From Electrician to Chartered Engineer

Josh sat down with Ryan to talk through his journey from electrical apprentice to chartered engineer, and how he ended up working as a senior project manager in Perth, Australia.

What stands out about Ryan's story is that nobody handed him the way in. He failed physics twice at school and never considered university an option. When he couldn't get an apprenticeship, he did a pre-apprenticeship course at college, and when that placement couldn't take him on, he printed a brochure, looked up twenty electrical companies and drove round Paisley handing them out door to door.

That is how he found the apprenticeship that started everything.

From there it became a long process of building it brick by brick. Night classes for an HNC while completing his trade papers, then a day release bachelor's degree, then a part-time masters, all while working full time.

Eight years of study without a free afternoon, and a fifteen thousand pound pay cut to make the move from the tools into design at an SME consultancy.

Ryan is candid about why he made that jump. There was nothing about being an electrician that he disliked, but he could not picture forty years of the same work.

That honest conversation with his line manager is what opened the next door, and it is a reminder of how much a good manager can change someone's direction.

The conversation also gets into what he now looks for when interviewing graduates in Australia, why intentional work experience matters more than a grade, and the free software anyone can download today to put a real skill on their CV.

Alongside that, there is a long-held goal to move to Australia, set during his first years as an apprentice and held through several pivots until it happened.

If you are trying to get your first opportunity, weighing up an apprenticeship against university, or wondering whether a trade background is a strength or a setback, this is an honest conversation about building a career without waiting to be picked.

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