Stefania Castagnolo: Cable and Wireless graduate

Employer: Cable and Wireless Worldwide
University: London Metropolitan University (2008)
Subject: BSc computer networking

I gained technical experience in my home country, Italy, before university and decided to pursue a career in telecoms. After graduating I worked for a short period in my university’s network department before joining my current employer on an 18-month graduate scheme. I started in the IP and data department before moving on to the access team, where I spent the majority of the graduate scheme, then joined it permanently.

Testing and configuring network equipment

My job is mainly technical and involves testing and configuring network equipment and creating documents to explain how the technology works and outline the tests performed. I also develop and design new strategies for the installation of the equipment in the live network.

I work in the access platform and so mainly work with access technologies (equipment and protocols that allow individual and business users to connect to and interact with a network), for example ADSL modems.

From office to lab to exchange

I normally work in our headquarters and in the labs, both in London. I spend about 20 per cent of my time working alone and 80 per cent with others – for example colleagues from my own and other departments, vendors, suppliers, customers, and engineers from other organisations. There are frequent conference calls and meetings, sometimes at customers’ or vendors’ own premises. From time to time I visit exchanges where we have the live equipment installed. I don’t travel far afield that often but like the variety of environments.

My normal working hours are 9.00 am to 5.30 pm; sometimes I stay longer to meet a deadline but I can regain that time on other days.

Getting my hands on brand new technologies

What I like most about my job is that I am often involved with testing brand new technologies so I am one of the first people to get their hands on very new and still untested equipment.

Graduate scheme training and mentoring

The projects require a lot of understanding, so there is a lot of learning involved. I had hands-on training during my graduate scheme placements and had mentors to guide and train me. I have visited the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum in Cornwall, which my company supports, and our earth satellite station at Whitehill, near Oxford. My employer has a training centre in Birmingham and I have been there for various courses.

A work trip to Panama

The highlight of my working life so far has been travelling to Panama to carry out testing for the submarine department. I spent nearly two weeks there helping to supervise an upgrade to the Pan-American cable system that connects Chile to St Thomas (US Virgin Islands) via Panama. We upgraded this cable system, originally installed in 1990 with a capacity of just 2.5Gb/s, to between 40 and 70Gb/s. The project was a team effort: there were three project managers and a number of graduate engineers, including myself. It was hard work but great fun.