Pictured (L-R): Nikola Yordanov, Cian Ivory and Cian Egan.
Twenty-five years ago, we hired our first alumni of St Kilian’s Community School in Bray as trainee technicians, establishing a tradition that has evolved into our Trainee Technician Programme. The programme provides a pathway for school leavers to combine working at ROD with the pursuit of a third-level qualification in engineering. In recent years, it has expanded to include Fingal Community College, St Kevin’s College in north Dublin and Temple Carrig School in Greystones. Indeed, we hope to introduce the programme to our Otley office in the near future.
Our trainees typically study design and communication graphics, engineering or construction studies for their Leaving Certificate exam and have a natural aptitude for the role of engineering technician. Once on board, they embark on a National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) level seven Bachelor of Engineering degree (Civil) at Technological University Dublin and onwards to a NFQ level eight Bachelor of Engineering degree at Technological University of the Shannon. They attend college one full day and one evening per week, with the rest of the working week spent in our design offices. Through their experience of working on live projects, trainees can see the real-life application of their college work; the theory and practice are developed hand-in-hand.
Over 16 members of our current team have either completed the programme or are at various stages in their studies. They include Technician Associate Eddie Poland and Senior Technician John Kenny, who between them have spent almost 40 years at ROD. Numerous other alumni of the programme are working in engineering consultancies across the world, in many cases in engineering as well as engineering technician roles.
