Apprentice engineer with Powell Switchgear and Bradford College

I’m an apprentice engineer with Powell Switchgear and Instrumentation in Bradford. We make control panels for factories, hospitals, docks, telecommunications, retail, the building sector – anywhere there are complicated electrical systems that have to be controlled. As part of the apprenticeship I’m enrolled at Bradford College in their Engineering Department.

I was always building things when I was little and I loved reading, but I wasn’t  into science at school. Then in Year 9, when we had to choose our GCSEs, there was the opportunity to do engineering. I’d never heard of it. The teachers were shocked and asked if I really wanted to do it. But they took me on and I really enjoyed myself. I got As in my exams!

After that, the school careers advice didn’t help. I said I wanted to do engineering and they said stay on and do maths and physics A level. I said that wasn’t for me, but they didn’t come up with any options. So I looked for an apprenticeship on my own.

I didn’t know where to begin - I spent hours on the internet. Then I registered with City Training Services in Leeds, and they helped a lot. I applied for the apprenticeship at Powells to be an electrical engineer and I got it. It takes four years: the first year you are at college, then in year two you work four days a week and have one day at college. At the end of two years I’ll get my National Certificate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and then I start on a two year day release Higher National Certificate, working towards a Higher National Diploma.

At school, I was the only girl doing engineering, but you are quite protected. But it’s a big step going from school to college. I didn’t know anyone and the guys can push too far. But at Bradford College the teachers are very helpful, they give you insight and they let me talk about things, and I got to like the course a lot.

There are five guys and me doing the apprenticeship at Powells. When I started, me and the others were separated into another training room, where we were trained how to wire different varieties of doors, pans and chassis. We learnt about the mechanical side and the electrical. My time in the training room is over now, and I’ve been put into another area to test my knowledge and wire work that’s actually going on a job!

We're on a huge factory floor divided into sections. You spend two months in each cell, working on different bits of the panel. So you experience every stage of the manufacturing process at Powell’s. You are given a schematic drawing, and that’s what your work has to conform to. so learning how to read them takes time but eventually it becomes second nature when wiring from them. They review you each month, and that helps a lot it points out where you can maybe improve, and what my strengths are. It’s interesting reading it back and seeing your progression because in a short amount of time I have learnt so much.

My friends thought it was surprising when I started, but they are really encouraging. I exercise a lot in my spare time – boxing, swimming, everything I can. It helps you unwind! I am determined to complete my apprenticeship and be a qualified engineer.