Gary Constance tells us about his career change to Engineering, and why he's never looked back.

We are loving finding out more about our apprentices in celebration of National Apprenticeship Week. Here Gary gives us an insight into how he is finding it at Hovis...

My name is Gary and I am in the final year of my “Food and Drink Maintenance Engineering” Apprenticeship. I had been considering a change in my career for some time, and finally, I took the plunge in my mid 30’s, moving from people management to a more hands-on engineering role.?

All I can say now is, I wish I had done it sooner! The Apprenticeship scheme is really fantastic, allowing me to train in a new role while maintaining a good income.?I love learning new skills and knowledge, both when I’m at site with my mentors and the Engineering team, and also while at college with the tutors and functional experts. I feel I have a fantastic support network available too, who are in frequent contact and can help with both the Apprenticeship content as well as anything pastoral.?

I’ve been involved in a number of engineering projects with the other Apprentices on site,?the best one so far has been the making of an electrical panel training area. The panel will be used for Apprentices and Engineers to gain specific electrical knowledge and practice skills. The panel replicates systems used in our industry.?As an Apprentice team, we had to design the area and build everything up from scratch. We learnt so much from it and gained many new skills, such as: how to read electrical drawings, installing cable trays and trunking, fitting, and wiring various components such as contactors, inverters and PLCs. The finished area has a series of electrical motors, which all perform different functions. It’s definitely something we are very proud of.

Thanks Gary. We are very proud of you and the rest of the Apprentice team.