I had been introduced to my work colleagues we walked around the site and met other people and had areas of the site explained to me.

My work colleagues at ARA are all very nice and have assisted me greatly with any problems or questions I have at work or college and my section are always willing to help with my homework from college.

I spend one day a week at Bedford Technical college during term time doing a City and Guilds course that when I finish my apprenticeship will enable me to work anywhere in the country or abroad.

There is no typical day at work for me; I could be assisting one of the duty electricians on a breakdown, installing new lighting, power or new electrical equipment within a refurbished office or area on site.  We also have to test the emergency lighting, fire alarms on a weekly, monthly and yearly programme.  As I am now in my third year I also do some jobs on my own with guidance from my section, for instance rewiring the lights in the lift area, this involved disconnecting the existing lights, removing all the old wiring cable and then installing new more energy efficient lighting with emergency lights as well so that in the event of a power cut people can find their way to safety in the dark.

In all, my time at ARA has been every enjoyable and has given me a very good and diverse grounding to the electrical industry, I have made new friends and I am happy I chose to work for ARA.