32-Year Graduate Apprenticeship!

These Graduate and Degree Apprentices have got it easy! After 32 years, starting off with a Boilermaker Apprenticeship, I've managed to get a degree. The front page of my Indentures is pictured below, the reward for my 4-year, time-served apprenticeship at Rosyth Dockyard. The pic above is my newly-awarded Bachelors Degree (Distinction) in Business Management from the University of Abertay.

Despite my scepticism lasting a couple of decades (maybe borne a wee bit through jealousy) I now concede a degree is indeed worthwhile, having already put to some use the knowledge I picked up during the final 2 years of study. Time will tell if this translates into a career progression. It's a reminder, though, that opportunity is key. There are brighter and more successful people than me who have done very well without achieving any formal qualifications of note. And there are many others I know in their 40s and 50s with potential and the ability to succeed at a higher level who never had the opportunity. I've been fortunate enough working for Fife College to have been supported financially in my studies. It would be great if everyone who has the capability and desire to achieve a degree was supported to do so.

To achieve my apprenticeship I did a year in the Dockyard Training Centre, a year in the Boilershop, a year on Type 42 destroyers, Aircraft Carriers and RFAs, 6 months on conventional and nuclear submarines, and 6 months on small ships. To achieve my degree I was either in a classroom or (due to COVID) at home on a laptop. The process of achieving each of these qualifications was extremely rewarding and challenging in very different ways.

It might have been wiser not to wait 30 years after the apprenticeship was completed to start the degree!