We caught up with Calibration and Instrumentation Apprentice, Zachary Clarke. Zach tells us about his motivation for a career in engineering…
Q. How long have you worked in engineering?
A. I have worked as a engineer for one year two months and studied two years so far at college.
Q. What motivated you to work in engineering?
A. From a very young age I have been taking things apart and re-assembling them to give me an understanding of how things work which has always interested me. Mountain biking is a big hobby of mine and I have been taking bikes apart and rebuilding them for my own enjoyment and to help others. After finishing high school, I decided to go to college full time and study Level 2 Extended Certificate in Engineering. On completing the course I knew that the engineering sector would be perfect for me, this motivated me to seek an apprenticeship in engineering to start my career off.
Q. What route into engineering did you take?
A. I am currently still on my route to becoming a fully qualified engineer. I’m studying at Macclesfield college and have already achieved my Level 2 Extended Certificate in Engineering and Level 2 Performing Engineering Operations and I’m currently working towards my Level 3 Certificate in Engineering.
Q. If you stayed in the same job for the next 10 years, how do you think it would change?
A. Over the next ten years I think my job will change a lot as time moves forward so does technology making work easier, safer and more efficient. Also, over the next ten years I think health and safety regulations will continue to increase and tasks will become more automated.
Q. How do you think future engineers will change the world around us?
A. Engineers have been changing the world for a long time already and will continue to do so into the future. The changes made will be mainly converting from green houses gasses and other inefficient ways to manufacture products to green energy e.g. petrol cars to electric and coal power plants to biogas, wind, solar, hydro etc.
