So it looks like the London tube drivers are striking again!

@Londonguy23 Academic ones, perhaps not, but there is considerably more to learning how to drive trains safely than simply knowing which control handle to move in which direction.

I think I recall hearing it takes about eighteen months to train a Tube train driver. On the overground railways it's even longer, with much of the later training being to acquire route knowledge

@Londonguy23 apart from being able to pass the selection process, which approximately 499 out of 500 people don't get through.

@ArishMell and it takes how long to train a teacher, GP or nurse who start at lower salaries?
18months training, no need for a degree or other studying and you get paid that amount. We need to maybe then up the bus drivers salaries as well then!

@Philth is it advertised to everyone or just certain individual's? Ive never seen the job advertised so was wondering how i apply. I could be the 1 person that gets it.

@Londonguy23 yes, you absolutely could be the one person who gets it.... But you definitely *won't* get it by waiting around for an advert to appear outside stations or in the Evening Standard. I can't speak for London Underground, but typically most UK train companies (who get absolutely swamped with applications for trainee driver roles - that's how you enter the industry, not a secret handshake by a union friend) require interested individuals to pre-register via a portal on their website. This in itself is now an arduous process, the last person I know who did it said "I felt like I'd been raped" in terms of the information required and metaphorical hoops to jump through. Typically the portals have a 'timeout' so you have to be prepared, properly, as to what you're going to write. Once you've done that, you will then get job vacancy alerts. These alerts are often only open for a couple of days, ensuring that only the very keenest applicants get through this initial hurdle (and reducing the admin workload for the train company). The job vacancies also require an application, no you can't just click to apply, and again you have to answer a ton of questions, all against a timeout. The company I work for once recieved over 5000 applications for just two vacancies - and since then demand has increased. Similarly, many companies now require the expression of interest to be refreshed every six months, again weeding out those who aren't fully committed. Of course, next time around is in a slightly different format or with different questions, so you can't just cut&paste from before. Once you're on that step, the selection process is brutal. A computer program searches your application to see if you've used enough of the required key words and phrases in the right context (obviously, these will include things like 'safety', 'customer service', 'team', but the requirements are getting tighter all the time) then various aptitude tests, then at least two interviews... the process can easily be spread over a year in itself... For my second interview, applicants were told to report to a particular place at a particular time.... What wasn't stated was that anyone who didn't show up 15 mins before this time would miss the prebooked taxi to the location of the ACTUAL interview. Astonishingly, there's many who get this far, then fail at the medical exam because there's drink or drugs in their system.

@ArishMell It's a six-month, fully funded training program with a salary of just under £35,000 (for the six months)

@Philth we both know that sort of practice is illegal in the UK. So can't be happening at all!

@Londonguy23 not quite sure what practice you refer to in your comment.

@Londonguy23 I don't think you can compare professions, training regimes and salaries in such a pat fashion. I accept nothing is "perfect" but your list is of professions with very different skills, character requirements and responsibilities.