National Apprenticeship Week: Catch-up with Joe Baker

Joe has been working at Waldeck since 2017, where at the age of 18 we welcomed him as a Trainee Technician as part of our apprenticeship scheme. Joe began his apprenticeship with a Level 3 Construction Technical and Professional: Construction Contracting Operations course and is now studying a HNC in Construction and the Built Environment – Civil Engineering at Lincoln College, which he is due to complete later this year.

Our Apprenticeship Scheme recruits groups of school and college leavers and graduates onto our bespoke programme which combines their studies with on-the-job training, enabling them to become fully qualified CAD Designers and Engineers working on real-life projects. Students are offered ongoing learning support, along with excellent career opportunities across our network of nationwide offices.

Hi Joe! Tell us about your experience so far of doing an apprenticeship?

What first interested you in a career in construction?

My Dad owns a local construction business, so it is something I have grown up around. I used to work with him at the weekends when I was at school, and really enjoyed it, so decided to take BTEC construction subjects at Sixth Form, before I then considered my routes into a career within the industry and chose to pursue this through an apprenticeship.

What has been your personal career highlight so far?

I have really enjoyed my time at Waldeck so far, working as part of a strong team to achieve tight deadlines and deliver quality work.

I have surprised myself with how quickly I am learning and progressing. I feel very settled in my role and am positive about my future prospects. It is great to feel like I have achieved something at the end of each working day, especially as each project we work on is so different.

Obviously, the last two years have been different due to the pandemic, but I continued to produce quality work and communicate well with the team throughout the time we spent working from home, we’ve recently come back into the office which has been really nice!

What are your plans for the future?

For now, I want to keep doing what I am doing, stay focused on my College course and developing my role at work. Having the support of my mentor, and other experts in the business is helping me to pick up new skills and expand my knowledge, and I would definitely like to continue to learn about the other disciplines too.

I was also recently given the opportunity to complete my BIM Essentials course, and train on niche software relevant to different projects I have been working on.

After completing my HNC, I would then like to complete a HND to then go on to completing a degree, and perhaps become Chartered at some point in the future!

In the face of a skills gap and lack of people choosing a career in STEM subjects, how would you inspire someone to take a similar route into the workplace?

I would say if you were considering taking a route into construction or any other STEM subject, it is important to think about what interests you the most. I have seen first-hand how the roles can be so varied, creative and rewarding.

For me, an apprenticeship was the best option, it has been a great way to get into the workplace, combining education with hands-on learning and transferable skills that I wouldn’t necessarily have learnt at University, such as liaising with clients and working within a design team. The social aspects (pre-Covid) have been great too!

To find out more about Civil & Structural Engineering capability, please contact Joe and the team by calling 08450 990285 or send Joe an email here.