Why did you decide to join the Applied Engineering Programme?

Firstly, gaining a degree was always a personal goal for me. I was the first person in my family to have an opportunity to go to university full-time which I passed up in favour of an apprenticeship programme, which I finished in 2012. Before I committed to studying however, I wanted to know what I was truly interested in, so I would get the most value from the course I chose.

Secondly, as my experience grew, I wanted to be exposed to new ways of thinking and the latest methodologies within engineering management to help develop my career and continual professional development. This would also challenge me to grow in my current role and be more effective in growing a successful business.

What made you choose Engineering?

Aspects of engineering have always been of interest to me. I am very curious and love to understand ‘how’ and ‘why’ things work the way they do. A career where I could get ‘hands-on’ and satisfy this curiosity was a natural choice. If I hadn’t gone into engineering, I probably would have become a tradesman.

 

Briefly describe your role now and the types of projects/work you have been involved in.

In my current role, I am accountable for all aspects of a manufacturing organisation, reporting directly to the owner. We specialise in fast-turn manufacture of printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), with product being completed in as little as 24 hours

The role is as varied as you can imagine. Managing customers, suppliers and resources to ensure we manufacture high quality, complex products to tight customer deadlines. As many of our products are prototypes, there is often a significant problem-solving element when something isn’t quite right.

Since I started in the role, I have created a training framework for all employees to follow, enabling increased flexibility within the factory. As we are focused on continual improvement, this was also supported by an NVQ in ‘Business Improvement Techniques’, giving employees the opportunity to take charge of changing the way we work and becoming more aligned with lean manufacturing principles.

A further achievement was enhancing the quality management framework to achieve the ISO 13485:2016 certification, allowing us to manufacture medical devices. Most recently, this enabled us to support the coronavirus pandemic by manufacturing prototype PCBAs for several ventilator projects.

My latest project is around enabling the business to be more data driven. We have a lot of data within the business which isn’t used to assess our performance and help us work more efficiently.

 

What have you enjoyed the most about your studies? 

On reflection, the most enjoyable part of my studies was researching and reading papers for some of the post-module assignments, although it didn’t feel like it at the time! Some of the research concepts led me down paths I wasn’t likely to have discovered, challenging my thinking and letting me see what’s possible in my profession. As a consequence, I’m now actively involved in assessing how the quality profession may chance over the next 5-10 years due to advances in technology and how we can engage with the ‘next generation’ of quality professionals.

I also really enjoyed the networking element of my studies. It was invaluable to see how other people in the course approached problems and shared their experiences.

 

What is the most useful thing you have learnt? 

This is quite difficult to answer! The modules most relevant to my career and current role have been invaluable in developing my knowledge and implementing improvements in the workplace. I also found the time management required by the course beneficial in my daily routine.

 

What skills are you applying to your role? 

The main skill I’m currently using is around data collection and analysis to help improve efficiency within my organisation. I’m using some of the methods I learnt during the course to help ensure we draw the right conclusions from our data, make the right change and can see the improvement reflected in the next data set.

 

What are your ambitions for the future? What excites you? 

I hope to return to Australia with my family and settle down. There are some exciting opportunities over there for me to explore and further build my business leadership experience.

I hope to continue developing and sharing my knowledge as a quality expert. In a few years, I hope to start my own business providing support to organisations on how quality frameworks and methodologies can help structure businesses and support improvement.

Academically, I’d be interested in obtaining a master’s degree, focusing on quality management or a second undergraduate degree in psychology and human nature.

 

What’s the best piece of advice you could give someone thinking about doing a degree apprenticeship? 

If you’re struggling to decide between an apprenticeship and full-time education, I’d recommend going with the apprenticeship 100% of the time.

The benefits of going into an organisation and getting real hands-on experience is something no university course alone can teach. You’ll get to see how the things you learn in the classroom are applied in daily situations, increasing your understanding at a far greater rate than theory and lab sessions alone.

There is also a building full of people with years of experience to give different insights to problems and help you question reasons for doing things, developing problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Furthermore, you get to understand what you do and don’t like about engineering and adjust the academic side to better suit your professional development. This really helped me focus in on quality as a career path, something I was never exposed to before entering an apprenticeship.

Finally, by the time you’ve finished your degree, you’ll also have 4 years work experience which will set you apart from your peers when you choose to further your career.

Find out more about our Applied Professional Engineering Programme or Degree Apprenticeships we offer.