Tanya Westernraad started her career in engineering at the age of 18 on a 4-year Advanced Modern Apprenticeship in Engineering Design with Packaging Automation in 2001, this is Tanya’s Apprenticeship story …
I really enjoyed Technical Drawing at school and found I had knack for it. Having both my Dad (Design Engineer) and my Step-dad (Mechanic) in the engineering industry around me I enjoyed seeing how things worked, it really seemed to influence me in that direction.
An Apprenticeship gave me the ability to work hands on whilst learning, so I could put context to the theory and get paid to do it! I would always recommend an Apprenticeship in any industry as the number 1 go to over just full time studies. Along the way you build character and relationships in a working environment. You come out of your time already able to work in industry and this is highly looked up upon by employers as it is less to teach.
I believe that Apprentices bring a positive can do attitude and allow the companies to train their future experts or leaders, as a long term goal.
Attending college on day release to complete my studies and being very focused and driven, I managed to complete my NVQ early and subsequently went on to study for a BEng Honours Mechanical Engineering all the time supported by PA.
Tanya is now, in 2021, Team Leader Design Engineer at Packaging Automation and a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMECHE) Food and Drink Engineering Committee.