Typical day to day activities on-site consist of planning maintenance of the machines, planning for new projects, organising of tasks for the site engineers, responding and fixing breakdowns of machines electrical and mechanical.
What do you think are the three most important skills to succeed in your career area?
You need to be able to handle pressure well. You need to be able to work alone and well as a team player. Dedicated to learn all the time as technology advances.
Was this something you planned to do or did you change direction at any point in the past? If so, what was that and was it easy to do?
I always wanted a hands on career, I sent over 100 letters to electrical employers before finally getting a role as an apprentice. I started an electrical engineers apprenticeship at the age of 16.
What do you love most about working in your career area?
It is a good satisfaction when faced with a new problem with a machine and you can rectify the issue.
Are there any negative aspects of working in your career area that people considering it should be aware of?
You can be put under a lot of pressure when a machine fails and production needs the machine to produce product. The job entails some extremely dirty jobs, some breakdowns you can have a lot of oil etc. on the machine.
What training / qualifications did you undertake for your current role or are you currently undertaking?
I served a four year modern apprenticeship (NVQ L3), I then carried on to gain my HNC and HND in engineering which took another five years part-time. As an engineer the training never stops as each and every day you will learn new things as technology advances.
Is there any other information that would be of interest to someone thinking of this career?
The want to be in this industry and willingness to listen and learn from work colleagues no matter who they are and where they come from – these folk have learnt the ‘old fashioned’ way by doing the job so they sure know how it feels like!
