The RailStaff Awards 2024

Nominations for Graduate of the Year

Mark Warrender

Said the following about Conor Maton:

“In June 2016, Conor Maton rotated from the Ops Comms team into the IP Networks team within telent, as part of the graduate scheme. As he had already built a good reputation for himself through his diligent work and attention to detail; his arrival in the IP Networks team was met with keen anticipation.

On joining the IP Networks team, Conor was asked to assist with a tender response for the provision of an IP WAN network supporting the Crossrail line of route SISS infrastructure. He played an active role in the tender process and was instrumental in telent being awarded the contract. Conor presented the network solution to the customer at the mid-tender review meeting, handling difficult questions with ease due to his thorough research and understanding of the topic.

Post contract award, Conor made it his mission to fully understand IP Networking technology to ensure that the solution delivered was first class, aligning with accepted best practice from the network industry. The speed at which Conor has been able to assimilate and retain new technical information has been particularly impressive, seeing him to gain the Cisco CCNA certification for routing and switching. He has also passed exams towards the CCNP certification.

Not satisfied with gaining industry recognised certifications in networking for himself, Conor ran a series of training sessions for other graduates within telent. This culminated in 8 individuals gaining their Cisco CCENT certification in routing and switching. Conor’s particular skills in motivating team learning were recognised and have already been rewarded through the telent THANKS award scheme. This is a process designed to reward individuals who apply the company values of in their role, whilst also demonstrating exceptional commitment to the overall success of telent.

Beyond his role at telent, Conor is a STEM ambassador, working with local schools and colleges to promote Engineering as a career choice. Through this role he is working very hard in promoting the opportunities available as an Engineer in the UK Rail Industry. Conor’s involvement positively promotes the telent brand as an organisation that has something to offer as a business and also as a perspective employer.

Conor’s dedication and commitment to both his role within telent and to the UK rail industry make him an obvious candidate for this award.“

Richard Maries

Said the following about Conor Maton:

“Conor constantly displays a positive attitude and maturity beyond his years of experience. His strong desire to learn, not just the immediate tasks in hand, but also the broader aspects of the project delivery have expanded his role to make him become a key critical member of the project team.

Conor does not let the situation get the better of him and he is as comfortable working with other junior team members as senior management and clients.

He is a credit to himself, the business and project.“

Mario Pires

Said the following about Conor Maton:

“I would like to nominate Conor for the Rail Staff Graduate of the year award

In my capacity as the Project Engineer responsible for the design and deployment of Station Management Systems & IP WAN on the Network Rail Crossrail Programme, I have had a high level of engagement with Conor. My experience of working with him has shown him to be a highly capable engineer. He has consistently demonstrated a level of knowledge and quality of work far higher than his graduate title would suggest.

The key points I would like to highlight are his:

Efficiency, proactivity and lateral thinking;

The high quality of his designs;

His very impressive knowledge of complex IP Network Solutions. This has enabled him to interface with other much more experienced network engineers and solution architects. It’s been very impressive to see a graduate engineer rise to the considerable challenge of this project. Furthermore, he has more than exceeded the expectations placed on him. He demonstrates an enormous amount of potential and has a great future ahead of him. My recommendation is well justified.“

Wasif Qadeer

Said the following about Conor Maton:

“Conor has shown good collaboration throughout the time I have worked with him but most significantly was during the design, implementation phase where his proactive nature and was constantly thinking outside of the box to help resolve issues. Conor has shown good dedication to push project work along and his enthusiasm ensures helps other along.

I was most impressed by Conor for his ability to take ownership of the works and actively help work being completed, he has been an asset to work with.“

Ayodele Gbede

Said the following about Conor Maton:

“Conor has got effective leadership quality and he has led group works. Conor is a dependable person who can be held by his word and fulfilled what he has agreed in providing the required information and assistance to the Crossrail project team members

Conor is an excellent team player which he exhibited in his relationship with the Network Rail team members.“