CIRO - Is it worth Joining?

[16.19]

Hello,


I’m looking for current railway employees thoughts and experiences on the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators (CIRO) and more specifically if it’s worth joining, what you can gain from being an associate or member and has it helped you learn or succeed in your career.

I’m a qualified driver so I’m not in a management position and I’m wondering if it’s worth joining or not.

Thank you

 

[PupCuff]

If you join at affiliate or associate level, and your employer is a corporate member, then there's no charge for your subscription, which is good as you'll still be able to join visits and webinars and whatnot organised by the CIRO areas. I'm an associate member at the mo, I keep threatening to upgrade to MCIRO but it's just finding time to do the 'paperwork'.

If you're interested in moving on in your career I'd recommend it for the development opportunities; likewise if you have a general interest in the industry if you take part in the activities it'll help give you an insight into areas you don't normally see.

 

[Dunnideer]

I’m a member because around ten years ago one of the higher up managers in my patch more or less forced all the MOMs in his area to join. To be honest personally I have not had much benefit out of it. I’ve been on a few trips to see different bits of the rail industry (and we went to see an air traffic control tower once) which were good but these visits all stopped during covid and haven’t restarted. Visits and meetings depend on how interested and organised your local area council committee is. You get a newsletter and there is access to sponsored learning which could be very valuable if you want to develop your career and move up the ladder. It’s like any professional body, you get out of it as much as you put into it.

My current boss did the diploma then the degree course, both sponsored by the company. It was a huge amount of work on top of his day job but he‘s expecting it will pay off if/when he goes for promotion.

There is also talk at Network Rail of them starting a professional licencing scheme for signallers to be run through the CIRO (a bit like the IRSE licences for signalling techs) so eventually everyone will have to join if they hold signalling competency.

 

[Undiscovered]

I'm a TOC guard and joined through work. There's a lot of online material that covers behind the scenes side of the railway, which is useful for progressing in those areas.

As membership is free, nothing to lose really. Makes spare turns a little more interesting.

 

[Lewis5949]

I've never understood what they're about or what the purpose of being a member is. I joined, didn't see any value, and left in a week.

 

[16.19]

Thanks for your replies all. I’m still undecided.

I’ll join as an associate and see how it goes

 

[Falcon1200]

I'm a member, even though I have to pay now as I'm retired ! The main benefit for me were the meetings, however as Dunnideer says these ceased with Covid. I took their Diploma in Railway Operating, which was hard work but enjoyable, as my Line Manager wanted those in my role to have a professional qualification - A worthwhile objective as while there have long been such for railway engineering disciplines, until CIRO there was nothing similar for operators. As it costs nothing for an employee to join there is no loss in doing so, and you might find it interesting, and as PupCuff and Dunnideer say, beneficial for career advancement.

 

[Inthewest]

Different TOCs see them (and their qualifications) in different lights.

Some will see their courses as nothing, whereas others (GWR / NR and LUL seemed pretty excited) will see the qualifications as something that brings training and a better experienced person.
I learned more from other railway people than I did on the course and have progressed my career using experience from work rather than anything the course gave me.

Most TOCs sponsor them, so as others have said, joining is free.
I'd investigate if your company will pay for / part pay for the course. It's a good way to network and great for having a bit of extra time off work if work is presently stressful but in all honesty, it's limits land around there for most people.