According to my family, it was always obvious to them (if not to me) that I was going to become an engineer of some type. I was forever taking things apart and rebuilding them to understand their function and working with my parents and grandparents on practical projects from car maintenance and bicycle building to landscaping and building restoration. So, it came as no surprise when I chose to go the apprentice route rather than A-Levels to further my career.
I was accepted into the much sought after MOD Mechanical Apprenticeship in 1988, leaving home to live in a south London hostel, housing 100 apprentices from across the country.
There was an immediate sense of community between us as we not only faced the challenges of learning our profession but also the challenges of living away from home for the first time.
The four year apprenticeship consisted of 2 years of practical learning of advanced hand and machining skills followed by 2 years of application of those skills within a wide range of working environments – steam railways to light aircraft, motor vehicle workshops to the Natural History Museum inter-weaved with day release college - to prepare us for our first role after graduation.
Learning through the practical incorporation of our academic learning suited me like so many others, understanding the relationship between the theoretical and then resolving the difficulties for practical application made learning an enjoyable experience.
The shared community of individuals sharing their challenges, failures and successes provided a support structure that was closer knit than that seen across the more traditional approach.
My time as an apprentice taught the value of shared achievement, communication, leadership, personal management as well as the technical skills of an engineer and the practical skills of navigating the MODs administration.
Following my apprenticeship, privatisation within the MOD led to the dissolution of the scheme and most apprentices were released without a job offer. I resolved to join the RAF, as my other great influence was aircraft from going to Airshows since I was 5 years old, but the timing coincided with the draw down of the RAF and a pause in recruitment.
For the next 12 years I worked in a range of roles across several companies including Rolls Royce and Ricoh UK as I developed from Technician to a professional Chartered Engineer in 2002. Rekindling my aspiration to join the RAF my final civilian role was as a Tornado Structures Fatigue and Project engineer to gain experience in aircraft design and manufacture, leading me to successfully commission in 2004 as an Engineering Officer.
Upon joining the RAF, I found the same close-knit community of like-minded individuals who have a similar goal and purpose, though wildly different career paths and personal goals.
Throughout my career, the experiences and confidence formed during my apprenticeship, and solidified in my civilian engineering career, have supported my approach to resolution of engineering problems, developing teams and organisations and providing individual guidance and mentoring. They provided a confidence to practically apply academic solutions to the resolution of technical and administrative issues and make best use of the resources available.
My engineering roles have been varied, from traditional Junior Engineering Officer/Senior Engineering Officer to the broader Permanent Joint Headquarters, Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Projects (MODSAP) and Acquisition roles which all bring unique challenges and requirement for different approaches. However, the constant is the relationships that are built, the teams that are formed and drive to successfully meet the requirement. The approach taught as an apprentice to learn, consider and apply still runs true today.
That is why I feel privileged to give something back as the Officer Commanding Number 2 School of Technical Trainig and provide leadership, guidance and mentoring to the next generation of Officer and Aviator engineers as they start, or in some cases continue, their engineering careers in the RAF.
