Case Study- Katie Hodgson

Role:  PETRA Engineer

Length of time at RM: 4 years

Questions:

What apprenticeship are you doing?

In 2021 I earned my place on the Royal Mail engineering apprenticeship. I went to Blackburn and trained inhouse to become a competent engineer. Now, in 2025, I am an s3 grade fully IET certified engineer. My job role includes fixing boards and developing new and better ways of testing and distributing important circuit boards across the entire royal mail group. As well as sorting out any defective spares jobs that are sent into PETRA.

Why did you choose to do an apprenticeship with Royal Mail?

I chose to do an apprenticeship because to be honest I didn’t want my studying to take me into debt. I really like the idea that you can be paid and gain experience at the same time within a business. I am aware it does not guarantee you a job at the end, but you will still have the qualification, so it is a win.

I chose Royal Mail because they are a big business with an especially important job to do. Not only that but Royal Mail is always going to be using tech to get the job done.

What three words describe your apprenticeship?

Hard, eye opening and worthwhile.

What do you like most about the apprenticeship?

I love the fact that I now have specialist training in a lot of areas. I love the fact that my colleagues are all so nice and understanding. I love how it is promoted to self-learn and to be independent. While I was on the apprenticeship, I spent a lot of time doing specific tasks to hit criteria. Which was fun.

What is the most challenging aspect of the apprenticeship?

The most challenging bit was making sure that every piece of criteria was hit three times.

What is the biggest learning experience because of the apprenticeship?

The biggest learning experience I had with this apprenticeship was learning to work together with others within an engineering environment.

What support is available to you?

The support from Training 2000 (apprenticeship provider) was good but the support from my manager was amazing. While I was working, my manager was very understanding and supported me by giving me tasks to do that hit my criteria. This made it easy to complete.

How do you think this experience will influence some of your future career choices?

Before I worked for Royal Mail Group, I was a security guard but now I will always be an engineer. Hopefully I’ll stay with Royal Mail but if not, my love for this career will drive me to get a position in engineering elsewhere.