Catching up with Civil Engineering apprentice, Tom King

“When I’m studying at university I’m learning things that directly relate to what I’m doing at work.”

The Apprenticeship team caught up with Tom King who works for West Sussex County Council as a Senior Highway Steward. Tom is currently in his fourth year of the five-year apprenticeship programme after completing his Higher National Certificate (HNC) and entering straight into his third year. This is what Tom had to say of his experience on the apprenticeship so far:

“I’d definitely recommend the apprenticeship route to someone, I think that the mixture of on-the-job and off-the-job learning puts me at a real advantage within the industry. I’ve got a younger brother and I keep suggesting to him to look at the apprenticeship route. I’ve got plenty of friends who went to university and paid for their degrees and then ended up getting jobs that didn’t specifically relate to their degree. With an apprenticeship you’re working the job and studying for a degree so you know what your day to day work will look like upon graduating. There’s also the other amazing benefit that your employer is investing in you and taking the financial burden away from you.

When I’m studying at university I’m learning things that directly relate to what I’m doing at work. I work in highway maintenance so I’m dealing with the reactive side of engineering, like when there’s floods and potholes, so when we learned about hydraulics it was directly linked to my job which I found made it easier to learn about. Last year we were studying open channel flow and our lecturer was explaining this to us and how it differentiates from pipe flow; at work, I’ve been dealing with rivers and ditches so I’ve seen these things work in first person and it makes it easier to relate to.

Finally, I’d say that the University of Brighton have a very high standard of teaching and every single one of my lecturers has a doctorate so I feel very confident in what I’m being taught.”

Find out more about the Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship at Brighton.