Personal details
- Age: 22
- Job: Second year software apprentice at Renishaw, currently based in Charfield, South Gloucestershire
- From: Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol
- School: Clifton College, A-levels in Maths, Chemistry and Physics
My job
I start here at 7.30am each day, so it’s quite early. I live a half hour’s drive away too. When I first joined the early starts were more of a challenge but I got used to it quickly. I really enjoy my work so I can’t wait to get up.
The reward for the early start is an early finish, 4.15pm, and on Fridays I finish at 12.30pm, so I have lots of time to do other things.
If somebody wants a piece of software writing we have to thinkabout the best way to do it, then trust the developers themselves to actually do it. I’m writing code. Each team has its own coding language. Currently I am working with C++ and C# but when I move to different projects or teams that may change.
I’m working on a 3D rendering engine to display 3D volumes. Anything you’ve ever seen that’s 3D on software will have done using a similar programme.
Every two weeks we meet to plan out the next fortnight of work and we have a board to keep track of what we are doing. It’s very structured.
And one day a week we go to the University of South Wales. It’s a bit of a drive but we go as a group.
To apply now for anapprenticeship at Renishaw visit www.renishaw.com/apprentice
My future
Our programme is five years. At the end of it I’ll have a bachelors degree in computer science but also five years’ experience of working. Because Renishaw is paying for the tuition, if I back out early I would have to pay some of that back. But hopefully at the end of the course I’ll get a permanent position here. The skills I’m learning are transferable. The task board and planning processes is an industry standard methodology and the coding language I am using is used in pretty much everything everywhere. Lots of my friends are coming out of university with first class degrees and can’t find any work because they don’t have the necessary experience that employers are looking for. I don’t have that problem here.
My home
I’m living at home at the moment but I am looking to move out soon but the only reason I can do that is because I have this apprenticeship. I’m saving towards buying a house eventually, that should be before I’m 30.
My hobbies
I love climbing. Cheddar Gorge is beautiful. I used to play video games quite a lot but now I know how to programme I find myself writing mods for the games – programmes you add on to make the game different or better. I read a lot of sci-fi. I’m a big fan though it’s harder to find time to do that now. My favourite author is Iain M Banks. My favourite book is Excession, I’ve read it three or four times.
My music
I listen to music on my headphones while working. I listen to quite a lot of things barring meta land rap. I like Hot Chip (electronic music band).
My family
Mum is a haematologist consultant and father is a potter. At the moment he’s renovating the house to have a studio so he can get back to it full time. I have a sister, she went to Leeds University and now works for London Travel.
My car
I drive a Fiat Panda, it’s not the ideal car but it’s got wheels and an engine and it’s cheap to run!