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My personal experience as a trainee

This experience is one I will never forget. I started working at G&T aged 16 through the apprenticeship programme with the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust (CSTT). The thought of working in an office amongst professionals in the industry at such a young age was quite scary. However after my first couple weeks that all changed. Seeing the projects we were working on, I knew this was the role for me. Regardless of my age, I was treated as a professional from the moment I started, which has had a huge impact on my development so far. Four years later I have delivered a number of projects under the supervision of senior members of my team and looking at the bigger picture, this journey has just begun.

Why did you choose to do a part-time vocational route rather than full time university?

I was never text book smart at school and felt I learnt better by getting my hands dirty. I can put the work in to practice and learn the theory alongside – seeing how they interlink makes everything much easier to understand. 

A key example comes to mind when I was in a year 10 biology lesson. We were learning how the heart functions and I could never get my head around how the heart pumped the blood around the body through all the different veins and arteries. One day my tutor brought in a real heart and allowed us to investigate how the blood flows. It’s safe to say I got my hands dirty that day but it helped me understand and I definitely learnt something new. It’s these key experiences in life that you never forget and that’s why I chose to do an apprenticeship.

How do you find the work and study balance?

During the early years of my apprenticeship I was still developing my responsibilities at work which allowed me to focus more on my studies. As the years progressed I’ve been allowed more responsibility on projects and it’s become more challenging to manage both workloads at the same time. Nevertheless, sacrifices have to be made once in a while and I’m positive it will be worth it once I have achieved those five letters after my name. As they say – short term pain, long term gain.

What has the experience meant for you?

I feel extremely privileged to have this experience, which could not have been possible if it wasn’t for the help of the CSTT helping me getting my foot in the door. I hope many more young people get to have the same experience as me. It has had a major impact on the man I am today and for that, I am very thankful.

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